The start of the Miami Heat's journey into the inaugural NBA In-season tournament begins Friday as they try to defend home court as they take on the Washington Wizards. It's been a brutal start to the season for the Heat as after winning the opener against the Detroit Pistons, they dropped the next four games, including a painful loss to the Brooklyn Nets Wednesday night.

If there's one aspect about the NBA In-season tournament that's positive, it serves as a fresh start for the Heat where records don't count and they can create their own path and control their destiny. The Heat have been put in East Group B where they join the Wizards, Milwaukee Bucks, New York Knicks, and the Charlotte Hornets.

To explain the In-season tournament briefly, the Heat will start “group play” against the Wizards tomorrow and face each of the aforementioned teams in their section at selected times. It'll be two games at the Kaseya Center and the other two will be played on the floor of the opposing team.

While you'll hear about the group play matchups later for the Heat, the sure-fire way a team advances to the knockout stages is to have the best record in the group. Eight teams make it to next round, three from each conference who are at the top of their groups and one wild-card from the East and West who had the best second-place finish. Even though it might be a lot of information to take in, we got you covered.

Here are the dates, times, and bold predictions for the NBA In-season tournament in regards to the Heat:

Group play game #1: Heat vs. Wizards (Nov. 3 at 7:30 p.m. EST)

As said before, this game is happening Friday night and it's another winnable game for the Heat on the schedule. However, after watching the team perform over the last five games, anything can happen. The team has shown they can build huge leads, but as head coach Erik Spoelstra told ClutchPoints after the Nets loss yesterday, they have to sustain them.

Wizards are coming into this game 1-3 as they've expectedly been sluggish to start out. For the Heat to win this game, they'll have to maintain the scoring of Kyle Kuzma (23 points per game), Jordan Poole (17.3 points per game), and limit turnovers as they had 18 against the Nets.

Group play game #2: Heat at Hornets (Nov. 14 at 7:00 p.m. EST)

Anything can happen from this date until Nov. 14, but the Hornets have also struggled to find their footing as they've also stated 1-3. While it's still early in the season, Hornets star Lamelo Ball is currently experiencing a down year as he's scoring 15 points with his eight assists per game. It's been the Terry Rozier and P.J. Washington show as they've been the top two scorers, but if the Heat's defense picks back up to speed, there's no doubt they can be stopped in their tracks.

Because this game is on the road, it could give Charlotte a slight edge as the Heat haven't won a game yet on an opponent's home floor. Once again, there's only been five games played so far.

Group play game #3: Heat at Knicks (Nov. 24 at 7:30 p.m. EST)

In an Eastern Conference semi-finals rematch, the Heat try to spoil the Knicks chances in Madison Square Garden like they did last season in the playoffs. Once again, the Knicks are in the midst of a slow start as top players like Julius Randle and Jalen Brunson have yet to play to the standard fans are used to.

The Heat are hoping they can get the Knicks like how they are in the present, but hoping a team is the same several weeks from now is an invitation to get burned. It's worth noting that in the two games played in Madison Square Garden in the regular season last year, Miami didn't win once.

Group play game #4: Heat vs. Bucks (Nov. 28 at 7:30 p.m. EST)

Another chapter of the Heat-Bucks rivalry will be written, this time during the In-season tournament. The two teams have already faced once as the Bucks beat Miami, 122-114, on Oct. 30. However, the Heat were missing key players like big-man Bam Adebayo.

These two teams have went back and forth against each other as the Heat beat the Bucks in five games in last season's playoffs which kickstarted a magical run by star Jimmy Butler and the squad. Will the same happen at the In-season tournament? Hard to know, but the Bucks are currently 2-2 having just lost to the Toronto Raptors Wednesday night.

Heat bold prediction for the start of the NBA In-season tournament

Miami advances to the knockout stage as a wild card

Like alluded to during the article, the Heat should realistically beat the Wizards and the Hornets. While they haven't been proven to handle business yet against inferior teams, they should be able to get it done against those two and then take advantage of a still unproven Knicks team on the road. While the game is at Miami, it'll be hard for the Heat to stop Giannis Antetokounmpo, Damian Lillard, and the Bucks.

Finishing at 3-1 in the group stage and most likely the Bucks sweeping the other teams, the Heat will advance to the knockout stage, but as the one wild-card from the Eastern Conference. Some might not see the team succeeding because of the massive slump they're in, but it's a long season, and possibly the In-season tournament can be an opportunity for an imaginary “fresh start.”

The knockout stages will take place from December 4th through the 9th, beginning with the quarterfinals in single-elimination games. Let's see if the Heat can make some noise.