The reigning NBA Champions Miami Heat (2-1) will be looking to improve to 3-1 on the young 2012-2013 NBA season tonight when they host the Phoenix Suns (1-2) at the American Airlines Arena in Miami.
Coming off a nail-biting 119-116 victory Saturday over the Denver Nuggets, the Heat are looking to continue getting big contributions from the newest Heat member, all-time league three-point king, Ray Allen.
Landing in Miami this past summer via free agency from the rival Boston Celtics, Allen had a huge night against the Nuggets last Saturday, scoring 23 points including a clutch 4-point play with 6.7 remaining in the fourth quarter to get the win for Miami.
After dealing with Allen's deadly three-point accuracy as opponents for years, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra is one that is glad to have one of the league's most feared sharpshooters wearing Miami's red and black colors now.
"We've been on the other end, as the recipient of that type of pain, in the locker room when he puts the dagger to your heart with a 3 - and the and-one, just for the heck of it," Spoelstra told NBA.com. "Do we expect him to do that every single night? That's not necessarily what he has to do. It's what he's done his whole career, but he's found a way to fit in."
Meanwhile, the Heat will be looking to get big contributions from All-Star center Chris Bosh. While he doesn't get as much attention as his "Big Three" counterparts LeBron James and Dwayne Wade, when Bosh is on his game, Miami's offense is practically indefensible.
He proved that Saturday, scoring 31 points on 15-of-22 shooting against Denver's defense, and with Bosh averaging 27.9 points against the Suns over his last eight games playing Phoenix, according to NBA.com, Miami's talented center could have a huge game tonight.
"We haven't been playing our best basketball," Bosh told NBA.com. "We know we've gotten off to a slow start defensively. We have to pick that up."
Phoenix is not coming in to play the defending champions under the best of circumstances. The Suns got handily beaten by the Orlando Magic, 115-94 after the Magic rallied from behind in the third quarter with a whopping 40 points.
"I think we're struggling somewhat to have consistency offensively," Suns coach Alvin Gentry told the Associated Press after the game. "We had our moments....But we're a work in progress and we continue to work and try to get better and we'll see what happens."
If Phoenix wants to have any chance of beating the Heat tonight, they will need to get huge doses of that consistency quickly, or else the offensively-loaded world champions could make Phoenix's lopsided Saturday beatdown look like child's play.
Game time is set for 7:30 p.m. EST.