Slate road-heavy early, loaded with home games late

The Miami Heat have been presented with a 2021-22 NBA schedule that best can described can be described as survive and thrive.

Thirteen of the first 20 games are on the road, with 13 of the final 18 at home.

Otherwise, it starts the way it ended, with the season opener at 8 p.m. on Oct. 21 at FTX Arena against the Milwaukee Bucks, the team that swept the Heat out of the first round of the last season’s playoffs. It is the second time the Heat have opened against the defending NBA champion, having defeated the Dallas Mavericks in their 2011 opener.

Individual game tickets go on sale at 2 p.m. Saturday at Heat. com. Half-season plans also are now available at www.nba.com/ heat/tickets/partial-plans.

Unlike the past two pandemic-altered seasons, there again is a traditional 82-game schedule. And unlike last season, when travel was reduced amid COVID, the two-game baseball-type series against the same opponent at the same venue have been eliminated. The Heat will play the same opponent in consecutive games just twice this season, traveling between the cities for those sets against the Atlanta Hawks and Washington Wizards.

But travel still has been addressed, with only 14 back-toback sets on the schedule that runs through April 10, with six not involving travel (five sets of home games on back-to-back nights at FTX Arena, as well as a back-toback pairing against the two Los Angeles teams).

That doesn’t mean there won’t be travel. In fact, the Heat’s 47,000 miles traveled for conference games are the most in the East.

The Heat will play all 15 Western Conference teams on a home-andhome basis. They will play 11 of the 15 East teams twice at home and twice on the road, with the exceptions of the New York Knicks and Cleveland Cavaliers (both twice at home and once on the road) and the Boston Celtics and Indiana

Pacers (both once at home and twice on the road).

The longest homestand and longest road trip each are seven games. There also will be a seven-day break from Feb. 18 through Feb. 24 for the All-Star break.

The lone holiday games on the schedule are a New Year’s Eve game in Houston and a Martin Luther King Jr. Day game against the Toronto Raptors.

Forty-four percent of the Heat’s home games will be on what the league terms weekend days, with seven on Fridays, nine on Saturdays and two on Sundays.

The Heat lone home day game is 3:30 p.m. on Dec. 26 against the Orlando Magic.

Twenty-two of the Heat’s 82 games will be on national television: five on ESPN, five on TNT and 12 on NBA TV, which typically is blacked out in teams’ home markets. Among noteworthy games:

Oct. 29: The Heat’s first nationally televised game of the season, at 7:30 p.m. at home against the Charlotte Hornets, on ESPN.

Jan. 23: The lone visit of the season by the Lakers, who now feature former Heat players Kendrick Nunn and Trevor Ariza.

Feb. 3: Kyle Lowry’s return to Toronto. While several teams and leagues have established vaccination requirements for the coming season, the Heat have yet to announce such an attendance policy, with Governor Ron DeSantis having rebuked such a “vaccination passport” approach. Only at the end of last season did the Heat return to more typical home attendance procedures, with masks required.

The Heat are scheduled to open training camp Sept. 28.

The Heat already have announced a home preseason schedule of Oct. 4 vs. Hawks (7:30 p.m.), Oct. 11 vs. Charlotte Hornets (7:30 p.m.) and Oct. 15 vs. Boston Celtics (8 p.m.). Tickets for those games already are on sale. There also will be road exhibitions in Houston, San Antonio and Atlanta.

The 2022 NBA All-Star Game will be Feb. 20 in Cleveland. The 2022 Play-In Tournament (for seeds Nos. 7-10 in each conference) will be held April 12-15, followed by the start of the playoffs on April 16.

All game will be televised South Florida on Bally Sports Sun, with the exception of nationally exclusive games on Nov. 2, Dec. 21, Feb. 3, Feb. 10 and March 3.

Miami Heat 2021-22 Schedule (All times Eastern) October

Thu. Oct. 21: vs. Milwaukee, 8p.m.

Sat. Oct. 23: at Indiana, 7p.m., NBA TV Mon. Oct. 25: vs Orlando, 7:30p.m.

Wed. Oct. 27: at Brooklyn, 7:30p.m.

Fri. Oct. 29: vs. Charlotte 7:30p.m., ESPN Sat. Oct. 30: at Memphis, 8p.m.

November

Tue. Nov. 2: at Dallas, 7:30p.m., TNT

Thu. Nov. 4: vs. Boston, 7:30p.m., NBA TV Sat. Nov. 6: vs. Utah, 7:30p.m., NBA TV Mon. Nov. 8: at Denver, 9p.m.

