Erik Spoelstra is confident in the Miami Heat's depth playing a b… — and more

Erik Spoelstra is confident in the Miami Heat's depth playing a big part in a rocky season originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The Miami Heat have been a puzzling team this season with some high highs and some low lows. They have a decent 30-27 record, which is good for the eighth seed at the moment. With head coach Erik Spoelstra in charge, he always gets the most out of his players.

This season, they have struggled with all types of injuries to their players. Tyler Herro is a major one, as he has faced constant issues that have taken him out. Considering he was just an All-Star last season, the Heat have struggled without him.

Spoelstra still has faith in the Heat's depth

Miami has a decent roster with Herro, Bam Adebayo, and newly minted All-Star Norman Powell. The trio is enough to be competitive in the East, but they have not strung games together consistently.

Aside from the stars, the Heat also have a good group of role players. This includes names like Jaime Jaquez Jr., Andrew Wiggins, Pelle Larsson, and more. They have a good group, but they are not consistently getting the results they want. 

MORE: Miami Heat receive key Tyler Herro injury update ahead of matchup vs. Hawks

The Eastern Conference has been quite competitive, which has led to the Heat struggling a bit. Despite these struggles, Spoelstra has full faith in his team, especially with their depth. They have been doing it the entire season, which should lead to some good results.

"I have a lot of positive feelings about our team and our depth, we've used it all season long. We've used it when guys have been out, and last night was an example of when we had our full roster, you could feel the depth. You could feel the level of talent, you know, that we have on the roster," Spoelstra said to Clutchpoints' Zachary Weinberger ahead of the Heat's game against the Grizzlies.

Spoelstra wants good consistency from the Heat, and they could build that with better health. They have a talented roster, and they will only get better when they have a full rotation. Moving forward, it will be challenging, but they have to believe in the rotation to get the best results.

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The Houston Cougars have suffered back-to-back losses against top-ranked teams, sparking urgent questions about their NCAA tournament viability.

With March approaching, the team faces a critical challenge to prove they can bounce back before the tournament begins.

Norm Hall via Getty Images

Dillon Brooks' breakout season has been one of the most surprising stories of the NBA season. That story is now on hold.

The Phoenix Suns star sustained a broken left hand seven minutes into Saturday's game against the Orlando Magic, according to ESPN's Shams Charania. He reportedly does not yet have a timetable. Brooks scored 5 points and grabbed 3 rebounds in the Magic game before he went down.

Brooks, 30, has averaged 21.2 points, 3.7 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.1 steals on 44.1% shooting this season. This was Brooks first year with the Suns, after he was acquired along with Jalen Green in a trade that sent Kevin Durant to the Houston Rockets.

This article will be updated with more information.

The No. 5 UConn Huskies entered a packed Xfinity Mobile Arena on Saturday night and caught a battle early but left with a big win, 73-63, to improve to 25-3 and 15-2 in the Big East. The Huskies responded nicely to their home loss at Creighton and snapped a six-game Wildcats’ winning streak that started after their last game against UConn.

​Alex Karaban led the way with 12 points and 6 rebounds. Tarris Reed added 10 points and 6 boards and Braylon Mullins chipped in with 10 points despite fouling out.

UConn held Davis Brennan, averaging a double-double this season, to just 7 points and 3 rebounds, with his first points coming in garbage time in the 2nd half. Huge credit to Reed and Eric Reibe for locking up Villanova’s leader all night. They also held star point guard Acaden Lewis, who had 11 points in the first half, scoreless in the second.

The Huskies were revealed to be a 2 seed by the NCAA selection committee on Saturday afternoon, and maybe they took that personally. They routed Villanova in the second half, leading by as much as 21 points before a garbage-time run made the final score closer.

The first five minutes of the contest were an offensive barrage on both sides. UConn made six of its first seven shots. Silas Demary got going early, burying his first triple. Tyler Perkins got off to a white-hot start for Villanova, scoring their first eight points.

The Huskies gained momentum midway through the first half, led by their defense. Jayden Ross picked up a block and Malachi Smith finished on the other end. Two possessions later, Jaylin Stewart picked Devin Askew’s pocket, and Solo Ball slammed it home to put UConn up 5, forcing Kevin Willard to call a timeout.

The Wildcats responded rather quickly, and the fans were starting to get rowdy. UConn turned the ball over five times in six minutes, and Villanova capitalized on it, scoring 10 points off Husky turnovers. An and-one from Matt Hodge put them back in the lead.

As the Wildcats were on offense, the student section let Dan Hurley know what they thought about him. The “F— Dan Hurley!” chants are usual when UConn is on the road in the Big East.  

Dan Hurley called a timeout with four and a half minutes to go in the first half, and from there on ou UConn turned up their defense and were able to hold onto the ball. Demary hit a big mid-range jumper, and Braylon Mullins got on the board from downtown.

UConn went into the halftime locker room with a 34-32 lead despite shooting 58% from the field.

“[It’s] just the turnovers, most of which are unforced, or else we’d be up double figures,” Hurley said at halftime.

UConn looked like a different team when the second half began, going on a 10-2 run, with Mullins and Ball leading the charge with a three, and Tarris Reed a beast down low. Reed got anywhere he wanted once he was fed the ball in the low post.

The Huskies held Villanova to just four points in the first five and a half minutes, and they made their first field goal with 14:35 to play.

Villanova was able to gain some momentum when Reed checked out. After a timeout, the bench unit of Smith, Ross, Stewart, Mullins, and Reibe was able to throw the knockout punch. They went up 15 from a pair of Stewart threes, and a sweet coast-to-coast finish by Smith sucked the life out of the building.

The defense in the second half was night and day compared to the first half. Whatever Hurley said in the locker room at the half clearly worked. The team finished with 8 blocks, 3 coming from Reed. Reed has been a monster all season, and he’s getting hot at the right time.

UConn was able to handle Villanova for the remainder of the game; the Wildcats scored a handful of garbage-time points to make the score look a bit respectable.

UConn is back in action on Wednesday night against No. 22 St. John’s. This is arguably the game of the year for the Huskies. A win would give UConn sole possession of first place in the Big East. Tipoff is set for 7:00 p.m. on Peacock.

Cavaliers acquire 6-foot-3 former Pacers star, two-time All-Star via G-League trade originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The Cleveland Cavaliers weren’t the only ones to make a splash this season via a trade (they shipped Darius Garland to the Los Angeles Clippers for James Harden).

The Cavaliers’ G-League affiliate, the Canton Charge, recently acquired a 6-foot-3 former Indiana Pacers guard and two-time All-Star via a G-League trade. 

According to the G-League’s official website, Victor Oladipo is now a member of the Charge. Not too long ago, Oladipo was an established stud who had no issue going toe-to-toe with future Hall of Fame forward LeBron James. 

After spending three seasons with the Orlando Magic and one with the Oklahoma City Thunder, Oladipo joined the Pacers via a summer trade and immediately elevated his play.

The former lottery pick averaged 23.1 points, 5.2 rebounds, 4.3 assists, and 2.4 steals per game with Indiana in Year 1, nearly guiding the franchise to a first-round series win against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

While Oladipo was still a high-level contributor after the 2017-18 season, injuries ultimately derailed his NBA career. After leaving the Pacers in 2021, the Indiana product competed with the Houston Rockets and Miami Heat before finding himself out of NBA work. 

Although Oladipo, who’s contributing 16.9 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.9 assists, and 1.6 steals per game for his career, is a shell of his former self, he could eventually play his way into another standard NBA contract.

More NBA: Lakers acquire 6-foot-11 ex-Heat center via G-League trade