Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Heat about to step up in class
Miami faces OKC for the first time this season
OKLAHOMA CITY — Until now, the offseason makeover of the Oklahoma City Thunder had been mostly rumor to the Miami Heat.
That will change tonight, as will the degree of difficulty of the upcoming schedule.
In a pair of calendar quirks, the Heat not only will face Russell Westbrook, Paul George and Carmelo Anthony for the first time this season tonight, but the Heat will take a 180-degree turn when it comes to the quality of their next three opponents compared to the quality of the past three.
Even with Hassan Whiteside and Dwyane Wade sidelined, the Heat have played some of their best ball of the season over the past week. That, of course, also came against the Los Angeles Lakers, Denver Nuggets and New York Knicks, teams that went into Thursday with a combined record of 96-118. The Heat’s next three opponents — the Thunder, Indiana Pacers and Cleveland Cavaliers — went into Thursday at 126-90.
“This,” coach Erik Spoelstra said, “is what you want as competitors. You do. You want to go out every night and measure yourself and see how far we’ve come. We think we’ve been playing good basketball. OKC obviously has been playing at a high level right now. It’s a good challenge.”
And a challenge deferred. The Heat’s two games against Oklahoma City come in the
final 2 1⁄2 weeks of the schedule, with the Thunder visiting AmericanAirlines Arena on April 9, in the Heat’s penultimate game of the season.
“I was just thinking about that today, ‘Man, we haven’t seen OKC yet,’ “guard Wayne Ellington said, as the Heat prepared to travel to Oklahoma City and Indiana for those Friday and Sunday games before returning home Tuesday to host the Cavaliers. “They’ve got all these new pieces. It will be a challenge for us, obviously. They’ve got three big names, three All-Stars on the team.”
“Yeah,” center Kelly Olynyk said, “it’s crazy we haven’t played them yet. The way the schedule works is weird. But, I don’t know, who knows if it’s a good time or bad time to play them? We’ve got to go in and play our game.”
The tough upcoming stretch is tempered by a schedule that follows the Cavaliers’ visit with home games against the Chicago Bulls, Brooklyn Nets and Atlanta Hawks, followed by visits to Atlanta and New York.
So it’s not as if losing ground over the next three games would derail hopes of moving up in the playoff seedings as the Heat head into these final 10 games.
But the impending challenge is real, and for more than facing Westbrook, George and Anthony.
“At least we always play good against good teams,” guard Goran Dragic said. “We bring that effort, and it’s going to be a great challenge for us, especially on the road. I think we’re ready. We can beat anybody as long as we’re focused.”
Still, there was ninegame road losing streak until last Friday’s breakthrough against the Lakers at Staples Center, which stands as the Heat’s lone road win since Jan. 29 against the Dallas Mavericks. The Thunder enter 25-11 at home.
“We’ve had two very good home wins and obviously it’s a little different on the road,” Ellington said, “but we got to have that road-warrior mentality. Obviously, the competition is about to rise and it’s the perfect time. It’s the perfect test for us to go ahead and face these guys and get ready for whatever is in the postseason.”
Unless there is a dramatic swing in the Eastern Conference playoff race, the Heat will open the postseason on the road. That makes these next two somewhat of a postseason preview.
“That’s three playoff teams and two of them are on the road and that’s what the playoffs are going to be like,” Olynyk said. “It’s a good test for us.”
But first the Heat found themselves hitting the books. Because in late March, they find themselves, for the first time this season, having to go to school on the Thunder.
“When you’ve played against other teams, you’ve already done your scouting report, you already know from the first game,” Dragic said. “This is like at the beginning of the season, it feels like. We know who their main guys are — they got three awesome players — everybody else is following in their footsteps. We need to be ready, especially defensively. They like to put a lot of points on the board.”