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Heat welcome Kings to South Beach

Mar 7, 2015 - 3:20 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The Miami Heat will play the next three games at home, starting with Saturday's matchup with the Sacramento Kings.

The Heat are scheduled to play Boston and Brooklyn at AmericanAirlines Arena and have a 12-17 record in South Beach.

Miami hopes to keep its postseason fate alive and is currently even with the Indiana Pacers for the eighth seed in the East. Miami had a modest two-game winning streak stopped with Friday's 99-97 loss at Washington, as Goran Dragic scored 18 points and suffered a lower back contusion after taking a hard fall late in the third quarter. He didn't play the fourth.

Shabazz Napier had 16 points and Michael Beasley netted all 13 of his points in the final quarter for the Heat, who played without guard Dwyane Wade (sore right hip) and forward Luol Deng (right thigh contusion).

The Heat never led in the game and Henry Walker missed a shot from the left corner in the closing moments. Wizards guard Bradley Beal earlier made 1-of-2 free throws with 1.6 seconds left and Miami called a timeout after the second attempt missed.

The Heat inbounded with 1.3 seconds remaining, but Beasley failed to get a shot off before time expired.

"That comes from inexperience. I was so anxious to do great for my team, I just had a brain cramp. That's my fault," Beasley said.

Miami hopes Dragic, Wade and Deng will return versus the Kings and all three are listed as questionable.

Sacramento has dropped four of its last five games and is 1-2 on an eight-game road trip, which continued with Friday's 119-114 defeat against the Orlando Magic. The Magic had a 35-26 lead after the first quarter and scored 68 points in the first half.

Victor Oladipo led the hosts with 32 points and 10 assists, while Rudy Gay poured in 39 points on 16-of-26 shooting for the Kings. Demarcus Cousins had 29 points and 12 boards in defeat.

"I don't think we were aggressive enough on on-ball defense," Cousins said after recording his 36th double-double. "It kind of got those guys going, especially Victor and Payton. We let them penetrate, they made plays with the penetration."

The Kings had a 100-99 lead midway through the fourth quarter, but the Magic scored 20 of the final 34 points for the win.

Forward Jason Thompson played in his 519th career game with the Kings, becoming the team's record holder for most games played in the Sacramento era.

Sacramento is 3-5 since George Karl took over as coach at the All-Star break.

Gay is averaging 24.5 ppg in his last four games and has scored 20-plus points in three of those contests for the Kings, who are 8-20 on the road and still have stops in Atlanta, Charlotte, Philadelphia and Washington on the horizon.

Miami defeated Sacramento, 95-83, on Jan. 16 in California and did not have Wade because of a hamstring injury. The Heat have won 19 of the last 21 games in this series and 12 in a row as the host.

Sacramento's last victory in Miami occurred on Nov. 10, 2001 (90-75).

The Heat are 35-17 all-time in this series (23-3 at home).