No fans and new home-court advantage. What was first Disney game experience like for Heat?
The Miami Heat got its first taste of the game-day experience in the NBA’s Disney bubble, and it was different. Very different.
From head coaches in slacks and polos to players on both benches sitting in separate chairs to promote physical distancing, to a fanless arena with assistant coaches and trainers on both teams wearing masks, there are plenty of new game elements to get used to. For the Heat, that process began Wednesday night when it opened its three-game scrimmage schedule with a win over the Sacramento Kings at at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex in Lake Buena Vista.
“It’s different with no fans,” Heat guard Goran Dragic said, with the team off Thursday before resuming practice Friday. “We could hear everybody talking. It’s going to be interesting.”
With the Heat playing as the home team Wednesday, the NBA worked to provide some type of home-court advantage.
“Let’s Go Heat!” chants came from a video of fans on the arena’s Zoom screens alongside the HP Field House court. Other home-court advantages Miami received: The familiar sound of “Dos Minutos” at the two-minute mark of each quarter and other noises that would normally play at a Heat home game at AmericanAirlines Arena like “Seven Nation Army” blaring through the speakers.
The voice of Heat public address announcer Michael Baiamonte also made an appearance during Wednesday’s game. Although Baiamonte was not at Disney, his signature phrase of “stand up and make some noise” played during a stoppage in the fanless arena.
“I just think that the production of this is really impressive,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said minutes after Wednesday’s scrimmage came to an end. “Somebody had mentioned it earlier that this was like a small college game. This was earlier in the week. I don’t know what small colleges people played at, but this is nothing like that. The production is spectacular. It felt like an event as much as you possibly could make it feel under the circumstances.”
Kings coach Luke Walton said what stood out to him during Wednesday’s game was “how quiet it is” and “how much you hear everything” in the arena.
“One of the things I told my guys in the first timeout was, we always preach communication and how important communication is,” Walton said following Wednesday’s scrimmage. “In this eight-game tournament, it’s going to be even that much more important. It felt like the team that was communicating louder kind of was building their own momentum in a way just because it was the only sound in the building. Those are the little things that a lot of us will start to pick up on as these games keep happening.”
There are more game-presentation elements that have not been revealed yet, with the NBA announcing earlier this week that aspects of the game presentation will be reduced until the “seeding” games begin on July 30. The Heat opens its eight-game “seeding” schedule on Aug. 1 against the Denver Nuggets.
“It was just good to be back out there,” Spoelstra said. “We didn’t really know what to expect. But once you got out there in between the four lines, that’s probably the most normal any of us in that locker room could feel during this pandemic. It was just terrific to be out there together.”
THIS AND THAT
▪ After Heat forward Duncan Robinson scored 18 points on 5-of-8 shooting on threes in Wednesday’s scrimmage, Dragic said: “He’s the best shooter in the league.”
Robinson is ranked third in the NBA with 243 made threes this season, behind only Houston’s James Harden (271) and Sacramento’s Buddy Hield (244).
▪ Heat rookie guard Tyler Herro struggled to make shots Wednesday, but he still managed to score 15 points in 26 minutes. Herro shot 5 of 14 from the field and 0 of 7 on threes, but he made all five of his free throws.
During Herro’s time on the court, he was used primarily in an on-ball role against the Kings. He finished with one assist and four turnovers.
“He’s comfortable in whatever position that you put him in,” Heat All-Star Jimmy Butler said of Herro. “He doesn’t really think or play like a rookie. He’s always working on his game. He’s studying the film, so he’s picking up on how he can get better, where guys are open at. I’m just as comfortable with him handling the ball as anybody.”
▪ The Heat continues its three-game scrimmage schedule Saturday against the Utah Jazz at 4 p.m, which will be televised on a tape delay at 8 p.m. on Fox Sports Sun and streamed live on the FOX Sports GO app. The Heat closes its scrimmage schedule Tuesday against the Memphis Grizzlies at 2 p.m. — a game that will be aired live on Fox Sports Sun.
This story was originally published July 23, 2020 at 2:09 PM.
