Ira Winderman: 10 important games for the Heat as the competition awaits

MIAMI — The NBA has spoken, and it’s hard to make a counterargument. The Miami Heat aren’t particularly spicy, sexy or sparkly. Especially after a season where the fireworks fizzled out.

Still, with the 2024-25 regular-season schedule released Thursday, there will be moments when statements can be made, reminders that can be offered of the three Eastern Conference Finals appearances over four years before last season’s first-round humiliation at the hands of the Boston Celtics.

From an NBA perspective, the Heat’s main rival right now is the Milwaukee Bucks, with three of the four games this season receiving national attention, two on TNT, one on ESPN.

From ESPN’s perspective, a roundtable has pegged the Celtics as the Heat’s top rival. Yet the national schedule features only one of the team’s four matchups on ESPN.

Still, while most of the focus will be elsewhere this season, as the league waits to see how many games Jimmy Butler deems necessary during the regular season (hey, that’s effectively a contract year, so there’s hope), there will be moments of meaning over the 82 games for a team looking to reestablish some of its luster.

Such as . . .

October 23 vs Magic: The opening of the season.

While this is the ninth time the Heat have opened a season against the Magic, this one at the Kaseya Center comes with the added significance of Orlando supplanting the Heat as last season’s Southeast Division champion.

Sure, division titles aren’t exactly Pat Riley’s ultimate goal, but with young talent like Paolo Banchero, Jalen Suggs and Franz Wagner, the Magic are a team built to last. The addition of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope this offseason makes it clear that the Magic also consider their time to shine to be here.

November 2 against the Wizards in Mexico: This is likely the only exhibition game on the Heat’s schedule, a game that will be televised on NBA TV, with the Heat sitting out the previous two days for promotional appearances at the international exhibition game. The game will count as a Wizards home game, not a Heat home game.

Above all, it’s an opportunity for Jaime Jaquez Jr. to further assert himself as one of the league’s rising stars, with his Mexican lineage certainly at the center of the trip.

The Heat have won their last two games in Mexico City, beating Brooklyn 101-89 on Dec. 9, 2017, and beating San Antonio 111-101 on Dec. 17, 2022.

November 6 in Phoenix: Olympic reunion for Heat center Bam Adebayo with Kevin Durant and Devin Booker of the Suns, his teammates who won gold at the Paris Games.

The game also marks the start of the Heat’s most grueling road trip of the season, an improbable trek from Phoenix to Denver to Minnesota to Detroit to Indiana, a 13-day journey that includes five nights in Indiana and in-season tournament games against the Pistons and Pacers.

November 18 vs. 76ers: Caleb Martin’s reunion game, after the forward left for Philadelphia this summer as a free agent. A video tribute? We’ll see.

There’s also the matter of the 76ers beating the Heat in last season’s first playoff game, a loss that ultimately propelled the Heat into their final round matchup against the Celtics.

Oh, and it also brings Kyle Lowry back to the Kaseya Center.

December 2 in Boston: The first meeting between the perennial playoff opponents. This time, the Heat’s hope is Butler and former Celtic player Terry Rozier will be available, after missing last season’s playoff series.

The timing isn’t ideal, as it comes one night after playing in Toronto. In fact, of the Heat’s four games against the Celtics, three are scheduled for back-to-back series, with the third coming after a four-game road trip.

January 13 at Clippers: The Heat’s only visit of the season to Steve Ballmer’s state-of-the-art Intuit Dome.

While the Heat will unveil a new scoreboard this season at the Kaseya Center, the scoreboard at the Clippers’ new home in Inglewood spans nearly an acre — yes, an acre — the equivalent of more than 3,592 60-inch televisions.

Yes, they lost Paul George, but they gained a new toy.

January 15 at the Lakers: Because the Heat vs. LeBron James matchup will always have meaning, especially after Adebayo and Heat coach Erik Spoelstra worked alongside the former Heat star at the Paris Olympics.

The game could also provide Gabe Vincent with his first opportunity to play against his former team, after knee issues kept Vincent out of both games last season, following his departure as a free agent in 2024.

January 19 vs Spurs: Victor Wembanyama’s only visit of the season.

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Last season’s Rookie of the Year and presumed contender for Adebayo’s Defensive Player of the Year award this season, finished with 18 points and 13 rebounds in his only visit to the Kaseya Center last season. The 2.23-m center also finished with 18 points and 11 rebounds in their other meeting in San Antonio last season, with the Heat winning both games.

