Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
NBA’S BEST HOME TEAM? THAT WOULD BE THE HEAT
MIAMI — Homecourt advantage largely was an abstract last season for the Miami Heat, as the 19-22 record ultimately attested to at AmericanAirlines Arena.
This season, albeit through a modest sample size, it has been undeniable.
The Heat not only enter Saturday’s game against the visiting New Orleans Pelicans at 4-0 at AmericanAirlines Arena, but with a league-best 14.8 scoring margin at home, as well as the league’s best home field-goal percentage (49.7) and secondbest home 3-point percentage (42.6).
“We’re getting off to good starts,” center Kelly Olynyk said. “And that’s really a huge thing, especially at home. When you go on the road and you’re down 15-4, that stuff takes a toll through the whole game and then you’re battling up the hill on the road.
“So if we can keep getting off to good starts, I like our chances.”
It very much has been an uphill battle this season for all who have entered in
opposing colors.
There was a 23-point lead in the opener against the Memphis Grizzlies. That was followed by a 20-point lead in the next home game against the Atlanta Hawks and then a 41-point advantage in the annihilation of the Houston Rockets.
And then, on Tuesday night, the Heat held a 29-point lead against the Detroit Pistons.
“We come out of that locker room, we’re just together,” guard Goran Dragic said. “We just care.”
Heat President Pat Riley made a point at the end of last season about the frustration of the 2018-19 homecourt futility.
“We sell the product through culture, we sell the product through on-court performance, especially at home, which we didn’t get that,” Riley said in April. “That bothers me. How we lost games at home at times really upset me, and the last thing I want to do is send our fans out to the beautiful night of Miami cheering like crazy in the first half of a 20-point lead and then leaving with a one-point loss.”
Riley wasn’t the only one exiting with an empty feeling last season. Dragic said there is a sense of obligation to the home crowd, one that has proved more rewarding this season.
“The fans are paying for those tickets and we want to give them what they want — and that’s winning,” he said. “It didn’t feel right last season.
“For me, the whole season didn’t feel right anyway. But, yeah, we want to be one of those teams that is dominating at home.”
Dragic said the quality of opponent should be a secondary factor.
“When you play at home, this is our house,” he said. “We should protect it, no matter who is playing.”
Olynyk said part of last season’s homecourt failing was a factor of the overall 39-43 record.
“I don’t know if we lost our mojo,” he said of the ugly nights at 601 Biscayne. “We were sort of the same on the road as at home.”
At home, of course, is where more is expected.
“We knew we were better than what we showed at home,” Olynyk said. “The troubling part was we just weren’t putting it all together. Now, we’re just playing together. I don’t even know if there’s a specific reason.” Just a different feeling. “It definitely feels different,” forward James Johnson said. “It’s puts confidence in us at home. I think that’s the biggest hurdle we had to jump, and I think right now, so far, we’re doing a great job with that.”
The Heat closed 20-21 on the road last season, a record that with ample home success typically leads to a quality playoff seed, unlike the Heat’s lottery finish.
“It was a little frustrating,” Johnson said of the home hiccups. “Most time it’s the opposite, and last year we were road warriors. This year we’re putting it together, where when we get home, we also put it together.”