Miami Heat prepared to make quick adjustments as it hosts Bucks for back-to-back games
Back-to-back games. One opponent. One venue. Such will be the life for NBA at various points this season.
In order to help reduce travel during the COVID-19 pandemic, the NBA added a somewhat new element to the schedule. For teams that play twice in one market, the league is often having those teams play both of those road games in that respective city consecutively on one trip instead of having to make two separate trips to play those games.
The Miami Heat’s first such iteration of this scheduling format takes place Tuesday and Wednesday when it hosts two-time reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks at AmericanAirlines Arena, marking the first time in franchise history the Heat will host the same team on consecutive days.
“It’s a unique way of mixing up the schedule to make it safer for everybody,” Heat guard Tyler Herro said. “It’ll be a different way and interested to see how it goes.”
Miami (1-1) is set to have six more of these two-game sets throughout the first half of the regular season, although each of those other matchups has a day off between games. The others: Jan. 12 and 14 at the Philadelphia 76ers, Jan. 16 and 18 against the Detroit Pistons, Jan. 20 and 22 at the Toronto Raptors (in Tampa Bay), Jan. 23 and 25 at the Brooklyn Nets, Feb. 3 and 5 against the Washington Wizards, and Feb. 28 and March 2 against the Atlanta Hawks. The Heat also has a home-and-home against the New York Knicks on Feb. 7 and 9.
The schedule for the second half of the season has not yet been released.
“I’m looking forward to it,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “I like it, particularly on the road, where we can limit the travel by anywhere between 20 to 30 percent of a normal schedule. ... So we’ll just have to see how it all plays out.”
‘Everything changes on the fly’
In one aspect, these games can have a playoff feel even if they are a team’s third and fourth regular-season contests. Playing a team on consecutive days adds more strategy to the usual scouting report, especially going from the first game of the series to the second.
Teams will have to make adjustments quickly, maximize matchups and be ready for changes — sometimes big, sometimes small — to have the best chance both nights.
Expect Spoelstra to keep his team on its toes in these situations. That’s what the players are expecting, at least.
“You just can see and sense it with Spo that everything changes on the fly and you gotta be ready,” Heat center Meyers Leonard said. “We have our foundation and we have our habits, but then there are small tweaks every single night. He says, ‘No, we’re getting this one win.’ Then, boom, we’ll make adjustments and we’ll move to the next game. If we’re playing a different opponent, boom, maybe it’s a different type of scouting report. So that’s the one thing I love about Spo. His passion for the game is second to none. It truly is. Again, the attention to detail, each player understanding their own individual matchup, understanding the team aspect of what we want to do on both ends of the floor. Make no mistake, it’s clear cut what we’re looking for on both ends. And you get that one win, and boom you move on.
“I love it as a player,” Leonard continued. “I know the rest of the guys kind of feed off of it. It kind of simplifies it, really. You’re looking for a few different things on both ends. If you execute that, I truly believe once again we have a very versatile team, a team of guys in that locker room that enjoy being around each other most importantly, and of course enjoy playing together. So I look forward to each and every game just based upon the energy and focus that we bring every night.”
Facing the Bucks
The energy and focus, at least for the next two nights, will be on the Bucks (1-2), who finished last season as the top seed in the Eastern Conference and were eliminated in five games by the Heat in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
Antetokounmpo, who signed a max contract extension earlier this month, still leads the Bucks. He averaged 28.5 points on a 56.6 percent shooting clip with 13 rebounds, 5.8 assists, 1.3 blocks and 1.1 steals during his back-to-back MVP seasons. Through three games this season, Antetokounmpo is averaging 25.7 points and 13 rebounds while making 47.3 percent of his shots from the field.
The Heat held Antetokounmpo a tick below those averages in the four games he played against Miami in the playoffs (21.8 points on 50.8 percent shooting, 11 rebounds, 5.3 assists).
“Disrupt the paint,” said Heat forward Bam Adebayo, who signed his own max contract extension this offseason. “I felt like we just were disruptive the whole series. We had active hands, tried to cut off driving lanes and just make it so that he was in a crowd.”
But the Heat isn’t going off its laurels from the playoff series victory as it prepares to face Milwaukee on Tuesday and Wednesday. The Bucks added guard Jrue Holiday this offseason to bolster a lineup that already has Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton, Brook Lopez and Donte Divincenzo.
“They’re really good for a reason,” Spoelstra said. “Really well coached. They have an MVP. They have a system. Holiday is a great fit in their program. They’ve really set the bar in the last two seasons, but the entire East is really competitive as you predict it would be. The competition raises the level of everyone.”
As for Adebayo’s preparedness to face Antetokounmpo? The Heat All-Star said “we’re just going to compete and toss the ball up and see who wins.”
“Our job,” Adebayo said later, “is to just make it difficult for him.”
This story was originally published December 28, 2020 at 3:47 PM.
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