It's almost impossible to imagine that one of the four wins on the Washington Wizards schedule came at the hands of the defending champion Miami Heat.
But, on Dec. 4, in our nation's capital, the Wizards beat the Heat, but Miami will look for some more revenge on Sunday evening when the two teams meet at American Airlines Arena.
The Heat atoned for the loss the first time the two squads met on Dec. 15. Miami pasted the Wiz by 30 and this time out, the Heat will be trying to make up for another loss.
The Heat fell 96-89 at home on Friday night to the Chicago Bulls. LeBron James led the way with 30 points, while Dwyane Wade added 22 and Chris Bosh chipped in 14 points.
Defense beat offense on Friday night. The Bulls are third in the NBA in opponents' scoring, while the Heat are fourth in scoring. Rebounding was a huge problem for the Heat as well. Miami, the second-worst team in the league on the glass, lost the rebounding battle, 48-28.
"It's a reoccurrence. We got smashed on the glass," said James. "You give a team like this extra possessions, they're going to capitalize on it. It's not like we're losing one or two rebounds, tonight it was 20. You're not going to win many basketball games like that."
Rebounding might be an issue on Sunday night as well. The Wizards, for all of their flaws, rank sixth in rebounding, but, since they are the Wizards, allow the most rebounds for their opposition.
The Wizards head to South Beach the losers of four straight, including a heartbreaker Friday night. Washington fell at home to the Brooklyn Nets, 115-113 in double-overtime.
"We turned the ball over," said a clearly agitated Wizards coach Randy Wittman. "We got doubled, we wouldn't pass. Why? I don't know. We missed free throws. Why does that happen? I don't know why. We did. It's making one play down the stretch, one play."
The Wizards scored the first eight points of the first overtime, and still lost. Joe Johnson buried a late jumper to steal one from the Wizards.
Bradley Beal, who sent the game into a second overtime with a 3-pointer with less than four seconds on the clock, paced the Wizards with 24 points. Jordan Crawford had 23 off the bench, followed by 20 from Nene, 14 from Martell Webster and 13 from Emeka Okafor.
On a positive note for the Wizards, John Wall took part in another full practice Saturday and is expected to return very shortly.
The Wizards have won three of the last four meetings.
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