Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Times have been tough
At least on the road for the Heat, who haven’t won away from the Triple-A since Jan. 29
PORTLAND, Ore. — There was a time when the road was a refuge for the Miami Heat. This is not that time.
After opening the season with a greater degree of success on the road than at AmericanAirlines Arena, the Heat took flight Sunday without a road victory since Jan. 29 against the Dallas Mavericks.
“No, that can’t be,” guard Goran Dragic said.
“Really?” center Kelly Olynyk asked.
Yes, really, albeit hardly with an overwhelming amount of intervening road games.
That will have Erik Spoelstra’s team entering Monday night’s game against the Portland Trail Blazers, the start of a three-game western swing, on a seven-game road losing streak.
“We’ve just got to figure out how to put a full 48 together and make one extra play that’ll take it over the hump,” Olynyk said.
That’s not to say the Heat haven’t been close amid this road slide.
Their last two road losses were in overtime, to the Washington Wizards and New Orleans Pelicans, and the previous five losses on the streak were decided by a total of 17 points.
“We were in those games. We’re close,” Dragic said. “We just need to clean up a couple of plays.”
There might be fewer players to handle such cleaning, with Hassan Whiteside dealing with the sore hip that kept him out of Saturday’s rout of the visiting Wizards and with Dwyane Wade dealing with a hamstring issue he developed during that game.
Based on the opponents, this trip would be expected to produce winning results, save for tonight’s game against the surging Blazers. The problem is the Heat already have lost to the Sacramento Kings and the Los Angeles Lakers at home, with those opponents the final two stops on the trip, on Wednesday and Friday nights.
“It definitely gets your attention a little bit more when you’ve lost to a team the time before,” Olynyk said. “But I think every game for us is huge. So no matter who we play against, we’ve got to play it like a playoff game.”
In the balance is the opportunity to improve the odds for homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
Spoelstra said there is a sense of gain even in the void of recent road victories.
“We feel like we’re turning a corner,” he said. “We’ve been in a lot of tough road games. There’s nothing guaranteed and that’s why if you’re only locked in what that final result is you don’t necessarily know whether you’re improving or not.
“Our group is becoming more resilient, becoming more confident, comfortable in those close-game situations. We know that it’s tough to win on the road. You have to bring a very competitive A-game. As a competitor, this is what you want.”
Based on the team’s recent play, forward Josh Richardson said there is no reason to sweat the road slump.
“I think we’re sticking to the schemes. We’ve just got to finish better,” he said. “They’ve all been close games, but we just got to learn to stay locked in at the ends of games.”
A victory in Portland would be a bonus against an opponent the hottest team this side of the Houston Rockets.
But then it’ll be the challenge of stepping up in the type of games where the Heat all too often this season have lost their way.
“They’re both dangerous teams,” Richardson said of the Kings and Lakers. “They play very fast and they’re young. So if they get their head up and they get going, it’ll be a rough night.”
Dragic said the secret to winning on the road is something the Heat have found at home in recent wins: continuity and purpose.
“It’s not an easy trip,” he said, of one made even harder because of the status of Whiteside and Wade. “Every time you go on the West Coast there’s the time difference and everything.
“The only thing I can say is we are always ready to play against the top teams. So that’s the first game and then, of course, Sacramento we burned ourselves against them. At least our eyes are open now. We know this road trip is really important for us.”