Team didn’t notice skid after landing
Spoelstra says plane was towed to gate after taxiing on ice.
Miami Heat players and personnel were receiving text messages about their plane skidding off the runway late Wednesday in Milwaukee while still on the plane and had no idea what was happening.
“We didn’t really know,” coach Erik Spoelstra said following Thursday’s practice in Milwaukee, where the Heat are preparing to play the Bucks tonight. “We had already landed, so it was when we were taxiing. But there was a lot of ice, so we had to be towed back in.
“A lot of people on the flight, when we were getting text messages, didn’t even realize anything had happened.”
The incident occurred at General Mitchell Airport at about 10:20 p.m. There were no injuries. The plane never left the pavement.
Spoelstra gave the pilots a thumbs-up for the landing, which was one reason nobody had any idea there was a problem.
“The landing was great,” he said. “If you asked anybody on the flight, nobody would have known anything was going on on the landing.
“But thankfully everybody was safe.”
The Minnesota Vikings had a similar situation last month before they played the Green Bay Packers. Their plane skidded off the taxiway and into the grass on a snowy night at Appleton International Airport.
Everyone on the plane was fine. But players, coaches and team officials were stuck for several hours before fire officials at the scene used a truck’s extension ladder to help the team off the aircraft.
The Heat were on their plane an extra 90 minutes as it was towed to the gate.
“We travel virtually only in windy, snowy cities in the NBA,” Spoelstra said. “So there is a lot of experience with it. Thankfully, it wasn’t much of a big deal.
Spoelstra added that he’s seen much worse conditions.
“I’ll be honest, this felt like a spring night and day in Milwaukee,” he said. “We’ve flown into a lot worse than last night.”
Temperatures were in the 20s when the team landed and Thursday’s high in Milwaukee was 24.
R i c h a r d s o n u p d a t e : Spoelstra said guard Josh Richardson (sprained left foot) remains doubtful for today’s game. Spoelstra was asked why the Heat did not send Richardson back to South Fl or i da t o re c eive treatment. He played the first three games of this sixgame trip and has missed the past two.
“He was getting better,” Spoelstra said. “We wanted to monitor him here and see if we could take the next step to get him ready. But he is finding some relief.”