With backdrop of COVID and political turmoil, Heat heads to D.C. hoping to right ship
In the immediate aftermath of yet another loss Wednesday, the Miami Heat had to juggle basketball with the world around them.
The Heat isn’t where it wants to be — two weeks into the season and sitting in 11th place in the Eastern Conference —and the world outside had seldom felt more tumultuous to Bam Adebayo. The All-Star post player tried to assess not just what was going wrong on the court for Miami.
On Wednesday, a pro-President Donald Trump mob stormed the United States Capitol, hoping to overturn the election of President-elect Joe Biden. On Saturday, the Heat begins a four-game road trip in Washington and Adebayo said he plans to not leave his hotel room for anything other than the game.
“I’m an African-American man,” he said Wednesday. “I have to be cautious everywhere I go.”
This was before the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia kicked off manhunts for the rioters Thursday, and before two of the three teams Miami will face on this road trip announced positive tests for COVID-19.
It’s a trying week for the NBA and the Heat, frustrated by a sub-.500 start to the season, is right at the center.
“These are unique times right now. They’re not easy for anybody in this profession,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We’re not happy about where we are as a team, but I think it’s important emotionally, mentally and spiritually that we show each other some grace, understanding and empathy right now.”
Miami’s six-day road trip through the Northeastern United States will begin at Capital One Arena — less than two miles away from the U.S. Capitol. It continues Sunday against the Boston Celtics, who announced a positive COVID test Friday, and wraps up with games Tuesday and Thursday against the Philadelphia 76ers, who also announced a positive test this week.
The Washington Wizards, who are scheduled to host the Heat at 7 p.m. on Saturday, faced the 76ers on Wednesday and the Celtics on Friday. The NBA’s virus protocols are facing their most significant test yet this week while the league is experiencing a resurgence of player activism not seen since the 2020 NBA Bubble.
“We’ve talked as a team and just talking about how crazy of a time this is that we’re living in,” combo guard Tyler Herro said. “As a team, we just feel like now is a time when we can come together and connect more than we ever have as a team, just because we feel like if we can connect, we’ll be role models to the rest of the city of Miami and just really everybody.”
At the same time, Miami (3-4) is trying to get out of an early-season slump.
The Heat didn’t spend a single day with a record worse than .500 last season. This year, Miami has yet to have a record better than .500 and has traded losses with wins since opening night last month. The Heat’s first stretch of four losses in seven games last year didn’t come until the season was 52 games old and Miami was effectively assured a top-five spot in the East.
There are some obvious reasons the Heat is scheduling so far — Herro, and fellow guards Goran Dragic and Kendrick Nunn are all shooting worse than 30 percent from three-point range; All-Star forward Jimmy Butler has only played in five games; Miami is committing the third most turnovers in the league — but a shortened season means even less time to make excuses and the Heat proved Wednesday it still can play at a high level in bursts.
In its 107-105 loss to Boston, Miami overcame a 17-point, first-half deficit to take a lead in the fourth quarter, and even scored 10 straight in the last 1:09 to tie the game before losing on a last-second shot.
“We know what we’ve got to do. There are no excuses to not playing hard and not finishing possessions,” Butler said Wednesday. “We’re not playing the type of basketball that we say that we are, the culture that we say that we have. We ain’t doing that. Nobody is — not me, not Bam, nobody. I think that we have to get back to that. If we want to win, that’s how we’re gonna have to play. We’re going to have to get it out the mud, claw, scratch to get dub, but we better figure it out real soon.”
Said Adebayo: “We’re to the point where we got to figure this out before it’s too late. We don’t want to build the habit of OK, we’ll get the next game. OK, we’ll get the next game, because then we’ll look up and then we’re at the eighth seed. We need to fix this situation right now.”
The game Saturday will be the first at home for the Wizards (2-6) since the storming of the Capitol. It will inevitably be at the center of the NBA’s response. The Heat also wants to make it the center of its turnaround.
“You’re juggling so many different things,” wing Andre Iguodala said, “and you’re just trying to navigate life.”
