MIAMI HEAT
NBA schedule brings Heat-Shaq matchup March 4
Posted on Wed, Aug. 06, 2008
BY MICHAEL WALLACE
The Miami Heat apparently is no longer a national Christmas Day attraction, but the league delivered a mixed bag of gifts with Wednesday's release of the 2008-09 schedule.
Among the highlights of the Heat's schedule are a handful of intriguing reunions, including the Oct. 29 season opener against the New York Knicks, a Dec. 26 home game against the Chicago Bulls and Shaquille O'Neal's return to Miami on March 4 with the Phoenix Suns.
Among the dates the Heat won't be in action is Christmas Day. The combination of O'Neal's departure and the Heat's NBA-worst 15-67 record last season has left the Heat off the Christmas Day schedule for the first time in five seasons.
Heat top pick Michael Beasley said he won't mind starting his NBA career at Madison Square Garden.
''That's a great place to start. It doesn't really get any better than that,'' Beasley said. ``It's a pretty historic gym.''
SOME DRAMA
Miami played Cleveland in the nationally televised Dec. 25 game last season, with Dwyane Wade and LeBron James commanding the marquee. O'Neal and Kobe Bryant provided the drama when the Heat and Lakers met on Christmas the previous three seasons.
But the Heat was removed from several scheduled nationally televised games during last season's injury-riddled campaign that saw seven of its top eight rotation players sustain season-ending injuries.
Miami is scheduled to play 10 nationally televised games, including seven on ESPN.
The Heat is hopeful of a fresh start this season, with new coach Erik Spoelstra taking over for Pat Riley, the addition of Beasley and Wade's return to health after recovering from knee and shoulder injuries that cut short each of the past two seasons.
The Heat's challenges begin well before its regular-season opener, with a weeklong trip to Europe in October to play exhibitions in Paris (Oct. 9) and London (Oct. 12) against the New Jersey Nets.
But the subplots take shape from the opener against the Knicks and new coach Mike D'Antoni, who left Phoenix amid a front-office feud. It will be the first time Heat forward Shawn Marion faces his former coach since Marion was traded to Miami in February for O'Neal.
HEAT VS. O'NEAL
O'Neal, whose departure from Miami was followed by a bitter public rift with Riley, faces the Heat for the first time since the trade on Nov. 28 when the Heat visits the Suns for the first of two meetings.
Other key games include the Dec. 26 home matchup against the Bulls, when Derrick Rose and Beasley meet for the first time since they were selected with the top two picks in the June NBA draft. The Heat also plays host Jan. 21 to the defending champion Boston Celtics.
The Heat's longest road trip is a seven-game trek that opens Dec. 7 in Denver and wraps up Dec. 18 at Oklahoma City. But Miami has no homestand longer than a four-game stretch against the Celtics, Magic, Hawks and Wizards in late January.
One of the biggest adjustments from last year's schedule is a reduction in the number of back-to-back sets. The Heat has 17 sets of games on consecutive nights this season compared with 21 last season.
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