Heat @ Cavaliers

Who will WIN this matchup?

Miami Heat (7-3)

@ Cleveland Cavaliers (4-6)

Current odds:

Miami Heat: (-136)

Cleveland Cavaliers: (+115)

• The line for this game is Heat by 2.5 points.

• The Miami Heat are battling an injury bug but continue to find ways to thrive while mixing lineups. The Heat will try to put up another high assist total and earn another win when they visit the Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday. Miami was missing Justise Winslow (concussion), Tyler Herro (hamstring), James Johnson (illness) and KZ Okpala (Achilles) on Tuesday but managed to hand out 34 assists on 41 made field goals – led by star swingman Jimmy Butler’s 13 assists – and held off Detroit 117-108 to improve to their best 10-game start since 2013 at 7-3. “We’ve built a locker room this year where we believe in each other, we trust each other to make the right play and, as you said, Jimmy is making the right play,” forward Bam Adebayo told reporters. “It’s not all about one guy on this team. Everybody had big nights out of nowhere, so just find the hot hand.”

• The Cavaliers were on the verge of a three-game winning streak before falling just short in a 98-97 setback at Philadelphia on Tuesday as Kevin Love’s attempted game-winner was off the mark. “I’m still in disbelief,” Love told reporters. “I knew when it left my hand, I thought it was good, everyone on the team thought it was good. That’s why I just threw my hands on the top of my head.”

• Butler worked to get his teammates involved early on Tuesday and finished with a season high in assists while adding 20 points. “He just really controlled the entire game in the fourth quarter offensively for us,” Miami coach Erik Spoelstra told reporters of Butler. “He choreographed basically every action. Either we got him in the middle against the zone or had him handle up top versus the man or zone going down the stretch. He just reads the game and plays the right way, even when there’s some stress and pressure and some tough possessions and the momentum shifting.” Adebayo added 18 points and a season-high 14 rebounds on Tuesday for his fifth double-double.

• Cleveland is in a rebuilding year but continues to play hard and has already pushed East contenders like Boston and Philadelphia to the final buzzer. “Things are slowly coming together. I feel that we’re moving in the right direction,” Cavaliers coach John Beilein told cleveland.com. “I love some of the leadership that we are getting, and I love the progression of the young guys. It’s never fast enough for me. It’s never fast enough for them. They all want to be stars and I want them to be really good as a team and do it fast too. But it is positive right now.” Second-year guard Collin Sexton is coming along fast and followed up a 31-point outburst in a win at New York on Sunday with 18 points against the 76ers.

• Heat rookie SG Kendrick Nunn scored 20 points on Tuesday – his fourth 20-plus effort.

• Cavaliers C Tristan Thompson collected 17 points and 12 rebounds on Tuesday for his eight double-double in 10 games.

• Miami swept the four-game series last season by an average of 17.8 points.