Last season, a team that was expected to make the NBA Finals faced that was projected to win only 16 games. The contenders weren’t too worried about the matchup, feeling pretty good about opening the season and defeating a conference rival. The attitude seemed to reflect how easily they could handle this squad of second-tier players in Philadelphia.
And were embarrassed in the process.
The Miami Heat were taken by surprise in the second game of the season, one were they missed the services of Dwyane Wade (the first of many missed games for his “maintenance program”) and rookie guard Michael Carter-Williams nearly posted a triple double in his first pro game. Wade is expected to play on Saturday (a calf injury against the Wizards on Wednesday is fine according to reports) while MCW, last season’s Rookie of the Year, is nursing a shoulder injury and will be out for several games.
The lesson is an obvious one and Miami can’t afford to take any team lightly. It was a recurring theme over the last four years as that version of the Heat had designs on postseason success – sometimes ignoring the regular season, in the process. We’ve yet to see how this year’s team will handle it but the victory over Washington is a good start. Couple that with Josh McRoberts being cleared to play, and this game is more important than you might expect. At the time of this posting, coach Erik Spoelstra hadn’t confirmed if McRoberts would start or come off the bench (likely in a reserve role to Shawne Williams, who struggled on Wednesday). But if there’s any worry that the players might have forgotten last season’s loss to the Sixers, you can be sure Spoelstra hasn’t. He’ll make sure they are very aware of it and won’t let McRoberts’ return to action be a distraction.
The Sixers haven’t exactly hidden how their rebuilding strategy. The word “tanking” gets thrown around a lot to describe them but it doesn’t quite fit; there’s a strategy in place where they are building to be strong contenders by year 3 or 4 of the process. It’s a unique approach where they don’t believe assuming big contracts will make them a legitimate playoff hopeful so they’d rather develop young players like Carter-Williams, Nerlens Noel (who is in his 2nd year but missed all of last season), and rookie Joel Embiid, who will miss most of this season. Noel will be the only player on this future “Big 3” on the floor tonight and you’ll see both the need for development and the flashes of potential. He’s got incredible athleticism and a defensive intensity (he’s averaging 3 blocks and 10 rebounds per game) but his offensive repertoire needs work. MCW’s injury has given Tony Wroten a chance to shine, carrying the offense at 18 points per game, to go along with 13 assists and 6 steals through the first two games. Chris Johnson, Henry Sims, and Hollis Thompson round out the starting five, with guards Alexey Shved and K.J. McDaniels being the key reserves.
Philly has lost both games so far, including last night to the Milwaukee Bucks. They probably aren’t much of a threat to Miami but, as the Heat prepare for a game tomorrow night against the Toronto Raptors, look for tonight’s contest to be an opportunity to fine tune things and manage the roster appropriately. Chris Bosh will be more effective from outside (and avoiding Noel in the middle) but we’ll see if he can match the production of opening night. Ditto for Norris Cole, who had a career high of 23 points; Wroten can be a streak shooter and Cole will have his hands full on both sides of the floor. With the back-to-back games on Spoelstra’s mind, watch for key substitutions, especially with the return of McRoberts. Will Shabazz Napier and James Ennis get extended minutes? And can we expect Danny Granger to make his regular season debut?
Tonight’s game tips off at 7 p.m. from the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. Check back with All U Can Heat for post game grades and analysis.