Wed, Nov. 10: at L.A. Lakers, 10p.m., ESPN Thu. Nov. 11: at LA Clippers, 10:30p.m., NBA TV Sat. Nov. 13: at Utah, 5p.m., NBA TV

Mon, Nov. 15: at Oklahoma City, 8p.m. Wed. Nov. 17: vs. New Orleans, 7:30p.m. Thu. Nov. 18: vs. Washington, 7:30p.m.

Sat. Nov. 20: at Washington, 7p.m.

Tue. Nov. 23: at Detroit, 7p.m.

Wed. Nov. 24: at Minnesota, 8p.m.

Sat. Nov. 27: at Chicago, 8p.m.

Mon Nov. 29: vs. Denver, 7:30p.m., NBA TV December

Wed. Dec. 1: vs. Cleveland, 7:30p.m.

Fri. Dec. 3: at Indiana, 7p.m.

Sat. Dec. 4: at Milwaukee, 8p.m.

Mon. Dec. 6: vs. Memphis, 7:30p.m.

Wed. Dec. 8: vs. Milwaukee, 7:30p.m., ESPN

Sat. Dec. 11: vs. Chicago, 8p.m.

Mon. Dec. 13: at Cleveland, 7p.m.

Wed. Dec. 15: at Philadelphia, 7p.m.

Fri. Dec. 17: at Orlando, 7p.m.

Sun. Dec. 19: at Detroit, 6p.m.

Tue. Dec. 21: vs. Indiana, 7:30p.m., TNT Thu, Dec. 23: vs. Detroit, 7:30p.m.

Sun. Dec. 26: vs. Orlando, 3:30p.m.

Tue. Dec. 28vs. Washington 7:30p.m., NBA TV Wed. Dec. 29: at San Antonio, 8:30p.m.

Fri. Dec. 31: at Houston, 7p.m.

January

Sun. Jan. 2: at Sacramento, 6p.m.

Mon. Jan. 3: at Golden State, 10p.m., NBA TV Wed. Jan. 5: at Portland, 10p.m.

Sat. Jan. 8: at Phoenix, 9p.m.

Wed. Jan. 12: at Atlanta, 7:30p.m.

Fri. Jan. 14: vs. Atlanta, 8p.m.

Sat. Jan. 15: vs. Philadelphia, 8p.m. Mon. Jan. 17: vs. Toronto, 7:30p.m.

Wed. Jan. 19: vs. Portland, 7:30p.m.

Fri. Jan. 21: at Atlanta, 7:30p.m.

Sun. Jan. 23: vs. L.A. Lakers, 6p.m., NBA TV Wed. Jan. 26: vs. New York, 7:30p.m.

Fri. Jan. 28: vs. LA Clippers, 8p.m.

Sat. Jan. 29: vs. Toronto, 8p.m.

Mon. Jan. 31: at Boston, 7:30p.m., NBA TV February

Thu. Feb. 3: at Toronto, 7:30p.m., TNT

Sat. Feb. 5: at Charlotte, 7p.m.

Mon Feb. 7: at Washington, 7p.m.

Thu. Feb. 10: at New Orleans, 7:30p.m., TNT Sat. Feb. 12: vs. Brooklyn, 8p.m.

Tue. Feb. 15: vs. Dallas, 7:30p.m.

Thu. Feb. 17: at Charlotte, 7p.m.

Fri. Feb. 25: at New York, 7:30p.m., ESPN Sat. Feb. 26: vs. San Antonio, 8p.m.

Mon. Feb. 28: vs. Chicago, 7:30p.m.

March

Wed. March 2: at Milwaukee, 8p.m.

Thu. March 3: at Brooklyn, 7:30p.m., TNT Sat. March 5: vs. Philadelphia, 8p.m. Mon. March 7: vs. Houston, 7:30p.m. Wed. March 9: vs. Phoenix, 7:30p.m.

Fri. March 11: vs. Cleveland, 8p.m.

Sat. March 12: vs. Minnesota, 8p.m.

Tue. March 15: vs. Detroit, 7:30p.m.

Fri. March 18: vs. Oklahoma City, 8p.m. Mon. March 21: at Philadelphia, 7p.m. Wed. March 23: vs. Golden State, 7:30p.m. Fri. March 25: vs. New York, 8p.m.

Sat. March 26: vs. Brooklyn, 8p.m., NBA TV Mon. March 28: vs. Sacramento, 7:30p.m. Wed. March 30: at Boston, 7:30p.m., ESPN April

Sat. April 2: at Chicago, 8p.m.

Sun. April 3: at Toronto, 7p.m., NBA TV Tue. April 5: vs. Charlotte 7:30p.m.

Fri. April 8: vs. Atlanta, 8p.m.

Sun. April 10: at Orlando, TBA