Game on once more for Heat

It’s game on again for the Miami Heat and the NBA — but only if health hurdles can be cleared.

The NBA Board of Governors, as expected, on Thursday approved, by a 29-1 vote, a return-to-work plan that will include 22 of the league’s 30 teams, ending the season for eight teams well out of the playoff race. The lone dissenting vote was cast by the Portland Trail Blazers.

“While the COVID-19 pandemic presents formidable challenges, we are hopeful of finishing the season in a safe and responsible manner based on strict protocols now being finalized with public health officials and medical experts,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement.

After shutting down March 11 due to the pandemic, the league’s owners ratified a plan to resume July 31 at the Wide World of Sports campus on the Disney World complex just outside of Orlando.

The restart will come in the absence of fans, in a quarantine-type setting that utilizes Disney hotel space. The scheduling runs through a potential Oct. 12 Game 7 of the NBA Finals.

Each of the returning teams will play eight additional regular-season games, to be followed by the standard four rounds of playoffs, separated by conference, each on a best-of-seven basis.

For the Heat, the shortening of the season from the standard 82 games to 73 assures them of a playoff berth, as well as the Southeast Division championship. They will reenter play as the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference.

For the NBA, it sets up a calendar like no other.

Players will be required to return to their NBA markets no later than June 21. For the Heat, only forward Solomon Hill, who remains at his Los Angeles-area home, is away

from the team. Coronavirus testing then will commence June 22.

Teams then are expected to move on to Disney on July 7 for training camps and exhibitions. The draft lottery has been moved to Aug. 25, with the NBA draft now scheduled for Oct. 15 and the start of the free-agency period Oct. 18.

The target for training camp for 2020-21 is Nov. 10, with plans for the 2020-21 season to open Dec. 1.

While acceptance of the plan Friday by the National Basketball Players Association is considered a formality, with it having worked in advance with Silver on the

structure, the viability remains in the ability to counter the entrance and spread of COVID-19 in what will essentially be a bubble.

The NBA plans rigorous testing as well as limitations on the amount of interaction with those in direct contact with players, coaches, referees and others involved in game play. Family members are expected to be allowed to join those already in the bubble later, during the playoff rounds. Social distancing is expected to be enforced at all times beyond the playing court.

Among the directives issued in hopes of reducing transmission are that players will be spaced while on benches, showers will be delayed until players return to their hotel rooms, outsiders — including hotel staff and team staffers — will not be allowed in

players’ rooms and inactive players must watch from the stands.

Teams are expected to be allowed to soon move on to group sessions from the current individual, voluntary workouts at practice facilities, such as at AmericanAirlines Arena.

Each of the remaining Heat games will either be broadcast on Fox Sports Sun or national outlets (ESPN, TNT, ABC), with the production of local broadcasts expected to be produced off-site.

The Heat have been idle since a March 11 home loss to the Charlotte Hornets, a game center Meyers Leonard missed due to ongoing issues with a severely sprained ankle. Leonard has since said he will be available for a return. No other injuries have been reported by the Heat in the interim.