Dwyane Wade Gives Pep Talk Ahead Of Tonight's Unrivaled Championship Game

The Vinyl Basketball Club pulled off a huge upset of the Lunar Owls in the Unrivaled women's 3-on-3 basketball league.

Now, they go for the championship tonight against Rose. The game is at 7:30 p.m. on TNT. Vinyl received a special pre-game pep talk from Miami Heat legend Dwyane Wade. A video was posted on Instagram.

"It doesn't matter that we're underdogs," Wade said to the team. "We're just looking at the person in front of us. Your confidence comes from your work. And the biggest thing, which we all know, outside of communication is strictly effort and understanding the game."

The Vinyl Instagram account responded, saying the pep talk has them motivated, "A little pre-game chat from the Miami 🐐 himself. Now we’re locked in. (& I’m not saying who his favorite team is but…ewwra-ewwra🎶)."

Wade is an advocate of the women's game. He is part owner of the Chicago Sky of the WNBA. Angel Reese, who plays for the Sky, will not participate in the title game for Rose. She is dealing with a wrist injury.

HEAT VS KNICKS TONIGHT

The Miami Heat catch a break tonight when they face the New York Knicks, who without All-Star guard Jalen Brunson.

He is dealing with a sprained ankle. The Heat are relatively healthy but Andrew Wiggins is a game-time decision. He is listed as questionable due to a leg injury.

INJURY REPORT

HEAT

Alec Burks: Out - Back

Nikola Jovic: Out - Hand

Josh Christopher: Out - G League

Dru Smith: Out - Achilles

Keshad Johnson: Out - G League

Isaiah Stevens: Out - G League

Andrew Wiggins: Questionable - Leg

KNICKS

Jalen Brunson: Out - Ankle

Pacome Dadiet: Questionable - G League

Ariel Hukporti: Out - Knee

Kevin McCullar Jr: Out - G League

Here's the game preview:

Game time: 7:30 p.m., Madison Square Garden, New York

TV: FanDuel Sports Network

Betting line: Heat +7, FanDuel

VITALS: The Heat and Knicks meet for the third and final regular season matchup. So far this season, New York has won both previous matchups and with a win, the Knicks would sweep the series for the first time in over 30 years (1992-93). Over that same span, Miami has swept the regular season series against New York seven different times. The Heat are 66-73 all-time versus the Knicks during the regular season, including 37-32 in home games and 29-41 in road games.

PROJECTED STARTERS

HEAT

G Tyler Herro

G Duncan Robinson

C Kel'el Ware

F Andrew Wiggins

F Bam Adebayo

KNICKS

G Miles McBride

G Josh Hart

C Karl-Anthony Towns

F Mikal Bridges

F OG Anunoby

QUOTABLE

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra on the seven-game losing streak: “Enough has been said in the locker room. But we have a certain standard of how we expect to play and compete and we did not meet that standard (Saturday). When we meet that standard, it doesn’t mean that we’re going to win. Obviously we’re struggling to figure out how to win games.”

Shandel Richardson is the publisher of Miami Heat On SI. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com

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