Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Team loaded with back-to-back games
A season already compacted due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic will grow even more grueling for the Miami Heat.
With Wednesday’s release of the second half of the 2020-21 NBA schedule, the Heat face nine sets of back-to-back games over their final 36 games, after being scheduled for only four such sets over their first 36.
The NBA season, delayed until Dec. 22 from its traditional October start, has been shortened from the typical 82 games to 72. That means half of the games over the second half of the season for the Heat will be part of back-to-back pairings.
The NBA delayed the release of the second half of the schedule to account for games postponed due to pandemic protocols. The Heat’s game scheduled for Jan. 10 at TD Garden in Boston, for example, was postponed due to Heat contact tracing. That game has now been rescheduled as part of consecutive games in Boston on May 9 and May 11.
After being scheduled for seven sets of “baseball-type” series over the first half of the schedule — consecutive games against the same team at the same venue, designed to reduce travel amid the pandemic — the Heat only have three such series over the second half of the schedule.
The initial baseball-type series were scheduled when fans were not part of the equation. A majority of teams now are allowing varying degrees of attendance, including the Heat.
The second half of the Heat’s schedule will tip off on March 11 against the Orlando Magic at AmericanAirlines Arena, after a six-day All-Star break. The Heat’s regular season then is scheduled to end on May 16 in Detroit, with four the Heat’s final five games on
the road.
From there, the play-in tournament for teams in the Nos. 7-10 seeds in the Eastern Conference will he held, with the start of the playoffs to follow on May 22.
The longest trip and longest homestands of the second half of the schedule for the Heat are both four games.
There is a four-game homestand from March 19 to March 25, as well a four-game homestand from April 1 to April 8, one that ends with the lone visit of the season of LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers, in the season’s second rematch of the 2020 NBA Finals.
Those two homestands are part of a stretch of 8 of 11 at home for the Heat.
The four-game trip runs from April 11-16, with visits to Portland, Phoenix, Denver and Minnesota.
There again will be limited national-television exposure, with a TNT home game against the Trail Blazers on March 25, TNT’s broadcast of the Lakers’ visit on April 8, an ESPN home game against the Brooklyn Nets on April 18 and an ESPN game against the Celtics on May 9.
Because of the timing of the NBA’s required COVID19 testing for players and staff members, most home games the second half of the schedule will begin at 8 p.m.
For the Heat, there are only five breaks over the second half of the schedule longer than one day.
“I mean, I would not say it’s a sprint,” guard Goran Dragic said Wednesday, “but every game counts, especially there are a bunch of teams that they are bunched together. It’s only one or two games that separate us from the fifth or sixth spot.
“Every game counts from now on. We have to be focused and prepared well for those games.”
Heat’s remaining schedule (home games in CAPS):
Friday vs. UTAH, 8p.m.
Sunday vs. ATLANTA, 8p.m.
Tuesday vs. ATLANTA, 7:30p.m.
March 4at New Orleans, 8:30p.m.
March 11vs. ORLANDO, 8p.m.
March 12at Chicago, 9p.m.
March 14at Orlando, 7p.m.
March 16vs. CLEVELAND, 8p.m.
March 17at Memphis, 9p.m.
March 19vs. INDIANA, 8p.m.
March 21vs. INDIANA, 1p.m.
March 23vs. PHOENIX, 8p.m.
March 25vs. PORTLAND, 8p.m. TNT
March 26at Charlotte, 8p.m.
March 29at New York, 7:30p.m.
March 31at Indiana, 7p.m.
April 1, vs. GOLDEN STATE, 8p.m.
April 3, vs. CLEVELAND, 8p.m.
April 6vs. MEMPHIS, 8p.m.
April 8vs. LAKERS, 8p.m. TNT
April 11at Portland, 10p.m. NBA TV
April 13at Phoenix, 10p.m.
April 14at Denver, 10p.m.
April 16at Minnesota, 8p.m.
April 18vs. BROOKLYN, 3:30p.m. ESPN
April 19vs. HOUSTON, 8p.m.
April 21at San Antonio, 8:30p.m.
April 23at Atlanta, 7:30p.m.
April 24vs. CHICAGO, 8p.m.
April 26vs. CHICAGO, 8p.m.
April 28vs. SAN ANTONIO, 8p.m.
May 1at Cleveland, 8p.m.
May 2at Charlotte, 8p.m.
May 4vs. DALLAS, 8p.m.
May 7vs. MINNESOTA, 8p.m.
May 9at Boston, 1p.m. ESPN
May 11at Boston, 7p.m.
May 13vs. PHILADELPHIA, 7:30p.m.
May 15at Milwaukee, TBD
May 17at Detroit, TBD
(All games to be televised in South Florida on Fox Sports Sun.except national broadcasts on March 4, April 8, April 18and May 9.)