On anniversary, Heat looks back at day COVID-19 forced pause: ‘It was a strange, strange night’
Friday marked the two-year anniversary of a day some Miami Heat players will never forget.
Two years ago on the night of March 11, 2020, the NBA suspended the 2019-20 season at the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic after Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for the virus. Heat players and coaches learned the news just minutes following a disappointing 109-98 home loss to the Charlotte Hornets.
“It was a strange, strange night,” said Duncan Robinson, who started and logged 35 minutes for the Heat in that 2020 game. “Because I think halfway through the game, all the fans and stuff, everybody started to realize what had happened. We as players had no idea, but we could tell something was up. We just didn’t know what it was. We played really poorly that game and ended up losing and came back into the locker room.
“Normally there’s a speech about staying together, we’ll learn from it or whatever. But it was just like a totally different vibe. I remember all of us just sitting in there for a while, the coaches meeting for a while trying to figure out what to say. We just decided to just come in and just work out the next day, no practice. Then obviously, everything ensued like it did.”
Heat wing Caleb Martin, who was a member of the Hornets at the time, remembers scoring 19 points and helping Charlotte rally from a 20-point first-quarter deficit to come away with the win. Back then, it was the second-most points Martin had ever totaled in an NBA game.
“That was probably like the second-best game of my rookie year,” Martin said. “We came back from like 20 and ended up getting the win. It was crazy because as soon as we got in the locker room, we were looking to just keep the momentum rolling and they just said the whole season was paused. It was crazy.”
Robinson vividly recalls how he learned the news that the season was suspended that night. The Heat had 17 regular-season-games remaining when play was paused as COVID-19 began to spread around the world.
“I think I found out walking back in championship alley,” Robinson said. “Just like walking back, somebody was like, ‘Yo, did you hear?’ I was like, ‘What?’ They were like,’Yeah, Rudy Gobert got it and they shut down that game.’ Somebody was like talking about Tom Hanks, too. Tom Hanks was one of the early ones. Everybody was like, ‘The season is on pause.’ We all thought it was going to be paused for like five days and then come back. But obviously, it’s crazy what happened after that.”
What happened after that was a four-month pause before the 2019-20 season restarted in late July inside a bubble at Walt Disney World designed to keep COVID-19 away. The Heat thrived in the bubble, putting together an impressive run to the NBA Finals as the Eastern Conference’s fifth seed before falling to the Los Angeles Lakers in six games in the championship series.
It marked the first time a team seeded fifth or lower advanced to the NBA Finals since 1999, when the eighth-seeded New York Knicks represented the East in the championship series during a lockout-shortened season.
Robinson is one of six players who remain on the Heat’s roster from the team that made the Finals in that unique 2019-20 season. Bam Adebayo, Jimmy Butler, Udonis Haslem, Tyler Herro and Gabe Vincent are the others.
“It’s crazy looking back,” Robinson said. “Before it happened, you never would have believed anything like that could happen. Then now it’s just normal. You lived it. We talk so much about the new normal and everybody just adjusted. Obviously, the precautions early on were steep as they should have been. Then we just kind of adjusted as everything went on.”
As the Heat hosts the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday night as part of its season-long seven-game homestand, FTX Arena will be full and masks are no longer mandated for most fans in the building. COVID-19 testing is also far less rigorous on players and staff than it was even one year ago.
A lot has changed in two years.
“It seems like forever,” Martin said. “It feels like it has literally been like five years. But it’s crazy. That wasn’t that long ago.”
WHAT HEAT LIKE ABOUT HIGHSMITH
The Heat used the final spot on its 15-man roster to sign developmental forward Haywood Highsmith earlier this week. Highsmith, 25, is on a minimum salary for the remainder of the season, and the second and third seasons of the contract are non-guaranteed.
“We really like him as a two-way, offense-defensive player,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of Highsmith. “He already kind of fits that mold of that three-and-D guy. He can guard multiple positions. He’s strong. He can guard quicker guys. He can guard bigger guys. And he’s a more than capable three-point shooter.”
Highsmith entered Friday with totals of 24 points on 8-of-24 (33.3 percent) shooting from the field and 6 of 15 (40 percent) shooting from three-point range, 16 rebounds, one steal and two blocks in 98 minutes over 11 games with the Heat. He also averaged 13.6 points while shooting 49.4 percent from the field and 39.3 percent from three-point range, 5.5 rebounds, 2.4 assists and one block in 17 games with the G League’s Delaware Blue Coats this season.
“We’re really excited about having him in the program,” Spoelstra added. “We really liked him when we had him in January, and we were hoping that we’d be able to get something done at the end of the year, and we did. He’s been terrific so far, even just being around the guys and developing. And we’re looking forward to having a great summer with him.”
▪ Martin (hyperextended left knee) was listed as questionable, but will not play on Friday against the Cavaliers. The Heat is taking a cautious approach with his injury and Spoelstra said Martin may also be held out of Saturday’s home game against the Minnesota Timberwolves on the second night of the back-to-back set.
Spoelstra classified Martin as day-to-day.
Miami also ruled out Kyle Guy (G League), Markieff Morris (return to competition reconditioning) and Javonte Smart (G League) against Cleveland.
The Cavaliers will be without Jarrett Allen (finger fracture), Caris LeVert (foor sprain), Collin Sexton (meniscal tear) and Dylan Windler (G League) against the Heat.
This story was originally published March 11, 2022 at 12:19 PM.
