Miami Heat vs. Philadelphia 76ers: NBA Play-off Game-2 Preview
Miami Heat’s play-off battle got off to a roaring start and now they await the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday night at American Airlines Arena for the game-2 of the best-of-seven first round playoff series. Miami is leading the series
1-0 and are the odds on favourites to outclass the Sixers in front of their home court once again.
With their current form and chemistry, Miami Heat has nothing to worry about regarding this upcoming game except, the ailment of their shooting guard Dwyane Wade. Wade is suffering from migraine and was not able to attend the
practice session on Sunday.
As of now, he is still uncertain to start in the game-2. Miami’s head Coach Erik Spoelstra was also not much confident about Wade’s prospect in game-2, “He had a headache yesterday that he played through the game with, so we're
trying to be proactive with it as much as possible. He's had 'em before, so we'll have to see how he feels at the end of the day. We really want to be proactive right now and keep him rested and take medicine and we'll go from there.”
Dwyane Wade was magnificent in the game-1 where he scored 17 points, seven rebounds and five assists to lead his team to a 97-89 win.
After the first play-off victory against the Sixers, the Miami Coach, Spoelstra, commended the brilliant performance by Dwyane Wade. Spoelstra said, “He was able to play through it. He said just before the game that he felt he
had a headache, but you know how competitive he is. He played that first New York game with the same type of lingering effects.”
Dwyane Wade has had a long history of this migraine problem. He has also missed a game against the Toronto Raptors on January 22, 2010 during the regular season.
The Philadelphia 76ers on the other side of the spectrum are also preparing hard for their second encounter with the Miami Heat. The only positive point for them going into this game though is that they have been able to hold the
Heat under 50 percent shooting in all their four regular season’s meetings.
Philadelphia’s head coach Doug Collins is still very optimistic regarding his strategy going into this big game. Collins said, “You've got to put that ball on the deck and drive in there and you've got to get some contact, so we're
going to keep trying to do that. That's obviously an area we'd like to be better. But we scored 42 points in the paint yesterday, so it wasn't like we were launching jumpers.”
Miami’s possible starters include LeBron James, Chris Bosh, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Mike Bibby, and Dwyane Wade.
Philadelphia’s possible starters include Elton Brand, Andre Iguodala, Spencer Hawes, Jrue Holiday, and Jodie Meeks Thaddeus Young.
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