Heat to practice in Houston to avoid Hurricane Matthew

The Miami Heat will practice in Houston as Hurricane Matthew nears.

The Miami Heat will fly Houston on Wednesday to practice amid fears that powerful Hurricane Matthew could affect the Miami area this week, according to the Sun Sentinel.

The Heat will occupy the Houston Rockets practice facility while they are out of town traveling to China for two preseason games. The Heat are scheduled to play the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday in Kansas City,

Hurricane Matthew is currently is a Category 3 storm, making landfall on several Caribbean nations, and it is expected to hit the Florida coast as early as Thursday.

According to the report, the Heat had trouble finding adequate hotel space in Kansas City, and also looked into training sites in Memphis, Chicago and Milwaukee before finding facilities available for use in Houston.

The Heat are set to return to the Miami area on Sunday in preparation for a home preseason game against the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday.  They have preseason games in San Antonio on Oct. 14 and a preseason game in Louisville, Ky., also against the Timberwolves the following day.

The approaching hurricane has already forced the postponement of two college football games: Albany State at Charleston Southern and Bethune-Cookman at South Carolina State. Saturday night's game between the Georgia and South Carolina might also be in jeopardy.

Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Mularkey said the team's game against the Dolphins in Miami could be moved to Nashville if the weather worsens.

– Scooby Axson