The Monday night matchup between the Miami Heat and the Washington Wizards could very well be foreshadowing to the Eastern Conference playoffs come the spring. The Wizards currently sit on top of the South East division, but the Heat are aiming to cut into that lead as both teams are coming off their lowest-scoring efforts of the year and are in need of an offense bounce back.
Dwyane Wade was the recent hero for the Heat. The veteran shined in the win over the New York Knicks despite suffering from a hamstring injury that caused him to miss seven games. Wade put up 27 points, 13 in the fourth quarter, as the Heat improved to 9-7. His scoring was needed as the rest of the team shot just 35.2 percent overall. Chris Bosh was the only other person on the court that got into double digits as he netted 20 points. According to Wade his hamstring should not be an issue going forward as the Heat are winners of their last four of six while getting one-half game behind the Wizards for the division.
"I think it's just a comfort. My guys, they get a lot of comfort with me being out there," said Wade, via ESPN.com. "Hopefully, I don't have any more hamstring pulls or anything that would keep me out for that long of a stretch."
The Heat's history against the Wizards is not good. Miami has dropped their last four of five in Washington while Bosh sat out three of those games. Wade put up just 17 points in their two games last season to the capital. However, they got the win over the Wizards in their season opener a Norris Cole had 23 points and Bosh had 26 with 15 rebounds.
The Wizards were on a hot streak at home before going 2-4 in their last set of home games. They did snap a two-game losing streak with a win over New Orleans over the weekend. John Wall bounced back after struggling against the Cleveland Cavaliers and aims to keep the momentum going.
Watch Wizards vs. Heat live stream, click here.
