Why it’s a meaningful week for the Heat organization. And an update on Heat’s injuries
This is a very meaningful week for the Heat, and it has little to do with what’s happening on the court.
The Heat’s three games this week are important, especially if it wants to continue its strong start to the season. But it’s the two big “HEAT.HELP.CURE.” events that make this week a special one for the organization — Wednesday’s Radiothon and Saturday’s Dribble Drive Against Cancer.
“HEAT.HELP.CURE.” is a partnership among the Heat, Baptist Health South Florida, and Entercom radio to raise funds to help Miami Cancer Institute achieve its vision of a world without cancer. The Heat and Baptist Health South Florida have partnered to organize the Red, White & Pink Game that has marked the end of training camp for a handful of years, but this marks the second time that Entercom has joined in to help add the Radiothon and Dribble Drive to the list of events.
“This is the second year that Entercom has gotten involved with their activities and kind of blown everything up,” Heat chief marketing officer Michael McCullough said.
“All three organizations are very focused on trying to attack this problem of cancer. So again, we already had a very strong relationship with Baptist Health and Miami Cancer Institute. Then Entercom came to both of our groups after having some success in another market with doing these radiothons. And they thought this was something that could be successful in our market, too. As soon as we heard about it, we agreed and we jumped on it.”
Wednesday’s 13-hour Radiothon will run from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. on five local Entercom stations — Power 96, 101.5 Lite FM, 102.7 The Beach, 104.3 The Shark, and 790 The Ticket. The Radiothon will take place from AmericanAirlines Arena, featuring interviews with Heat players, Miami Cancer Institute physicians, and cancer survivors.
“Regardless of whether you’re a sports-talk listener, if you’re kind of a today’s-hits listener, if you’re a country listener,” McCullough said. “It doesn’t matter where you listen to the radio, all day you’re going to be getting this message about ‘HEAT.HELP.CURE.’ and being asked to dig deep in your pockets to help the cause.”
Saturday’s Dribble Drive comes with three options for participants: the the 13.8-mile Dribble Drive Challenge, the 3.3-mile Dribble Drive, and the Dribble Drive Dash around the perimeter of AmericanAirlines Arena. It costs $55 to join the Dribble Drive Challenge, $45 to join the Dribble Drive, and $30 to join the Dribble Drive Dash.
“This year, the dribble drive is bigger, just a little bit longer, and it has kind of taken on its own identity,” McCullough said. “In just these two years, we think we’ve been able to grow both of these events and really put a really nice focus on trying to eradicate cancer and drive research dollars.”
Last year’s “HEAT.HELP.CURE.” campaign raised a little more than $160,000, and $450,000 has already been raised this year.
Scoring on cuts
With the Heat entering Tuesday’s home matchup against the Pistons averaging the second-most points per game in the league off cuts (14.1) to the basket, coach Erik Spoelstra was asked about that aspect of the offense.
“Just sometimes that’s the way groups are,” Spoelstra said. “We have some very good cutters by nature. Goran [Dragic] and Jimmy [Butler] are very good cutters, and Bam [Adebayo] has improved as a passer. Meyers [Leonard] and KO [Kelly Olynyk] are inverted in terms of their spacing. Their ability to pass opens up the floor a little bit.”
The Heat averaged 11.1 points per game off cuts to the basket last season.
▪ Tyler Herro (left ankle sprain) and James Johnson (sick) have been ruled out for Tuesday’s game against the Pistons. Justise Winslow (concussion), Derrick Jones Jr. (left hip strain), KZ Okpala (left Achilles strain), and Dion Waiters (suspension) are also unavailable.
Kelly Olynyk (right knee soreness) will play Tuesday. The Heat also recalled two-way contract guard Daryl Macon from the G League for Tuesday’s game.
The Heat has 10 available players against Detroit: Bam Adebayo, Jimmy Butler, Goran Dragic, Meyers Leonard, Duncan Robinson, Kendrick Nunn, Chris Silva, Udonis Haslem, Macon and Olynyk.
▪ The Pistons listed guard Derrick Rose (right hamstring strain/injury recovery) and forward Blake Griffin (left hamstring/posterior knee soreness/injury recovery) as out for Tuesday’s game against the Heat. Both Rose and Griffin returned from injury in Monday’s loss to the Timberwolves but will not play on the second night of the back-to-back set.
This story was originally published November 12, 2019 at 1:46 PM.
