vs.
28-18		9-33
Amway Arena
7:00 PM
Sun Sports HD
Probable starters:
Carlos Arroyo	PG	Jason Williams
Maurice Evans	SG	Ricky Davis
Hedo Turkoglu	SF	Dorell Wright
Rashard Lewis	PF	Mark Blount
Dwight Howard	C	Earl Barron

The Miami Heat are one of the league's worse teams, and were jubilant after ending a 15-game losing streak against the slump-busting Indiana Pacers. The happiness was short-lived, though, as they suffered a 117-87 defeat against the Boston Celtics last night. The margin of defeat is made even more disconcerting for the Heat considering the Celtics were without Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen. Worse still, the Heat lost starting power forward Udonis Haslem to a sprained ankle. Dwyane Wade scored just 7 points last night on 1-of-9 shooting, clearly bothered by the flu. He'll probably definitely sit out tonight. Clearly, Miami has no shot at the playoffs this season, even in the inferior Eastern Conference. Their probable starting lineup tonight -- no Shaq, no Wade, no Haslem -- resembles something they'd use in a preseason game. It's that bad.

The storyline for this game could have been Dwight Howard vs. Shaquille O'Neal, but Shaq is dealing with a sore hip and will be out for a few more games. He's vowed to keep playing until his contract expires in 2010, citing his upbringing as the son of an army drill sergeant as the reason. David Friedman thinks the more honorable thing for Shaq to do is retire to free up the $40 million of salary-cap space his contract will take up over the next two seasons. Thing is, Shaq isn't going to walk away from $40 million in guaranteed money, and Heat coach/GM Pat Riley isn't going to insult the future Hall-of-Famer by offering a buyout. So yeah, the Heat are a terrible team with no salary cap space. At least they have the lottery to look forward to.

The Magic will get a nice, long look at Heat point guard Jason Williams tonight. Williams has a contract that expires at season's end, and as Tim Povtak suggested yesterday, he could be a free-agent target for us. I'm not super anxious to use even part of the mid-level exception on a backup point guard, especially one who shoots miserably (.378) from the field. From a running-the-offense-capably standpoint, he's probably on-par with Carlos Arroyo. Unfortunately, Williams is 3-and-a-half years older and not as quick. In short: no thanks, Tim. I'll pass on Williams. For what it's worth, G.L. Rawx of the Howeva Files likes the idea of White Chocolate in a Magic uniform, mostly because he doesn't like Jameer "the Meerkat" Nelson.

And speaking of Nelson, he'll will be back in action tonight, albeit off the bench, says Brian Schmitz. Nelson practiced with the team yesterday and feels well enough to play.

Be sure to check out Ira Winderman's blog for more Heat coverage. Winderman has been the Sun-Sentinel's Heat reporter since the team's inception, and is one of the best reporters in the NBA at balancing his print work with his online pieces. He understands the difference between a news article and a blog entry, which is important.

The game is in HD tonight, so you'll be able to get a great sense of just how large Mark Blount's ears are. Go Magic.

	vs.
8-21		19-11
AmericanAirlines Arena
7:30 PM
FSN Florida
Probable starters:
Dwyane Wade	PG	Jameer Nelson
Ricky Davis	SG	Keith Bogans
Dorell Wright	SF	Hedo Turkoglu
Udonis Haslem	PF	Rashard Lewis
Earl Barron	C	Dwight Howard

The Heat are having a truly awful season. Just two years after winning the NBA title, the Heat are dead last in the Eastern Conference and will have to go 33-20 the rest of the way just to reach .500 at season's end, which might earn them a playoff berth. On top of that, they've lost backup center Alonzo Mourning to a career-ending knee injury and backup guard William "Smush" Parker to a career-ending case of mental flatulence. Shaq might take his annual injury vacation due to sore hips. Starting guard Jason Williams has a sore knee. Chris Quinn, Williams' backup, has a sprained left ankle and may not be available tonight. Yes, the Heat indeed may be without a true point guard tonight. But look on the bright side, Heat fans: as Ira Winderman notes (thirteenth bullet), your team has five centers under contract this season. Hooray!

The Magic should indeed be heavily favored in this game, but they can't afford to overlook any opponent, especially one that fields a starting five which includes Dwyane Wade and Shaquille O'Neal. And as boneheaded as Ricky Davis is, he's also a threat to pop off for 40 points at least once a season. Yahoo!'s Kelly Dwyer looks at the Heat's most recent loss, a 96-85 setback in Philadelphia, and concludes that Pat Riley the coach deserves just as much of the criticism as Pat Riley the GM. Basically, they're better than their record lets on, and perhaps they'd be more successful with a different coach. It should be noted that the Heat are 4-6 in their last 10 games. Is that impressive? Lord, no, but it's also one game better than our 3-7 mark in that same span.

We handled the Heat fairly well the last time we matched up with them; in fact, it might have been our best game of the season. Basically, the Heat don't have anyone who can shut down both Hedo Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis. Also, Shaq is too slow and too old to hang with Dwight Howard defensively, although he played well on the offensive end (20 points, 8-15 FG) against Dwight in November.

The game is on FSN Florida, which means most of us won't get to see it. Thank you, NBA Audio League Pass.

UPDATE: Shaquille O'Neal is active for tonight's game, but will not start, reports ESPN.com.