There are a lot of back-to-backs, but does Heat actually have favorable remaining schedule?
The first half of the Miami Heat’s schedule was busy, but the second half will be even busier. That doesn’t necessarily mean the second half will be more challenging, though.
The Heat played 36 games in a span of 72 days before the All-Star break, which averages to one game every two days.
The Heat began the second half of the pandemic-shortened 72-game regular season Thursday with a 111-103 home win over the Orlando Magic, which marked the start of a stretch that includes 36 scheduled games in 67 days to close the regular season. That’s an average of one game every 1.86 days.
“This really is going to be like a sprint, this 36-game second half,” coach Erik Spoelstra said, as the Heat (19-18) started its post-break schedule with an immediate back-to-back set that concludes with a Friday night matchup against the Chicago Bulls at United Center (9 p.m., Fox Sports Sun).
A sprint is one way to describe it, with the Heat opening the second half of the season with five games in seven days.
Miami, which entered Friday in the Eastern Conference’s No. 5 spot, is scheduled to play nine back-to-backs during the second half of the season compared to the four it played during the first half. But the Heat isn’t alone, as the latter half of the schedule features 8.6 back-to-backs per team, according to an analysis by NBA.com’s John Schuhmann.
The Heat is tied with four others (Bulls, Milwaukee Bucks, Cleveland Cavaliers, Philadelphia 76ers) for the second-most back-to-backs among East teams during the second half of the season. The East team with the most back-to-backs during this portion of the schedule is the Indiana Pacers with 10.
The Bulls will also be playing on the second night of a back-to-back Friday against the Heat after falling to the 76ers on Thursday.
“I don’t think it’ll change that much from what we’re dong the last six or seven weeks,” Spoelstra said of the Heat’s approach to the crowded calendar. “I think that experience [in the first half of the season] prepared us for this. That was pretty fast, in that part of the schedule. A lot of guys had opportunities to step up and play meaningful minutes and show that they can be productive. That depth will be useful and we’ll use it appropriately.”
While there are a lot of back-to-backs and only three games when Miami will enter with the rest advantage over its opponent during the second half of the season, the Heat (.487 opponent winning percentage) has the East’s second easiest and NBA’s fourth-easiest second-half schedule based on cumulative opponent winning percentage, according to NBA.com. Using this criteria, the only East team with an easier remaining road than the Heat is the Brooklyn Nets (.484 opponent winning percentage).
Including the back-to-back set against the Magic and Bulls to open its post-break schedule, six of the Heat’s first seven second-half games come against teams with a sub-.500 record.
That why Miami’s remaining schedule, while very busy, could be justifiably described as favorable.
“Games every other day is just taking a toll on the entire league,” Heat veteran Andre Iguodala said. “But that’s just the curse of the business and guys are just trying to figure out ways to weather it mentally more than anything.”
P.J. TUCKER’S FIT
Houston Rockets forward P.J. Tucker did not play Thursday night and is not expected to return to the team, coach Stephen Silas said.
ESPN reported “Tucker has grown increasingly frustrated that he has yet to be moved to a contender and made it clear that he’d prefer to sit out games until the front office finds a deal for him ahead of the March 25 trade deadline.” The Heat is among the teams that have discussed a possible deal for Tucker in recent weeks, according to ESPN, along with the Milwaukee Bucks, Los Angeles Lakers and Brooklyn Nets.
Tucker, 35, is on an expiring contract with a salary of $7.97 million, which is slightly larger than the Heat’s $7.53 trade exception. So, Miami can’t fit Tucker into that exception to essentially acquire him for nothing because it can’t be combined with a player or exception to take in a more expensive salary.
“Miami kind of makes the most sense,” ESPN NBA analyst and former NBA executive Bobby Marks said in an Instagram video. “They have a trade exception that’s not enough to take the Tucker contract in. But they do have an Avery Bradley contract that’s $5.6 million. He’s got a team option for next year. Miami could potentially add a second-round pick to it. But does Avery Bradley make sense for Houston?”
The addition of Tucker (6-5, 245) would add another small-ball four option to the Heat’s roster, which has been an area of need since Jae Crowder left in free agency this past offseason. Tucker can be used to defend bigger players, much like Crowder did, and can also help space the floor as a solid three-point shooter.
While the Rockets’ preference is reportedly to acquire a young rotation player in return, Marks said: “The Heat are not going to trade Duncan Robinson or Tyler Herro for three months of P.J. Tucker. That does not make sense at all. If I was in the front office in Houston, I wouldn’t even ask for that. It’s kind of a little bit of an insult.”
Tucker has shot 36.9 percent from three-point range in the previous three seasons. He’s averaging 4.4 points while shooting 31.4 percent on threes, 4.6 rebounds and 1.4 assists this season.
Cleveland’s Andre Drummond, San Antonio’s LaMarcus Aldridge and Tucker are now all away from their teams until they are traded or bought out.
INJURY REPORT
Heat center Bam Adebayo and Bradley remain out for Friday night’s game against the Bulls.
It marks the third consecutive game that Adebayo has missed because of left knee tendinitis and the 17th consecutive game that Bradley has missed because of a right calf strain.
Adebayo and Bradley did not travel with the Heat to Chicago, and it’s unclear if they will meet the team in Orlando for the final contest of Miami’s quick two-game trip on Sunday against the Magic.
“He’s going to do a ton of work here,” Spoelstra said of Adebayo remaining in Miami.
▪ With his third three-pointer in Thursday’s win over the Magic, Robinson became the fastest player, in terms of fewest games played, in NBA history to reach 400 career made threes. Robinson reached that total in his 125th career game, 34 fewer games than Trae Young (159 games) and 35 fewer games than Luka Doncic (160 games).
