The Miami Heat are without forward Norman Powell Jr., for today's game against the Houston Rockets at Kaseya Center. Powell is dealing with a groin injury he sustained in a loss to the Philadelphia 76ers. 

Here's the injury report: 

HEAT

Vlad Goldin: Out (G League)

Jahmir Young: Out (G League)

Terry Rozier: Out (Not with team)

Nikola Jovic: Out (back)

Norman Powell: Out (groin)

ROCKETS

Steven Adams: Out (ankle)

Tristen Newton: Out (G League)

Jabari Smith Jr: Out (Ankle)

Jae'Sean Tate: Out (Knee)

Fred VanVleet: Out (Knee)

Here's the game preview: 

Game time: 3:30 p.m., Kaseya Center, Miami 

TV: FanDuel Sports Network 

Betting line: Heat +3.5

VITALS:  

The Heat and Rockets meet for the first of two regular season matchups. Houston is the final team Miami will face for the first time this season as the Heat has currently won nine of the last 10 overall against the Rockets. The Heat are 42-34 all-time versus Houston during the regular season, including 25-14 in home games and 17-20 in road games. Rockets star Kevin Durant had a Rockets season-high 40 points at Orlando on 2/26 and topped 32,000 career points; also tied Kobe Bryant for the 5th-most 30-point games (431) in NBA history… needs 287 points to pass Jordan for the 5th-most all-time. He is shooting 53 percent over the past five games. The Rockets have won 6 of their past 7 on the road after losing 5 straight road games prior (17-14 overall). Houston was 23-17 on the road last season after not having more than 14 road wins from 2020-21 through 2023-24. The Rockets had the 2nd-most road wins of any team over a four-season span from 2016-17 through 2019-20.

PROJECTED STARTERS

HEAT

F Pelle Larsson

F Andrew Wiggins

C Bam Adebayo 

G Tyler Herro

G Pelle Larsson 

ROCKETS

F Kevin Durant

F Reed Sheppard 

C Alperen Sengun

G Tari Eason 

G Amen Thompson 

QUOTABLE 

Norman Powell Jr., after loss to the Milwaukee Bucks: “We just didn’t get enough stops, honestly. They kept going back to the same play. And there are too many times where we messed up. Sometimes we got it right, sometimes we didn’t. And I think they were able to come through on that, and they had confidence. And they started making the plays on the stretch, and we just weren’t able to get the stops we needed.”

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Shandel Richardson is the publisher of HeatRoundtable. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com