Inside The Heat

Miami Heat have toughest schedule for season restart

Miami Heat faces the league's most difficult finish to regular season according to metrics website

Shandel Richardson

The positive for the Miami Heat is they are a month from returning to the basketball court.

The negative is the schedule they were dealt by the league for the restart to the NBA season. According to the website www.winsadded.com, which is devoted to metrics, the Heat have the toughest remaining eight-game stretch when play begins July 30 in Orlando.

The Heat open against the Denver Nuggets Aug. 1 at 1 p.m. The restart begins with four games in six days, including matchups against the Toronto Raptors, Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks. All four games are versus teams in the top three of their respective conferences, with the Bucks holding the league's best record at 53-12.

The Heat end the season against Phoenix Suns, Indiana Pacers, Oklahoma City Thunder and Pacers.

After a nearly four-month layoff because of the coronavirus pandemic, the Heat must regroup quickly if they are to remain at least as the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference. They are likely to finish somewhere between No. 3 and No. 6 in the playoff seeding.

Improving their positioning won't be easy, especially with the brutal start and two games against the Pacers.

Here's the schedule:

Aug. 1: Denver, 1 p.m., ESPN

Aug. 3: Toronto, 1:30 p.m., NBA TV

Aug. 4: Boston, 6:30 p.m., TNT

Aug. 6: Milwaukee, 4 p.m., TNT

Aug. 8: Phoenix, 7:30 p.m., TBD

Aug. 10: Indiana, 8 p.m., TBD

Aug. 12: Oklahoma City, 8 p.m., TBD

Aug. 14: Indiana, TBD, TBD

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Shandel Richardson
SHANDEL RICHARDSON

Shandel has covered the NBA since 2010, with previous stops at The Athletic and South Florida Sun-Sentinel.  He has covered six NBA Finals, one Super Bowl, the NCAA basketball tournament. He has also been a beat writer for the Miami Hurricanes and contributed on every major beat in South Florida since 2003, including the Miami Dolphins and Miami Marlins. He can also be read in the Sportsbook Review for gambling coverage from around the NBA. A native of Bloomington, Illinois, Shandel attended Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. He's also worked for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Kansas City Star.  TWITTER: @ShandelRich EMAIL: shandelrich@gmail.com You can subscribe to our YouTube channel here Follow all of our Miami Heat coverage on Facebook here

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