Early-season strides seen at quarter pole
And, now, the opportunity to exhale, as the Miami Heat return from nine nights on the road and 13 of the season’s first 20 games away from FTX Arena.
Only the exhale cannot afford to be anything but brief.
Because after Monday’s game against the visiting Denver Nuggets and Wednesday’s home game against the Cleveland Cavaliers ... it’s, you guessed it, another stretch of 13 of 20 on the road.
So at the quarter-pole of the Heat’s 82-game season, it’s not exactly easy to unpack where Erik Spoelstra’s team stands, because the road still will rule thorough Jan. 12, when the team returns from nine consecutive road games from Texas to California to Oregon to Arizona to Georgia.
“We are where we are. I’m not going to give a grade,” Spoelstra said. “And I’m not at all in that state right now, to give an analysis of where we are. We’re just grinding.
“We’ve had these really good, tough, competitive experiences on the road. And this is the way it is on the road. And I think we’ve gotten better from these experiences.”
Ten thoughts on where things stand at the 20-game mark and where they potentially might be headed:
1. Fight Night? There won’t be a Round 2 Monday night, with Markieff Morris yet to practice with the Heat since being whiplashed by Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic during the teams’ Nov. 8 skirmish at Ball Arena, listed as out for an 11th consecutive game.
As it is, Jokic has missed Denver’s past four games, all losses, with a sprained wrist, listed as questionable.
But what can’t be overlooked in the wake of that moment in Denver is that Morris has been sidelined 10 games since that incident, half the schedule to this stage. That has meant the Heat have had their primary bench rotation available less than half the time.
2. Home cooking: For all the uneven play on the road, the Heat have been solid at FTX Arena, at 6-1 going into this two-game homestand.
While the first three home victories each came by at least 15 points, the dominance waned after a 17-point loss to the visiting Boston Celtics, with two of the past three home wins coming by three points (against the Utah Jazz and Washington Wizards).
3. Reunion time: Monday not only will mark the first time teammates will get to see Morris since leaving Nov. 19 for the latest trip, but also an opportunity to take stock with guard Victor Oladipo, who is recovering from May quadriceps surgery.
While there was little thought of Oladipo returning for this initial segment of the season, speculation had him potentially back by midseason. So, in that respect, he might be back on the clock.
4. Time to heal: With Bam Adebayo off the injury report for recent games, his sore left knee apparently has started to heal, with the two two-day breaks on the just completed trip of benefit.
“That has been really beneficial for him,” Spoelstra said. “He was able to go through the full practice [Friday] and then he spent at least a half hour, 40 minutes after practice doing his player-development routine.
“He hasn’t been able to do that for a while.”
Adebayo was uneven Saturday night in Chicago, scoreless in the fourth quarter, but if his health no longer is an overriding concern, then it is a net gain.
5. Evaluation time: The second quarter of the season is when trade restrictions are lifted for most players signed as free agents in the offseason.
For the Heat, that means Dec. 15 is when restrictions are lifted for Udonis Haslem, Kyle Lowry, P.J. Tucker, Omer Yurtseven, Max Strus, Gabe Vincent, Dewayne Dedmon, Morris and Oladipo. (The trade restriction on Duncan Robinson does not lift until Jan. 15, due to the size of the raise he received in his new contract.)
But more significantly, it significantly increases the trade pool around the league, should the Heat seek to upgrade.
6. Respect gained: Arguably the Heat’s statement to the NBA has been even more significant than the record to this stage.
The statement has been made about persistent peskiness.
“That’s a great team over there,” Bulls forward DeMar DeRozan said after Saturday’s game. “A lot of dogs over there, that’s very experienced in playoff play. That’s the type of style you’re going [to] get, that’s the type of physicality you get in the playoffs.”
7. Diversified depth: While Tyler Herro has stamped his place as the leading man off the bench, it is the diversity of depth that has kept the Heat afloat.
Sometimes it is the shooting of Gabe Vincent or Max Strus. Other times it is the toughness of Dewayne Dedmon. And at times it has been the versatility of Caleb Martin.
“You’re going to need a lot of contributions,” Spoelstra said. “You’re going to have basically your entire rotation putting their fingerprints on a game to impact the win.”
8. Diversified defense: In recent weeks the zone defense has come to life, often offering a lifeline when injuries, foul trouble or man-to-man challenges have taken a toll.
“It just depends on what the game calls for,” Spoelstra said. “That’s something that we’re getting a little bit more confidence in.”
9. Lessons learned: Saturday was an exception for the Heat when it came to grinding through to the finish, perhaps setting the tone for the next stretch off the schedule.
“I mean, I think there’s a lot of lessons to learn from, especially the fourth quarter,” Vincent said. “It’s a lot easier to learn after winning games. But the games we’ve lost, they’ve hurt. Hopefully they’ve hurt enough to stick with us and we continue to learn from it.”
10. A good place: Based on the road traveled, there is a comfort of making it out of the season’s first rabbit hole.
“I mean, yeah, we could be better,” Butler said. “We’re 13-7. It’s not great. But for right now, it’s where we’re at.”