MILWAUKEE -- The Heat’s long road through February and March began on Wednesday night.

Over the next two months, the Heat plays on the road 18 times compared to 11 home games, and eight of the team’s next 10 games are away from AmericanAirlines Arena. To prepare for the difficult test, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra used Wednesday’s shootaround to run a full-scale practice.

“We want to get off to a good start and really set the tone defensively,” Spoelstra said. “You have to take advantage of every single opportunity during this compressed season.”

With practice time limited this season, the Heat has turned to more video preparation to fill the void. Spoelstra began his career with the Heat as a video coordinator, so the adjustment suits his background.

“We’ve always spent a lot of time on video but we find ourselves spending even more time,” Spoelstra said. “It’s not just the time with the team. We’ve spending a great deal as a group together on both sides of the court but then additionally we have our coaches meeting with players individually.”

TO DUNK OR NOT?

With the All-Star Game approaching, LeBron James has resumed his annual waffling over whether he’s going to participate in the dunk contest. James, has never participated in the fan-favorite event.

“I don’t know, I’ll be on the fence every year about it,” James said. "It’s always a fence year for me. I know they’re getting tired of me, though, so I’m not even going to start up nothing.”

Still, James didn’t rule out the dunk contest Wednesday.

“I have thought about it before, and a few times in the past I kind of had an ankle injury that kind of kept me out of it and a couple of times I was just like, ‘You know what, I’m going to go in here and rest my legs for this weekend and then get back to the regular season,’ ” James said. “But, I mean, they say a lot of the greats have done it, and I’ve watched it over the years."

Speaking of dunks, James offered his take on Blake Griffin’s abusive dunk over Kendrick Perkins and compared it to his show-stopping slam over John Lucas III one day earlier.

“The difference between my dunk and Blake’s dunk, if you’re watching it live, you actually had to see the replay of what I did to really be like, ‘Oh, wow, he really jumped over somebody,’” James said. “I was at home watching Blake Griffin’s dunk and when you see it like you automatically like, ‘Oh, my God, did he really go chest to chest and to throw it down.

“So it took replays for you to realize what I did. And for Blake, it was like an automatic, ‘Like wow!’ thing.”

INJURIES

Mike Miller iced his hurting right hand after Wednesday’s morning shootaround and his individual pregame warm-up. Miller, who had surgery on his thumb during the offseason, smacked his hand against the backboard on Monday while attempting to block a shot.

“I’ll be fine,” Miller said. “I just hit it a little bit.”

ETC.

• The Heat has not had a player foul out in 74 consecutive games, the longest streak in the shot-clock era (1954-55).