For four months, the Miami Heat have measured themselves against just about everything the NBA has had to throw at them.
Just about.
Because even now, as February turns to March, there remains one challenge that has gone unanswered, a challenge the Heat surmounted last season, a challenge that in many ways they are seeking to avoid during this final six-week stretch of the regular season.
A particularly juicy challenge considering the ties between the teams.
When the Heat face the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday night at Wells Fargo Center, it will be the teams’ first meeting of the season. To put that into perspective, by the time the Heat meet the 76ers first time, 62 games into their season, they already will have completed season series against 15 teams.
Oh, and then the Heat host the 76ers on Wednesday night, with an April 8 game in Philadelphia also remaining in the three-game season series.
For all the recent history between the teams, it has been an interminable wait.
To refresh, the Heat ousted the 76ers 4-2 in last season’s Eastern Conference semifinals.
Drawing that series, Philadelphia center Joel Embiid questioned whether the 76ers lacked the requisite toughness to challenge the Heat.
After that series, Heat forward Jimmy Butler mocked the 76ers for prioritizing forward Tobias Harris over him in 2021 free agency.
Then, in the offseason, the 76ers lured veteran power forward P.J. Tucker, a defensive pest during that series, from the Heat in free agency, a move that left Philadelphia penalized by the NBA for the timing of that agreement.
More recently, the 76ers last week added center Dewayne Dedmon a week after the Heat had dealt the veteran big man.
And days after the 76ers added Dedmon, the Heat added veteran center Cody Zeller, ostensibly giving the Heat another big body to throw at Embiid, who once again is playing at an MVP level.
It’s almost as if the NBA was intent on allowing the drama to build.
Which it has.
“We’ve already had a few of those month, or five-week spans where we’re played a team three times,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra of next facing the 76ers three times in the Heat’s final 21 games. “It is unique, but I think the scheduling for the last couple of years, you’re used to a lot of different scenarios than you didn’t have previous years, previous seasons.
“It’s fine. It’s good. They’re ahead of us, so it’s an opportunity. That’s the way I see it.”
And yet, if the Heat are hopeful of a deep playoff run, they likely also do not want to see the 76ers earlier than necessary.
So basically, to avoid the possibility of facing the 76ers in the first round, it would mean the Heat finishing at least No. 5 in the East, with Philadelphia positioned for a top-three finish in the East.
So beat them ... or potentially face them even earlier than last postseason.
A year ago, when the teams met in the postseason, James Harden was still trying to find his way alongside Embiid, acquired at midseason from the Brooklyn Nets.
Chemistry in that regard, no longer appears an issue.
“Without a doubt,” Spoelstra said. “That’s been the biggest thing that I’ve seen, is just the continuity. I think a lot of people forgot that Harden didn’t join the team until midseason, and that takes time, to get on the same page. They’re definitely clicking for sure.”
Seemingly just as uneven was the adjustment for Tucker, who had to endure early-season jeers in Philadelphia (now there’s something new) as fans and teammates adjusted to a selfless approach that tends to leave statistics to others.
“Tuck always figures it out,” Spoelstra said, with the Heat ultimately allowing Tucker to depart to protect their position against the luxury tax and salary cap. “I mean if you’re going to judge him by that last line in the boxscore, you are just really mistaken of how he can impact winning.
“Tuck does all those little, intangible things that really impact winning, that most people don’t really recognize.”
The irony of the delayed start to the season series, is the Heat finally appear only now to have their Tucker successor, with the past week’s acquisition of Kevin Love on the buyout market. No, not the same style of player in the least, but the latest veteran rental to man that position in the wake of Jae Crowder and Tucker.
And so, for a season that opened on Oct. 19 for the Heat, there will be another opening night of sorts on Feb. 27, when Heat-76ers tips off Monday for the first time in 2022-23.
The storylines remain.
Now given extra time to percolate and marinate.
