Heat’s road games vs. Spurs and Raptors rescheduled. Also, P.J. Tucker clears protocols
The Miami Heat’s road game against the San Antonio Spurs that was postponed has been rescheduled.
The Heat’s matchup against the Spurs at AT&T Center has been moved to Feb. 3 at 8:30 p.m., the NBA announced on Monday. The game was originally scheduled for Dec. 29, but it was postponed because the Heat did not have the league-required eight available players to play.
That change forced the NBA to reschedule Kyle Lowry’s return to Toronto. With the Heat originally scheduled to face the Toronto Raptors at Scotiabank Arena on Feb. 3, that game has been moved to Feb. 1 at 7:30 p.m. (no longer televised by TNT) on the second night of a back-to-back after the Heat takes on the Boston Celtics at TD Garden on Jan. 31.
There’s a chance Lowry’s return to Toronto will include no fans amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The Raptors began hosting home games without selling tickets to fans on Dec. 30 for three weeks, with the policy beyond that time still to be determined.
Following the schedule changes announced Monday, the Heat’s road trip that begins Jan. 31 in Boston will include six games: Jan. 31 at Celtics, Feb. 1 at Raptors, Feb. 3 at Spurs, Feb. 5 at Charlotte Hornets, Feb. 7 at Washington Wizards and Feb. 10 at New Orleans Pelicans.
HEAT COVID-19 UPDATE
Heat forward P.J. Tucker cleared the NBA’s health and safety protocols and is available to play Monday night against the Golden State Warriors.
Tucker rejoined the team in San Francisco just hours before the game. He missed the past six games — four because of left lower leg nerve inflammation and the last two because of protocols.
Even with Tucker cleared, the Heat still has five players currently in protocols: Marcus Garrett, Udonis Haslem, Duncan Robinson, Max Strus and Gabe Vincent. The hope is that Strus will also soon be cleared.
With the NBA allowing players to return after five-day quarantines if they meet certain testing requirements, the Heat could get each of its players sidelined by protocols back by the end of the week.
Following Monday’s game against the Warriors, the Heat travels to play the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday and Phoenix Suns on Saturday.
The Heat ruled out Bam Adebayo (thumb surgery), Dewayne Dedmon (knee sprain), Garrett (protocols), Haslem (protocols), Markieff Morris (whiplash), KZ Okpala (wirst sprain), Victor Oladipo (knee injury recovery), Robinson (protocols), Strus (protocols) and Vincent (protocols) for Monday’s game in San Francisco.
This story was originally published January 3, 2022 at 5:27 PM.
