A day after facing off with Jimmy Butler himself, the Dallas Mavericks (29-26) now get to play Jimmy Butler’s former team in the Miami Heat (25-27). Both teams find themselves on the second night of a back-to-back, with Miami coming off of a 115-101 loss to our I-35 neighbors, the Oklahoma City Thunder. Miami actually led this game heading into the fourth quarter, but the Thunder outscored Miami 32-8 in the final frame. The Mavericks, meanwhile, are coming off of a shocking 111-107 win over the Golden State Warriors while having seven healthy NBA players.

The Mavericks will be playing their fourth game of a five-game homestand that will resume after the All-Star Break. Home games have been quite an experience lately, so we’ll see what is behind door number four. Speaking of, here’s four things to know before the Mavericks pack their bags and head to Cancun take on the Heat.

Bam, Bam, Bam, Bam!

With Jimmy Butler now out of the picture, the Heat can really start to invent themselves around Bam Adebayo. Adebayo is one of the top big men in the league, and while not exactly similar, he’s kind of a fully realized Dereck Lively. Bam can operate really well in the midrange, and he’ll even step out and make threes from time to time. Defensively, he’s able to switch and hold his own against guards, all the while still getting to the glass. He’s absolutely worth building around, so we’ll see what the Heat can do to make this team fit around him.

I’ll be your Herro

The player who has probably taken the biggest leap for Miami this year is Tyler Herro, who is averaging a career high 23.7 points per contest. Tyler is taking a career high 17.7 shots per game, with nearly 10 of those attempts being from deep. Even with the added volume, Herro is more efficient than he ever has been up to this point in his career. He’s nearly 56% on two’s, which is a full 6% higher than his previous career best. Herro is right there with Bam in terms of guys they can build around. If the Heat are able to turn this season around, it’s because of these two.

So.. who IS available to play?

Let’s shift our focus to the home team. Last night against the Warriors, seven of the 14 Mavericks on full time NBA contracts were out due to injury. It sure seems like at least six of them will be out for this one as well, with potentially only Dante Exum making a return. And even that’s contingent on everyone who played last night being available for the second night of a back-to-back. For guys like Kyrie Irving and Klay Thompson, that’s not ideal! But if they don’t play, Dallas would be down to playing me & you. We’ll see!

A note from us

Look, these have been a disastrous couple weeks around here since Luka was traded. The basketball has been awfully difficult to focus on amid everything happening around the trade. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed reading so many personal anecdotes from our extraordinarily talented writers, all of whom are far better at this than I am. But, the passion from you is what makes writing so many of these pieces that much easier. We appreciate you sticking with us!

There’s no telling where this journey will go. Hell, I’m not convinced this team is all that good even when healthy. However, this team fights their asses off every night and they deserve to be supported. The front office and ownership situation is quite another conversation, but the on court players are worth setting that aside for. Let’s see what they’ve got for us.