
PORTLAND, Ore. — In the wake of recent postponed NBA games in Los Angeles, the Miami Heat as of Saturday remained on schedule to travel and play there on Monday night against the Los Angeles Clippers and Wednesday night against the Los Angeles Lakers.
Amid that schedule, coach Erik Spoelstra said ahead of Saturday night’s game against the Portland Trail Blazers at Moda Center that concerns about his team’s preparations pale in comparison to the fires that have burned communities to the ground and displaced tens of thousands.
“We’ll be able to handle whatever we need to handle,” Spoelstra said after his team’s morning shootaround. “Really, the thoughts are just about everybody that’s going through it right now. Our hearts and prayers are for everybody that’s managing the devastation. I can’t even imagine having an entire community gone. You leave and you come back and it’s gone. So many people are affected by that.
“The game, if we can provide some inspiration and entertainment for the city, then that’s our obligation. But in terms of the logistics for us? Like that’s the last thing. We know what to do.”
Players said they will follow the team’s lead, with Monday night’s game against the Clippers at the new Intuit Dome scheduled to be among the first sporting events in the area since the firestorms.
“First,” guard Tyler Herro said, “my prayers are to the city, the community, everyone there that’s going through that. That’s obviously tragic and very unfortunate for anyone in that area. But I mean, the NBA doesn’t stop, as we all know.”
Monday night’s Los Angeles Rams home playoff game already has been moved to the Phoenix area from the SoFi Stadium, which is about a mile from the Intuit Dome. Concerns for that move included air quality in the area that as of Saturday was listed as unhealthy.
“I think it’s dangerous for us to go there if that’s how bad it is,” Herro said, “but we’ll see.”
The Heat had planned to hold practices on the UCLA campus, which had been placed under a fire warning.
“It’s scary. It’s really scary to see our beautiful campus being in danger,” said second-year forward Jaime Jaquez Jr., who played at UCLA. “It’s something that you never thought it can happen. But it’s something I’ve seen before in college. I’ve seen the fires throughout the hills and the mountains of the 405.”
Asked about air quality, Jaquez said, “If we can play a game, we’re going to definitely try to play a game.”
Butler workouts
With assistant coach Octavio De La Grana remaining behind during this six-game trip to work with suspended forward Jimmy Butler, Spoelstra was asked at Saturday’s shootaround about De La Grana’s work during those sessions.
“Of course I’ve talked to him. I’m very close to Coach O,” Spoelstra said. “I talk to him, but that’s between me and Coach O, with all due respect.”
Saturday marked the fifth game of the seven-game suspension due to “conduct detrimental to the team.”
Several staffers have been working with Butler at Kaseya Center during the suspension, workouts that remain required, even amid suspensions, according to the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement.
Stevens back
Despite the crosscountry flight from Friday night’s G League game in New York, Spoelstra said he felt it meaningful to have guard Isaiah Stevens rejoin the Heat for Saturday night’s game.
“We want to get these guys with us as much as possible, and we like what he’s doing just in terms of getting a team organized,” Spoelstra said, with Stevens recently signed to a two-way contract. “Whether we play him or not, it’s another guy to have available.
“There were a couple of points on this trip that I felt we could have used another ballhandler. It’s also just to get him around us.”
Stevens on Friday night closed 21 points and 10 assists for the Heat’s affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce, in a 152-102 roach victory over the New York Knicks’ G League affiliate, the Westchester Knicks.
In that game, Heat summer-league prospect Bryson Warren closed with 40 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists.
Originally Published: