Grueling early road slate includes matchup against new-look Lakers

MIAMI — The challenge will come early for the Miami Heat in the 2019-20 NBA regular-season schedule that was released Monday, but there will be relief late.

After opening at American-Airlines Arena on Oct. 23 against the Memphis Grizzlies, the Heat then will play six of their next eight on the road, including a three-game western swing that concludes Nov. 8 against LeBron James, Anthony Davis and the Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Center. In all, 16 of the Heat’s first 28 games are on the road.

By contrast, after playing three of their final four on the road last season, three losses that left the Heat two games out the playoffs, the 2019-20 schedule features four of the last five at home, concluding with an April 14 game against the Toronto Raptors.

The schedule will be mostly a local affair, with only six nationally televised games: Oct. 31 in Atlanta, Dec. 10 at home against the Hawks, and the season finale against Toronto on TNT, and ESPN games Dec. 13 against the visiting Lakers, Dec. 18 in Philadelphia and March 4 at home against Orlando. The Heat also are scheduled for four appearances on NBA TV: Oct. 25 in Milwaukee, Oct. 29 vs. Atlanta, Nov. 8 in Los Angeles against the Lakers and March 2 vs. Milwaukee.

Fox Sports Sun will televise 78 games in South Florida, all but the three TNT

games and the Dec. 13 ESPN home game against the Lakers.

The schedule also features a pair of notable reunion games. Former Heat forward Josh Richardson will make the first of his two American-Airlines Arena returns with the Philadelphia 76ers on Dec. 28. Former Heat center Hassan Whiteside is scheduled for his lone visit with the Portland Trail Blazers on Jan. 5.

Richardson and Whiteside were part of the trade that allowed the Heat to acquire Jimmy Butler from the 76ers in a sign-andtrade transaction. Butler’s first visit back to Philadelphia is Nov. 23

The Heat will play every Eastern Conference opponent four times — two at home and two on the road — with the exceptions of the Brooklyn Nets, Detroit Pistons, Milwaukee Bucks and Raptors. The Heat have only one home game apiece against the Nets and Bucks, and will make only one visit to Detroit and Toronto. The Heat play each Western Conference opponent once at home and once on the road.

The Heat will be idle on three major holidays, without games on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day (as well as New Year’s Eve). The Heat will play a 5 p.m. home game on Martin Luther King Day, Jan. 20, against the Sacramento Kings.

Individual game tickets go on sale Saturday at Heat.com, beginning at noon.

The longest homestands of the season are five-game stretches from Jan. 20 to Jan. 28 and Feb. 26 to March 4. The longest trip of the season technically is a six-game stretch from Feb. 5 to Feb. 20, but that actually is broken into a five-game western swing before a seven-day All-Star break and then a game in Atlanta.

The stress of the schedule has been minimized, with 13 back-to-back sets of games, four of those to be played on a home-andhome basis, leaving the Heat with only nine games that involve travel with no day off. The Heat had 12 back-to-back sets last season. The four sets of home back-to-backs are the most in the franchise’s 32 seasons other than the lockout-shortened 2011-12 season, when the Heat had seven.

The Heat’s travel also will be significantly reduced over the second half of the season, with their last game beyond the Central time zone on Feb. 12 in Utah, the 54th game of the season, the final game before the All-Star break.

As for scheduling overlap:

■ The Miami Dolphins and Heat play on the same day three times, but only once at home on the same day, Nov. 3, when Dolphins host the New York Jets at 1 p.m. and the Heat play the Rockets at 6 p.m.

■ The Florida Panthers and Heat play at home on the same day seven times: Nov. 16, Dec. 8, Dec. 10, Dec. 20, Dec. 28, Feb. 29 and March 14. That is four fewer home conflicts than last season.

■ The University of Miami football team and Heat play on the same day twice, on Oct. 26 and Nov. 23, but do not both play at home on those dates.

The Heat Radio Network, led by its flagship station 790 The Ticket (AM 790/FM 104.3 HD-2), will carry the team’s games in English. The Heat Spanish Radio Network will broadcast each regularseason game on Radio Mambi (710 AM/FM 107.5 HD-2 and simulcast on 1140 AM WQBA) or Mix 98.3 FM (beginning in late March).