Podcast: The Heat’s COVID-19 issues have gotten bad. Will it derail Miami’s season?
The Miami Heat has finally fallen victim to the NBA’s COVID-19 outbreak and the rise of the Omicron variant.
With six players stuck in COVID protocols and six more injured, the Heat didn’t have enough players to face the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday and the NBA had to step in to postpone the game.
It had started to feel like an inevitability. Now how far will it go? It’s the subject — and the only thing to talk about — on this new episode of the Heat Check podcast. David Wilson and Anthony Chiang, the Miami Herald’s Heat beat writer, break down what led Miami (22-13) to this point and whether the Heat will be able to play Friday against the Houston Rockets.
Miami’s issues, however, are different than some of the outbreaks happening across the league. For the Heat, problems begin with injuries — star forwards Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler were among the players not available Thursday because of injuries — and continued when guards Kyle Lowry, Max Strus, Gabe Vincent, and more all went into health and safety protocols.
Who’s excited to learn who Aric Holman and Haywood Highsmith are? Miami is about to deal with the same thing so much of the NBA has had to for the last month.
Of course, the Heat is better equipped to do this than anyone else. Not many people outside Miami were expecting much from Strus, Vincent or wing Caleb Martin to start this year and all three became important role players for the shorthanded Heat in the fall. It’s next man up — again — for Miami, which is just the way coach Erik Spoelstra likes it.
As always, please continue to rate, review and subscribe on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts as we take you through yet another unprecedented NBA season.
This story was originally published December 30, 2021 at 7:00 AM.
