Second half of 2020-21 Miami Heat schedule is out: Full list of games and more details

Thought the first half of the Miami Heat’s regular-season schedule was busy? Well, the Heat is scheduled to play the same amount of games in fewer days during the second half of the regular season.

When the Heat closes the first half of its regular-season schedule on March 4 against the New Orleans Pelicans, it will mark Miami’s 36th game of the season played in a span of 72 days. And the Heat is scheduled to play 36 games in 67 days during the second half of the schedule to complete its abbreviated 72-game regular season amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The NBA released the second half of the 2020-21 schedule (March 10 through May 16) on Wednesday afternoon.

Heat’s Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler left out of All-Star Game. Who made it over them?

The Heat will return from the All-Star break, which is scheduled to begin March 5, to open the second half of the regular-season with a matchup against the Orlando Magic on March 11 at AmericanAirlines Arena. Miami begins the latter half of its schedule with a back-to-back set, as it will travel to take on the Chicago Bulls on March 12 at United Center.

Of the 36 games the Heat is set to play during the second half of the regular season, 18 will come at home and 18 will be on the road.

Miami’s longest homestand during the second half of its schedule is four games, and it has two of them.

The Heat’s first four-game homestand of the upcoming portion of its season begins March 19 against the Indiana Pacers and continues March 21 against the Pacers, March 23 against the Phoenix Suns and ends March 25 against the Portland Trail Blazers. That March 23 matchup against the Suns will mark Miami’s first game against Jae Crowder after he left the Heat in free agency this past offseason, and the March 25 contest against the Trail Blazers will mark the return of Derrick Jones Jr. to AmericanAirlines Arena after he also left the Heat in free agency this past offseason.

The Heat’s second four-game homestand begins April 1 against the Golden State Warriors, and continues April 3 against the Cleveland Cavaliers, April 6 against the Memphis Grizzlies and ends April 8 against the Los Angeles Lakers. That April 6 matchup against the Grizzlies could be the first time Justise Winslow plays at AmericanAirlines Arena against the Heat since he was traded to Memphis last year, and the April 8 meeting between the Heat and the Lakers represents an NBA Finals rematch.

The longest road trip during the second half of the Heat’s regular-season schedule also last four games: April 11 at Trail Blazers, April 13 at Suns, April 14 at Denver Nuggets and April 16 at Minnesota Timberwolves.

The second half of the Heat’s schedule also includes five national TV appearances, which could change during the course of the season. Miami was originally scheduled to make 16 national TV appearances during the first half of the season before networks began switching out some Heat games because of its slow start.

The Heat, which represented the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals last season but entered Wednesday’s home game against the Toronto Raptors with a 14-17 record, is listed for two games on TNT (March 25 vs. Trail Blazers and April 8 vs. Lakers), two games on ESPN (April 18 vs. Brooklyn Nets and May 9 at Boston Celtics) and one game on NBA TV (April 11 at Trail Blazers).

In order to help reduce travel and mitigate the spread of COVID-19, the NBA added a somewhat new element to the schedule. For teams that play twice in one market, the league is often having those teams play both of those road games in that respective city consecutively on one trip instead of having to make two separate trips to play those games.

The Heat is set to play three of these two-game series during the second half of its schedule: March 19 and 21 vs. Pacers, April 24 and 26 vs. Bulls, and May 9 and 11 at Celtics. Miami had seven of these series in the first half of its schedule.

But there are more back-to-back sets coming up, with the Heat scheduled to play nine back-to-backs during the second half of the season compared to the four it played during the first half.

The schedule for the second half of the regular season includes the remainder of each team’s 72 games not scheduled in the first half and any games that were postponed through Feb. 21.

The only first-half game the Heat had postponed was a Jan. 10 matchup against the Celtics at TD Garden because of the NBA’s health and safety protocols. Miami did not have the NBA minimum of eight available players to proceed with the game due to an ongoing contact tracing investigation.

The Heat will make one trip to Boston to play both of this season’s road games against the Celtics on May 9 and 11.

The 2021 NBA playoffs are scheduled begin on May 22, and the play-in tournament will be held from May 18-21 and be televised by ESPN and TNT.

The opponent breakdown for the condensed 72-game schedule looks like this for the Heat:

▪ Three games against each Eastern Conference team (42 total games), with each season series featuring either two home games and one road game or one home game and two road games.

▪ One road game and one home game against each Western Conference team (30 total games).

The Heat increased capacity for home games at AmericanAirlines Arena during the COVID-19 pandemic to about 3,000 fans this week, beginning with Wednesday’s matchup against the Raptors. Ticket information will continue to be released when available, the team said in a press release.

All of the Heat’s non-national TV games will be aired on Fox Sports Sun, and even a few of the national TV games will also be carried by Fox Sports Sun.

The Miami Heat Radio Network, led by its flagship station 790 The Ticket, will carry all of the team’s games in English. Additionally, the Miami Heat Spanish Radio Network will broadcast all regular season games in Spanish on its flagship station Univision Radio’s Radio Mambi (710 AM) through March and then on WRTO Mix 98.3 beginning on April 1.

MIAMI HEAT SCHEDULE

March 11: vs. Orlando, 8 p.m.

March 12: at Chicago, 9 p.m.

March 14: at Orlando, 7 p.m.

March 16: vs. Cleveland, 8 p.m.

March 17: at Memphis, 9 p.m.

March 19: vs. Indiana, 8 p.m.

March 21: vs. Indiana, 1 p.m.

March 23: vs. Phoenix, 8 p.m.

March 25: vs. Portland, 7:30 p.m. (TNT)

March 26: at Charlotte, 8 p.m.

March 29: at New York, 7:30 p.m.

March 31: at Indiana, 7 p.m.

April 1: vs. Golden State, 8 p.m.

April 3: vs. Cleveland, 8 p.m.

April 6: vs. Memphis, 8 p.m.

April 8: vs. L.A. Lakers, 7:30 p.m. (TNT)

April 11: at Portland, 10 p.m. (NBA TV)

April 13: at Phoenix, 10 p.m.

April 14: at Denver, 10 p.m.

April 16: at Minnesota, 8 p.m.

April 18: vs. Brooklyn, 3:30 p.m. (ESPN)

April 19: vs. Houston, 8 p.m.

April 21: at San Antonio, 8:30 p.m.

April 23: at Atlanta, 7:30 p.m.

April 24: vs. Chicago, 8 p.m.

April 26: vs. Chicago, 8 p.m.

April 28: vs. San Antonio, 8 p.m.

May 1: at Cleveland, 8 p.m.

May 2: at Charlotte, 8 p.m.

May 4: vs. Dallas, 8 p.m.

May 7: vs. Minnesota, 8 p.m.

May 9: at Boston, 1 p.m. (ESPN)

May 11: at Boston, 7 p.m.

May 13: vs. Philadelphia, 7:30 p.m.

May 15: at Milwaukee, TBD

May 16: at Detroit, TBD