Just a few weeks into the National Basketball Association 2014 season, Miami Heat are now looking to take on the LA Clippers on 21st November.
After failing to win the NBA finals two years in a row, the Heat are still feeling particularly sore about the final result of the 2013 season. The season before last, the team came up against the San Antonio Spurs and managed to walk away victorious with 95 points to the Spurs’ 88. However, in the follow-up year which saw the two rivals taking each other on once again, the Spurs this time managed to crush Miami Heat with a final score of 104 to their 87.
Hence the team still have a lot to prove, and if their current record is anything to go by, they’ve a lot of work to do before they are going to reach their NBA finals-status. The Heat have currently lost five of their 10 games so far, with three recent consecutive losses against the Indiana Pacers, Atlanta Hawks and the Milwaukee Bucks not helping them in their plight.
The LA Clippers, meanwhile, are performing at a respectable second place in their Pacific Division, having won five out of their eight games played so far. This is particularly credible for a team whose morale was so damaged during the Donald Sterling scandal of last season.
In April of this year, news website TMZ Sports released a recording of the former LA Clippers owner making racist remarks to a friend about Basketball Hall of Famer Magic Johnson. The star was hit with a media backlash, including comments from LeBron James and even Barack Obama, and it was not long before he was given a lifetime ban from the sport.
The Clippers have bounced back however and now look set to take the victory at their upcoming game against the Heat. Thanks to LeBron James’ return to the Cleveland Cavaliers, bookmakers like Betsafe are offering promotions on the team to fare far worse this season.
Meanwhile, the Clippers look set to be unstoppable, largely thanks to Blake Griffin, who has managed to aqcuire 23.6 points so far.
The Heat still have some time to clean up their losing record before they take on the second best team in the Pacific Division, but with their opponent the Brooklyn Nets also boasting a second place position in the Atlantic Division, Miami Heat will have to pull out all the stops to put an end to their losing streak once and for all.