Matching his mentor
Coach has won 453 since debut in 2008
Spoelstra to tie Riley for Heat wins as coach.
MIAMI — Erik Spoelstra won’t go there, because it assumes a victory, something Erik Spoelstra never assumes.
But Wednesday night at AmericanAirlines Arena, Spoelstra could be there, tied with Pat Riley for most regular-season victories by a Miami Heat coach.
Heading into tonight’s game against the Portland Trail Blazers, Spoelstra is at 453 coaching victories, all with the Heat, one shy of Riley’s Heat total.
Granted, Riley has coached 1,210 victories, when including his tenures with the Los Angeles Lakers and New York Knicks, but it took him 11 seasons to reach those 454 Heat victories, with Spoelstra in the midst of his 10th season as Heat coach.
Requested for comment on the subject after reaching 453 with Monday’s 107-82 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies, Spoelstra politely declined through a team spokesman.
Heat captain Udonis Haslem, who has been on the roster for all 10 of Spoelstra’s seasons as coach, said he appreciates the reticence.
“There’s nothing wrong with that,” Haslem said. “There’s still a long season ahead of us. The plan this season wasn’t to come in and help Spo break Riles’ record.
The plan was to get to the playoffs and see where we
can go from there.”
Wednesday’s moment could be all the more meaningful because of the opponent, with Spoelstra raised in Portland and a collegiate player at the University of Portland.
“I’m sure,” Haslem said, “he was thankful he has the opportunity to break that record, but I know his mind is elsewhere.”
Riley, in his dual role as Heat president, named Spoelstra coach on April 28, 2008, in the wake of the team’s 15-67 2007-08 finish.
“It says,” Haslem said of Riley, “he got the right guy for the job.”
As a matter of perspective, Kevin Loughery is third on the Heat’s all-time regular-season coaching victory list at 133 and Stan Van Gundy is fourth at 112.
“I mean you’re talking about Pat, a Hall of Fame guy,” Haslem said. “You get mentioned in that conversation or surpass him or break that record, it’s a tribute to Spo and how he’s grown and the work he’s put into it and the product the organization has put out there on the floor.”
Spoelstra’s tenure began with a roster that featured Michael Beasley and later was bolstered by the additions of LeBron James and Chris Bosh alongside Dwyane Wade, resulting in trips to the NBA Finals from 2011 to 2014, with championships in 2012 and ’13.
Spoelstra already holds the Heat coaching record for playoff victories, with 70. Riley recorded 34 of his 171 postseason coaching victories with the Heat.
Haslem said the similarities between Riley and Spoelstra are tangible.
“They still preach defense, Miami Heat culture, their principles are still the same,” he said. “Obviously Spo added some things offensively, some things he wants to do with the way the game is today. But overall, values and principles, defensively, everything is still the same.”
While Spoelstra declined to comment on what the next victory means, guard Dion Waiters was clear, saying, “it’s a milestone.”
There is one area, though, that Haslem said Spoelstra still somewhat lags behind Riley.
“Riles got a lot of history and been around a long time,” Haslem said. “He had a lot of different stories to motivate you and get in your head. He picks his spot when to be direct and picked his spots when to tell his story. I don’t think Spo has as many stories as Riley yet.”
Haslem said he expects the record-tying moment to be one that also provides satisfaction to Riley.
“He’ll be happy for him,” he said. “It says he got the right guy for the job.”
Spoelstra has insisted on remaining in the moment, particularly the two-game winning streak the Heat bring home, after losing four of their previous five, once again back at .500, at 13-13.
Two of the Heat’s strongest defensive efforts have come in the past two games, limiting the Brooklyn Nets to .407 shooting in Saturday’s victory in Mexico City, and then the Grizzlies to .389 shooting Monday.
“Hopefully,” Spoelstra said, “that’s something we can build on. I liked how we got stronger, tougher, more resilient in both second halves, different guys in each game, and took a lot of pressure off ourselves by getting multiple stops and then the offense becomes a little easier going down the other end.”
To Spoelstra, what would make a victory Wednesday meaningful is evening the home record at 6-6, after improving to 8-7 on the road with the 2-1 trip, perhaps rekindling a sense of homecourt advantage.
“Yeah, we’d certainly like to,” he said. “The last time, it was a tough stretch when we had all those home games. We can’t get ahead of ourselves. We have a very tough game on Wednesday.”