Heat need a fast start against DeRozan, LaVine, Kings

The Miami Heat welcome the Sacramento Kings in their first matchup of the season. The Heat have recently showed some flaws in their game, and this could be a good game to reset the team. The Kings are 5-17 (2-10 away) and 14th in the Western Conference. The Heat will enter the game 14-9 (10-2 at home) and in 6th place in the Eastern Conference.

A quick start

Dec 5, 2025; Orlando, Florida, USA; Miami Heat guard Norman Powell (24) controls the ball against the Orlando Magic in the second quarter at Kia Center. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images | Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

The Miami Heat are the much better team in this contest and should be able to take advantage of a Kings team that is 29th in Net Rating. The Kings struggle on both ends of the floor being 27th in Offensive Rating and 26th in Defensive Rating. Simply put this team is bad. The Heat need to take advantage of this early and not let the Kings gain confidence by staying in the game. Bad teams are still an NBA team, and confidence is a funny thing. This is perfectly shown when looking at the Kings season. They have only five wins, but three wins are the Warriors, Nuggets and Timberwolves. A quick start to kill the confidence is essential. If the Heat go up early, chances are the lead will continue to grow as the game goes on.

The bench does their job

Nov 17, 2025; Miami, Florida, USA; Miami Heat forward Simone Fontecchio (0) reacts after scoring against the New York Knicks during the first quarter at Kaseya Center. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images | Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

The Miami bench has been a point of strength for the Heat all year. The past few games have been a different story. The issue is there has only been one good player off the bench in the past two games, Jaime Jaquez Jr last night and Kel’el Ware in the Dallas Mavericks game. Other than those two performances the bench was lackluster. For example, Simone Fontecchio has been disappointing from three in recent memory shooting 9/49 in the past 9 games, which is good for 18.4%. The Heat have a huge advantage on this game in terms of depth. The Heat needs the 2nd unit to dominate and not let up the pressure the starters should be able to put on the Kings.

Keep the Kings big names in check

Dec 5, 2025; Orlando, Florida, USA; Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo (13) controls the ball against the Orlando Magic in the first quarter at Kia Center. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images | Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

As previously detailed, the Kings struggle on both ends and are one of the worst teams in the NBA. Though they struggle, they still have some big names that can do some damage on any given game. The Heat will be helped that the Kings star center Domantas Sabonis is not available for the contest, but they will still roll out DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine. Both of these players are past their prime and their names are bigger than their performances, but they still have some left in the tank if you give them a chance. LaVine and DeRozan are the Kings best offensive players, and if they are not scoring then the Heat will have an excellent chance of winning big.