As Jimmy Butler situation continues to loom, Heat begins ‘gnarly’ road-heavy February
As the Jimmy Butler situation continues to loom, the Miami Heat continues to move forward. Now, the Heat moves into a month that will be spent almost entirely on the road.
February begins with a matchup against the Spurs in San Antonio on Saturday night. This marks the start of a four-game trip and a 10-game stretch that includes nine games on the road.
In fact, the Heat only has one home game between the start of the month and Feb. 25 — a span that also includes the NBA’s All-Star break. The Heat’s only game at Kaseya Center during that 25-day stretch comes against the defending NBA champion Boston Celtics on Feb. 10.
“I mean, it’s just understanding the task at hand,” Heat center Bam Adebayo said ahead of Saturday’s contest in San Antonio. “It’s not going to be easy. We know that. A lot of these teams, we’ve already played before. So we understand they’re coming in with a different game plan than when we played them the first time.
“So for us, it’s understanding what [Heat coach Erik Spoelstra] is trying to get across. This is going to be a gnarly road trip. We don’t know what’s going to happen. Obviously, you got all the chaos still going on. But these are the times when we go on the road and you get that collective grit and huddle together and depend on one another.”
This long stretch on the road also includes the NBA’s trade deadline, which is approaching on Thursday at 3 p.m. The Heat continues its efforts to trade the disgruntled Butler ahead of next week’s league-wide trade deadline.
The Phoenix Suns and the Golden State Warriors are still considered the two most likely trade destinations for Butler at this point, according to league sources.
Butler remains away from the Heat, as he serves his third team-issued suspension of the last month. Butler, who has made it clear that he wants the Heat to trade him, is suspended by the Heat at least through Thursday’s trade deadline, but the Heat labeled this latest suspension as “indefinite” due “to a continued pattern of disregard of team rules, engaging in conduct detrimental to the team and intentionally withholding services.”
“The best you can, you try to ignore it,” Adebayo said of the trade noise surrounding the Heat ahead of Thursday’s deadline. “Easier said than done, but we still got games to play. So you have to control what you can control, at the end of the day. You can’t control any of that. So the best thing for you to do is when you go out there, get your minutes, play hard and impact winning.”
The Heat begins its road-heavy February with a 23-23 record, hoping to find some consistency in the middle of an up-and-down season.
It won’t be easy, considering nine of the Heat’s 12 games in February come on the road. The good news for the Heat is of its nine road opponents this month, only three entered Saturday with a winning record.
But once the calendar flips to March, the schedule turns for the Heat. In March, 12 of the Heat’s 17 games will come at home.
“March is going to be a lot of fun, playing here at home,” Spoelstra said. “But for the next month, we’re on the road and I think those are opportunities for our team to have breakthroughs. You’re going to have to work for it. It’s going to be gnarly on the road. When you’re a competitor, that’s what you want. You want those kinds of environments, those kinds of emotions. Everything feels so much more intense and then when you’re able to earn tough wins, you grow from that.”
INJURY REPORT
The Heat ruled out Butler (team suspension), Josh Richardson (right heel inflammation), Dru Smith (Achilles surgery) and Isaiah Stevens (G League) for Saturday’s game in San Antonio.
The rest of the Heat’s roster is expected to be available against the Spurs.
