Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Off the road
Heat begin six-game homestand.
MIAMI — At 7-17, the Miami Heat hardly are in position to exhale. But for the first time in weeks, the schedule at least provides breathing room.
After a brutal stretch of 10 of 13 on the road that ended Saturday night with a 105-100 loss to the Chicago Bulls there at least is the solace of a season-longest six-game homestand that opens Monday at AmericanAirlines Arena against the Washington Wizards.
“We have a couple of days to just go through practice and sleep in our beds at home, see our kids, family, and not to be in the cold weather anymore,” guard Goran Dragic said after the loss to the Bulls extended the Heat’s losing streak to five. “I think that’s going to help, just give us that confidence that we can go further.”
The other aspect of the extended period at home is allowing teammates to reacquaint themselves. Each of the past two three-game trips has come with several players left behind to rehabilitate injuries.
“I think it’ll be good for the guys who aren’t playing, they don’t feel left out,” said guard Josh Richardson, who returned Saturday from a six-game injury absence with a sprained right ankle, having started the trip back at the team facilities, where Justise Winslow, Dion Waiters, James Johnson and Luke Babbitt remained. “That’s how I felt when I went home. I felt like I wanted to be more of a part of the team.
“So I think it’ll be good for them just to be around us every day. And we’ll just encourage them when we’re there.”
The Heat’s road resolve again was evident Saturday, with the game in the balance until the final possession, a bungled attempt by Dragic to set up a potential game-tying 3-pointer off an inbounds play with 10.6 seconds to play.
What has been lacking this season has been consistency at home, with a 2-8 record at AmericanAirlines Arena, where the Heat have lost their past three.
“We’ve got to protect home court,” center Hassan Whiteside said. “We really built a toughness on the road, and I really think we can make a big improvement, so I’m excited.
“It’d be great to get Justise and Dion and those guys back. I’m really happy for what the future holds.”
The fact that any semblance of optimism remains is encouraging at a time when the teams record is anything but.
“It’s not easy,” Dragic said. “It’s not easy when you are losing games and you have only six, seven, eight people. And those guys are those players would be coming in fresh.”
The loss in Chicago ended the Heat’s lone stretch this season of four games in five nights, so at least there’s that.
The Heat are at a stage where .500 ball — if that is even possible — over the balance of the season would produce nothing more than a 36-46 record, Maximizing the homestand could create a brighter outlook.
Or turn the focus even more to maximizing draft position.
“I’m not going to put an overriding emphasis or pressure on that,” coach Erik Spoelstra said of exploiting the homestand. “We’re going to get back to work, and, hopefully, like I said, have one or two new guys or players coming back from injury. But regardless, see if we can continue to build the foundation and take a big step.”
For a team that lost Dwyane Wade in free agency and Chris Bosh again to blood clots, it is re-establishing that foundation that has been Spoelstra’s ongoing message, as the Heat coach seemingly is treating the standings as an ancillary aspect.
“Hopefully we’ll have guys coming back,” Spoelstra said. “It’s great to have J-Rich out there. And if we have some more bodies this week, we’ll be able to practice and prepare, and continue to build a foundation.”
Richardson said: “I think once we get our whole team back, once we get healthy, I think that things might start turning around. But we haven’t played in one game this year with our whole roster, so it’s tough.”