Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Don’t expect anything too easy
Closing 8-game stretch of regular season will be a test
The Miami Heat will resume play with arguably their most difficult stretch of the season.
The NBA on Friday released the revised eight-game regular season-closing schedule for the 22 teams invited to resume play July 30 at the Wide World of Sports complex on the Disney World complex outside of Orlando.
The Heat’s schedule of what the NBA is terming “seeding games” opens Aug. 1 at 1 p.m. against the Denver Nuggets and runs through Aug. 14 against the Indiana Pacers. Because of the compact nature of the eightgame schedule, the Heat will have one back-to-back set of games as well as the unusual aspect of a pair of afternoon weekday games, one at 1:30 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 3, and one at 4 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 6.
With eight lottery teams excused from the truncated resumption, it means almost nothing but playoff-level competition for
Erik Spoelstra’s team, which finds itself in a race with the Boston Celtics, Indiana Pacers and Philadelphia 76ers for the Nos. 3-6 playoff seeds in the Eastern Conference.
Adding to the challenge is that, amid the new coronavirus pandemic, the games will be played in the absence of fans, eliminating any homecourt advantage.
At 41-24 and in the No. 4 seed in the East, the Heat already have clinched a playoff berth, with their best-of-seven first-round playoff series to begin in mid-August.
The NBA opted to pick up the schedule where it was left off at the March 11 shutdown. The Heat, however, have a reworked schedule after losing two games apiece against the Chicago Bulls, Detroit Pistons, New York Knicks and Charlotte Hornets, four of the eight teams who will not return because of their lottery records.
Here’s a look at the Heat’s revised schedule, one that previously had been one of the softer closes in the league:
Aug. 1 vs. Nuggets, 1 p.m. (ESPN, Fox Sports Sun): The Heat lost the first game of the two-game season series 109-89 on Nov. 5 at the Pepsi Center after shooting 36.4% from the field, including 9 of 29 on 3-pointers, in the loss.
Aug. 3 vs. Raptors, 1:30 p.m. (NBA TV, Fox Sports Sun): The Heat won both of their meetings against the Raptors this season, 121-110 in overtime Dec. 3 in Toronto and 84-76 at AmericanAirlines Arena on Jan. 2. The Raptors stand as a possible second-round opponent.
Aug. 4 vs. Celtics, 6:30 p.m. (TNT, Fox Sports Sun): The Heat are 0-2 versus the Celtics, with both losses coming on the second night of back-to-back games. The second came in the absence of Spoelstra, who returned to South Florida for the birth of his second son. The first loss came despite 37 points from Jimmy Butler. This will complete the Heat’s lone back-toback set of the seeding games.
Aug. 6 vs. Bucks, 4 p.m. (TNT, Fox Sports Sun): The Heat are 2-0 against the East-leading Bucks. The first victory came in Milwaukee’s home opener Oct. 26, when the Heat were playing in Butler’s absence. The Heat then defeated the Bucks 105-89 on March 2 at AmericanAirlines
Arena, holding the Bucks to their lowest scoring total of the season.
Aug. 8 vs. Suns, 7:30 p.m. (Fox
Sports Sun): This will be the lone opponent with a losing record the Heat will face in the eight-game close. The Heat are 22-13 against teams with losing records. They won the first game of the two-game season series 124-108 on Nov. 7 at Talking Stick Resort Arena.
Aug. 10 vs. Pacers, 8 p.m. (Fox Sports Sun): The Heat are 2-0 against the Pacers, who enter two games back of the Heat, as the No. 5 seed in the East. The Heat won 113-112 on Dec. 27 at AmericanAirlines Arena on a Goran Dragic basket with 6.8 seconds to play. The Heat then won 122-108 on Jan. 8 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, in the game that featured a war of words between Butler and Indiana’s T.J. Warren.
Aug. 12 vs. City Thunder, 8 p.m. (Fox Sports Sun): The Heat won the first game of the twogame season series 115-108 on Jan. 17 at Chesapeake Energy Arena, seizing control with a 40-point first quarter.
Aug. 14 vs. Pacers, time TBA (Fox Sports Sun): See above.