The Miami Heat had to fight to get a national stage last season, up until their NBA Finals run in the bubble, of course. It’s more of the same to start this year.
The Miami Heat are a team that’s used to being the underdog, forgotten about, and underrated. Many of you will point to the Big 3 years as some sort of end all be all, but that’s only one period in Miami Heat history.
Since those years and recently, the Miami Heat have seemed like the odd man out when it comes to nationally televised games. Yes, their success last season during the regular portion of the regular season made networks take notice and place them there, but even then, it was far and few in between.
Now, their success in the bubble was fully captured on national television as the NBA had a monopoly on the sports viewing landscape and they were all bubbled up on one campus, making every game easy to capture and must-see TV. Things seemed to have fallen back to the norm though for this upcoming season though.
The Miami Heat are constantly dismissed as a national television draw. Why is that and why is it continuing after they just won the Eastern Conference?
When you look at the national television schedule for the NBA’s Preseason, this is what you’ll see.
December 11th- Kings vs. Trail Blazers- ESPN
December 13th- Clippers vs. Lakers- ESPN
December 15th- Celtics vs. 76ers & Warriors vs. Kings- TNT
December 17th- Kings vs. Warriors- ESPN
December 18th- Nets vs. Celtics- ESPN2 & Lakers vs. Suns- ESPN
We get it, the Los Angeles Lakers are the defending champs and the home of the greatest player doing it right now, not to mention the, at least, second greatest player of all time. That’s a ratings draw, sure.
However, you have the Kings on three times, the Warriors on twice, and the Celtics on twice? Last I checked, neither of those teams played in the NBA Finals last year.
The Miami Heat did though.
Ok, I will concede. The Miami Heat only have two Preseason games scheduled, one on the 14th against the New Orleans Pelicans and one on the 18th against the Toronto Raptors, but that doesn’t mean that somebody shouldn’t be able to find a slot for one of those games.
I fully expect NBA TV to pick up at least one of those games. I mean, they have to, right?
Hopefully, they will but it’s rather disrespectful that those are the lengths that have to be taken to put the reigning Eastern Conference Champs on display. It’s as it always was though and that’s ok, that’s just the way we like it.
Keep counting the Heat out or calling their run a “fluke”. That’s the type of stuff that ensures you get an angry Heat team and that’s the one we want to see.