After home slide, Heat hit road
November 30, 2009
MIAMI (AP)—Something about going on the road has always appealed to Miamiforward Udonis Haslem(notes). After all, it can’t be any tougher than playing at homehas been lately for the slumping Heat.
Miami has lost six of its last nine games overall, not to mention four ofits last six at home—and both those wins were one-point buzzer-beaters, firstover the lowly New Jersey Nets on Nov. 17, and then a New Orleans Hornets teamwithout Chris Paul(notes) five nights later.
So maybe a change of scenery will do some good.
Barely a few hours removed from a 92-85 loss at home to the Boston Celtics,Miami left early Monday morning for a four-game road swing, the first three ofthose games coming against Western Conference powers Portland, Denver and thereigning NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers.
The buzz over a 6-1 start has now been drowned out by seeing the record fallto 9-7, and the Heat know this trip won’t be easy.
“We’ve got to go out there and win,” Haslem said. “Find any meansnecessary to go out and get these games. Nobody but us … we’re out thereagainst everybody, so we’ve got to come together.”
Only the Lakers had played more games through Sunday at home this seasonthan the Heat. The Lakers took advantage, going 10-2 so far in their buildingand using that as a springboard to a 13-3 overall record.
The Heat, they’re a mere 6-5 at home.
And since winning on the road is much harder for NBA teams—home teams hadprevailed 61 percent of the time through Sunday, which is basically consistentwith the year-in, year-out success clip around the league—things might gettougher before long for Miami.
“I think there’s nothing better right now for this team, when you’re goingthrough adversity, going through some tough times,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstrasaid. “Out there, there’s not going to be anybody else but ourselves. We’regoing to have to lean on each other and trust each other, come together. Thesecan be some season-changing moments. … It’s a great challenge.”
It wasn’t such a daunting proposition for Miami last season, either.
The Heat went 7-8 on the road against Western Conference teams a year ago,winning in, among other places, San Antonio, Phoenix and Utah. Those wins provedvital in the playoff picture, since Miami finished as the No. 5 seed, only twogames ahead of No. 7 Chicago.
“I don’t ever mind going out West,” Heat guard Dwyane Wade(notes) said. “Ofcourse it’s tough, the schedule, but it’s actually good for a team because allyou have is yourself. You have your 15 players, your six or seven coaches, thetraining staff and no one else rooting for you. You all have to come together.You all win together, you all lose together.”
Already this season, Miami has shown some road resilience.
It won Oct. 30 at Indiana, a place where the Heat had only prevailed fivetimes in 39 tries over their franchise’s first 21 seasons. And just last week,Miami used a huge fourth quarter run to beat the defending Eastern Conferencechampion Orlando Magic 99-98—just the second Heat win in the last 14 meetingsbetween the division rivals.
They’ll need more of that magic this week.
“You don’t have the crowd and you don’t have to play a certain way,” Wadesaid. “You just have to play hard-nosed and try to win. Team building alwayshappens on the West Coast, so we’ll see when we come back. It’s a tough trip andit’s the NBA schedule. Can’t cry about it. All we can do is get our rest, asmuch as we can, go out there and take each game by game and give it our all.”
