‘A little bit surreal’: 10 months and one Finals run later, Heat fans return to arena
Four months and one day earlier, the Miami Heat had nearly reached the summit. The Heat had toppled the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference finals and an unlikely run from No. 5 seed to the 2020 NBA Finals was complete. It was one of the most exhilarating runs in franchise history and Alex Cavallo, a four-year season-ticket holder, watched it all from his couch and celebrated in his living room.
“It made for a muted experience,” Cavallo said, wearing a shirt featuring a close-up photograph of Bam Adebayo stuffing Jayson Tatum in Game 1 of those Eastern finals — the signature moment of the playoff run.
It had technically been a home game for Miami — it was Game 6 and the underdog Heat wore its preferred black jerseys for the Celtics’ funeral — yet it happened more than 200 miles from home in a lonely, souped-up arena in Lake Buena Vista, where the NBA had settled to close out last season inside a protective bubble to keep the league insulated from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Cavallo would have probably been there in a normal year and more than four months later he finally stood inside AmericanAirlines Arena on Thursday, after going through a series of COVID safety protocols to find his seat and watch the Heat face the Los Angeles Clippers.
“It’s really exciting,” he said, “a little bit surreal.”
He was one of the first 2,000 or so Miami fans to watch the Heat (6-11) in person in this unusual season. For about a month, Miami limited the crowd to about 100 fans per game — all invited guests of players and staff — before the organization formally opened its doors to fans in the final days of January.
The Heat welcomed about 1,500 fans back into the arena Thursday to watch Miami face the Clippers (13-5) in the second game of a six-game homestand. It was the product of sixth months of preparation to reopen the arena even as the coronavirus continues to claim more than 3,000 lives each day.
“The bubble was when we started to realize that, hey, there can be some sense of normalcy,” said Matthew Jafarian, the Heat’s executive vice president of business operations. “This is going to be a different world and we have to sort of create what that world looks like.”
Those policies meant limiting the crowd to well under 10 percent of capacity to start and steadily ramping up past 2,000 throughout February. It meant passing through COVID-19 screening as fans entered the arena, complete with COVID-sniffing dogs. Once inside, fans can’t eat or drink from their sets and instead must walk out to an outside plaza to dine.
“Based on the research out there,” Jafarian said, “we don’t want to provide any reason for people to take off their masks.”
About three hours before tipoff, fans started lining up outside the arena in Miami. Some hadn’t been in the building since the day Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for the virus and the 2019-20 NBA season — and really the whole world — shut down. More had waited even longer.
For those there the night the league suspended play, the lasting memory was a 20-point blown lead and frustrating loss to the Charlotte Hornets. The Heat’s run through the 2020 NBA Bubble existed in a separate universe and fans couldn’t be a part of it. The organization rose a banner commemorating the run to the NBA Finals to the rafters without any fanfare. Jimmy Butler’s heroic string of 40-point Finals performances happened without any fans in the stands at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex more than four months ago and still South Florida hasn’t been able to shower him in adulation.
“We’re really excited,” said Kelsey Durvin, who, along with D.J. Ballard, was first in line outside Gate 5. “We got here at like 5.”
A day earlier, the arena’s main concourse was almost entirely barren for a game against the Denver Nuggets. Security guards and ushers stood stationed by mostly abandoned doorways, staircases and elevators. Concession stands remained shuttered. Songs like DMX’s “Party Up” and LMFAO’s “Party Rock Anthem” blared to a mostly empty arena.
Those in the seats Wednesday popped up on the big screen with prompts like “WEAR YOUR MASK” or “KEEP 6FT APART” and provided just a little bit of extra noise to go along with pumped in cheers, swelling whenever the Heat scored. There wasn’t much cheer for in a game Miami lost by 27 with Jimmy Butler still sidelined after spending nearly two weeks going through the NBA’s COVID-19 health and safety protocols.
Butler was out again Thursday, as were Los Angeles forwards Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, who are going through the league’s health and safety protocols, too.
The season still isn’t normal. It probably won’t ever be, but post player Kelly Olynyk thanked those who showed up before pregame introductions and then the Heat played one of its better first halves in weeks
“It’s an incredible step,” coach Erik Spoelstra said Wednesday. “I’ve said before we have to continue to be vigilant and do things with discipline, with a lot of thought, and always keep in mind the health and safety as a No. 1 factor, but having people in the building — that’s what our guys play for.”
This story was originally published January 28, 2021 at 9:13 PM.
