Virtual announcer Mike Baiamonte gets Saturday off for the Miami Heat, with Erik Spoelstra’s team going on the road without taking flight.
Welcome to the NBA’s new normal, pandemic edition.
In an attempt to create home-team feel at a venue where there is none, the Heat will play as the “road” team Saturday when they face the Utah Jazz in the second of their three exhibition scrimmages at Disney’s Wide World of Sports complex.
Unlike during the Heat’s scrimmage opener, when they scored a 104-98 “home” victory over the Sacramento Kings, this time there will be no piped-in versions of Baiamonte’s signature AmericanAirlines Arena calls of “‘Stand up! And make some noise!” and “Dos Minutos.”
And this time the color scape, the videos of fans on the signage circling the court, and the home-team calls will be the sights and sounds of Jazz.
For the Heat, in typical times, going on the road would trigger concern. In building the 41-24 record that already has them with a playoff berth, the Heat, before the March 11 NBA stoppage for the new coronavirus pandemic, stood 27-5 at home, but just 14-19 on the road.
Now, at worst, it will just be a head game, with Saturday’s scrimmage back at the same HP Field House where the Heat played the Kings.
Home and road are now the same place.
As it is, Heat forward Jimmy Butler said he hardly noticed the home-team branding against the Kings.
“I really and truly was not paying attention,” he said. “I was really locked in on the game, and trying to remind my teammates that this isn’t going to be normal.
“So maybe next time I’ll pay attention a little bit more.”
As much as providing the first taste of competition in over four months, the scrimmages also allow for acclimation to the new setting that comes in the absence of fans, with many in attendance wearing masks amid ongoing COVID-19 concerns.
“It’s different with no fans,” Heat guard Goran Dragic said. “So we could hear everybody talking. It’s going to be interesting. But we know what we need to do on the court.”
Several coaches have mentioned that in the void of spectators it will be imperative for teammates to provide energy, especially those in a bench area that resembles something closer to a hockey bench.
In that regard, Heat center Meyers Leonard and his booming baritone made an instant impression in the scrimmage opener.
“That communication is something we’ve talked about since day one of training camp (in October),” Spoelstra said. “It was a pleasant surprise to learn that about him, and he just gets everybody playing at a higher level defensively because of that communication.
“It’s tenfold now when you don’t have the fans. You can really hear him. It’s great.”
The Heat have four “home” and four “road” games at the Wide World of Sports complex when their schedule of eight regular-season “seeding” games begins on Aug. 1 against the Denver Nuggets, with Tuesday’s scrimmage finale against the Memphis Grizzlies also designated as a home game.
That has players looking forward to again seeing the home “fans” and again hearing Baiamonte, even though neither will be in place (with Baiamonte not among the four public-address announcers being utilized by the league in the bubble-type quarantine setting).
“It makes it feel a little bit like home,” Dragic said, “but it’s way different.”
