Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
For the first time,
NBA teams routinely are being scheduled for consecutive home games against the same opponent. For the Heat, that means a Tuesday game against the Bucks, followed by another Wednesday. Within 27 hours, the Heat’s allotment of 2020-21 home games against Milwaukee will be complete.
No, Erik Spoelstra will not consult his pitching coach as he prepares to set his rotation for the first baseball-type regular-season series in the Miami Heat’s 33 years.
But for the Heat, and the rest of the NBA, the 202021 pandemic-delayed NBA schedule is like no other.
For the first time, teams routinely are being scheduled for consecutive home games against the same opponent. For the Heat, that means a Tuesday night game against the Milwaukee Bucks at AmericanAirlines Arena, followed by a Wednesday return home engagement against the Bucks. Within 27 hours, the Heat’s allotment of 2020-21 home games against Milwaukee will be complete.
“I’m looking forward to it,” Spoelstra said.
The Bucks’ series is one of four such pairings for the Heat of consecutive home games against the same opponent over the first half of the season (the second-half schedule has yet to be set by the NBA, allowing for potential coronavirus cancellations). The Heat have never previously played the same opponent at home on consecutive nights in the franchise’s three plus decades.
The only time the Heat ever played the same opponent on consecutive nights at the same venue (excluding the Disney World quarantine bubble last summer) were Games 3 and 4 of the 1997 Eastern Conference finals, when they lost games to the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden on May 11, 1997 and May 12, 1997.
The Heat have three such road pairings over the first half of the season, starting Jan 12-14 in Philadelphia.
“I like it, particularly on the road,” Spoelstra said, “where we can limit the travel by anywhere by 20 to 30 percent of a normal schedule.”
The Heat have proved particularly adept over the years when given time to focus on a single opponent, as was on displayed in their run past the Indiana Pacers, Bucks and Boston Celtics to last season’s NBA Finals. But Spoelstra said not to expect anything as detailed as payoff planning in these two games against the Bucks.
“In terms of game-planning and everything, the regular season, it’s different than the playoffs, even in a situation like this,” he said. “So we’ll just have to see how it all plays out.”
There will be a subtle difference, with the Heat wearing their black Icon jerseys on Tuesday and their white Association jerseys on Wednesday. So at least the laundry won’t be rushed.
Center Meyers Leonard said he is intrigued by how it will play out, with Spoelstra having only Bucks on his mind through Wednesday night.
“To be able to play a team, obviously Milwaukee is our first back to back, and then I believe the next series will be Philly, you just can see and sense it with Spo that everything changes on the fly and you gotta be ready,” Leonard said. “We have our foundation and we have our habits. But then there are small tweaks every single night. He says, ‘No, we’re getting this one win.’ Then — boom — we’ll make adjustments and we’ll move to the next game.”
This will be the 24th time the Heat have played home games on consecutive nights.
They have gone 2-0 eight times, 0-2 six times and split the pair 10 times. Last season, they went 2-0 twice in the situation and split the other set.
This time, it’s all Bucks all the time until the Heat leave the court Wednesday night.
“That’s the one thing I love about Spo. His passion for the game is second to none. It truly is,” Leonard said. “Again, the attention to detail, each player understanding their own individual matchup, understanding the team aspect of what we want to do on both ends of the floor.
“Make no mistake, it’s clear cut what we’re looking for on both ends. And you get that one win, and — boom — you move on.”