March 13 at the Knicks: The only game of the season scheduled between the teams at Madison Square Garden.

Despite the Knicks finishing second in the East and the Heat finishing eighth last season, the two teams were separated by just four games in the standings. The difference is that while the Heat showed plenty of grit this offseason, the Knicks made the big move for Mikal Bridges and re-signed OG Anunoby.

March 25 vs. Warriors: Stephen Curry’s only scheduled visit, and, yes, another Olympic reunion for Adebayo and Spoelstra, this time also including Olympic coach Steve Kerr.

But that won’t mean a return of the Splash Brothers, with Klay Thompson heading to free agency to the Dallas Mavericks, who will make their only visit to the Kaseya Center on Nov. 24.

IN THE ALLEY

WAIT, WHAT?: Among the quirks of the Heat’s 2024-25 schedule announced last week is a five-day break from Nov. 19-23. That break comes after a three-game, four-night stretch and ends just before another three-game, four-night stretch, both of which involve travel. Yes, the NBA schedule can be the ultimate conundrum, depending on arena availability and conflicts, but an extended break just five weeks into the season isn’t exactly optimal planning. It would be roughly the equivalent of giving an NFL team a bye week in the third week of a season. The potential culprit? Shakira is scheduled to perform at the Kaseya Center on Nov. 20-21 as part of her Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran world tour.

GORAN’S MOMENT: With the heat Jimmy Butler And Erik Spoelstra Among those expected, the former Heat guard Goran Dragic Next weekend he will hold a farewell event and exhibition in his hometown of Ljubljana, Slovenia. Also expected at this charity weekend called “Dragon’s Night” Chris Bosh, Luka Dončić, Nikola Jokić, Giannis Antetokounmpo And Steve Nashas well as the entire Slovenian national team that Dragić led to the European Championship title in 2017. Proceeds will benefit the Slovenian youth charity Association of Friends of the Youth and the Goran Dragić Foundation. Tickets for the event at the 12,000-seat Stožice Arena sold out almost immediately after they went on sale in February. Dragić last played in the NBA in 2023 with the Milwaukee Bucks, after spending seven seasons with the Heat. He recently spent time with Spoelstra at the Paris Olympics and was a regular visitor last season at the Kaseya Center.

MOVING ON: As NBA rosters fill out, several players with ties to the Heat have opted for overseas options for the upcoming season, a list that includes former Heat forward Chris Silva with Bnei Herzliya of the Israeli Basketball Premier League, former Heat guard Daryl Macon also in Israel with Maccabi Tel Aviv, former Heat goalie Toney Douglas with the Portuguese team FC Porto, former summer prospect of the Heat Chase Audige with the Belgian team Telenet BC Oostende, former goalkeeper of the Heat Kenny Hasbrouck with the Spanish team Forca Lleida, former Heat goalkeeper Zylan Cheatham with the Japanese team Nagoya Diamond Dolphins, former summer prospect of the Heat Ian Clark with the Australian team Melbourne, former summer hopeful of the Heat Norvel Shovel in Beirut and Heat 2024 G League prospect Theo Maledon with French Ligue 1 team LDLC Asvel. Additionally, seemingly unable to gain traction on the NBA free agent market after spending last season with the Utah Jazz, former Heat center Omer Yurtseven has been linked with interest from Greek League team Panathinaikos.

SPEAKING OF: Speaking of those with Heat ties going overseas, former Heat draft acquisition Patrick Beverley The 27-year-old signed with Israeli club Hapoel Tel Aviv for what he said was a chance to flourish again as an offensive talent. “In my European career, I was the MVP of the same league that I’m going back to. I put the ball in the hole. I’m going to win everything,” he said on his podcast. “Obviously, when you get to the NBA, you have to play different roles. Now I can go back to a role where there’s seven seconds left, give me the ball, watch me swing. The isolation goes away. I can play the hoop. The purity of it, that’s what people forget.” He added: “I played a big role, I had a phenomenal NBA career when I was in the NBA. But I don’t want to sit in a corner.”

NUMBER

16. The Heat will play on Wednesdays this season, the busiest day of the week for the Heat in their 2024-25 schedule, and the same total number of Wednesday games as last season. The Heat will play the first three Wednesdays of the season and nine of the last ten.