A Strong Road Trip Could Help Miami Heat Avoid Playing Catch-Up As They Did All Last Season

The Miami Heat play nine of the next 10 on the road, starting tonight against the Memphis Grizzlies

The Miami Heat conjured memories of last year’s slow start by losing the first three road games of the season.

Their second trip, which starts tonight against the Memphis Grizzlies, gives them opportunity to avoid a repeat of playing from behind all last season. The Heat play nine of the next 10 on the road, making this stretch even more significant.

“No better place to do it than on the road,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “It’s going to catch our attention, that’s for sure. Basically the better part of this month, we’re gone. So we have an eight-day trip, come back for two days, 48 hours, and back out for nine days.”

The Heat have won two consecutive, including Monday’s victory against LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers. A successful would alleviate some of the stress that made them a play-in team last season. It took a late comeback against the Chicago Bulls for them to make the playoffs, which led to a run to the NBA Finals.

The Heat can’t expect a similar postseason run as the No. 8 seed, which is why this stretch is so important. Even though two of the losses so far were to contenders Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtis, the Heat need to prove they can win early and on the road.

“We had an upsetting last road trip,” center Bam Adebayo said. “So we’re looking to make it different this road trip and collect some wins.”