Without Davion Mitchell in the lineup, Kasparas Jakučionis was thrust into a larger role, helping the Heat in a loss to the Celtics on Thursday.

The move to go away from Ware did not work out well for Spoelstra as Miami’s bench combined for just 21 points with his minutes limited, being thoroughly outplayed by Boston’s reserves (56 points). The Celtics outscored the Heat 36-21 in the fourth quarter with Ware watching from the sidelines.

Arguably, the lone Miami Heat measure of consistency might be their insistence that they have enough in place to be better than their 21-20 midseason record.

Nikola Jokic emerges as surprise factor in Heat’s Ja Morant pursuit originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here. The Miami Heat found themselves labeled as the favorites to pick up Ja Morant in a blockbuster trade during the 2025-2026 NBA season.

Dwyane Wade and Udonis Haslem are no strangers when it comes to Erik Spoelstra’s demanding nature and the demanding nature of the Miami Heat, including Spoelstra’s comments on

The SportsLine model is projecting Phoenix's Devin Booker to score 26.7 points on average and be one of five Suns players to score 12.8 or more points. Miami's Norman Powell (questionable, back), meanwhile, is projected to have 21.8 points as six Heat players score 13.4 points or more as the Over hits nearly 60% of the time.