The Miami Heat prepare for a four-game home stand that starts Monday night when they take on the Houston Rockets. Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra spoke before the game to the media about the stretch of games inside the Kaseya Center and their upcoming opponent in the Rockets.
When it comes to the schedule for the Heat, it has heavily favored them being on the road. Resulting in that, the Heat have more wins as the away team (11-9) than they do at home (9-6). To start the new year, they will be home way more often as their next 13 out of 18 contests will be in Miami, but Spoelstra said he is not looking that far ahead.
“I didn't take it that big, that'd be overwhelming for me to think about that. It's really about preparing for this week. We felt like we are away for a decent amount of time and there are some good things from the road trip, there are some things that we definitely feel like we need to do better,” Spoelstra said. “So this is an opportunity for us to reset and just get back after it. This is this is going to be a good week for the fans, for us being at home, we want to compete in front our fan base. And is there some competitive teams coming in here.”
Spoelstra talks about giving the team the weekend off before homestand
After the Rockets, the Heat will take on the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Orlando Magic, and the Charlotte Hornets before going back on the road for two games. To prepare for the stretch, the coaching staff has given the team off the whole weekend to rest for Houston.
“I think it can be a challenge and that's not an excuse when you only have one day in between, we had two days in between. So we're ready to play. That felt like a long stretch when we got back,” Spoelstra said. “I think we all needed a couple of days to get geared up for this game. We understand how important this week is. I want to make sure everybody's in the right mental, emotional, physical frame of mind to be ready for this week.”
Spoelstra talks about the Rockets before and after Ime Udoka
Looking at their upcoming opponent in the Rockets, it is their first year under head coach Ime Udoka who has led the team to a 18-16 start. They have had a “two-face” type season as they are 15-6 at home, but 3-10 on the road. However, Spoelstra has noticed a vast difference with the team compared to last season as he said that Udoka has addressed their defensive identity.
“The one thing that you can always point to with Ime [Udoka] in his coaching career is that he gets his teams to defend, they are defending at a high level. I don't remember what the rankings were last year, but it definitely was not top five and their top five right now,” Spoelstra said. “And they're doing some impressive things. Defensively they committed to that identity and they have some explosive offensive talent. They have young talent that we're aware of, but I think the veteran additions they added to this team have really complimented the group.”
Rockets' Alperen Sengun is a “throwback” per Spoelstra
Speaking of the young talent Spoelstra mentioned, Rockets big-man Alperen Sengun has been a major standout for the team as his play-style has even been compared to former MVP and recent NBA champion Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets. The Miami head coach said to ClutchPoints that the 21-year old is a “throwback” in terms of how he plays and especially compliments his footwork.
“He's a throwback, just in terms of he's a low post scorer, he's extremely skilled underneath. You could do a full scale analysis just on his footwork,” Spoelstra said. “And if you're not really dialed into the details, he can lift you up on shot fakes, step throughs, pivots, things of that nature, but he's gotten a lot better. He's found a way to really defend in their system as well. So they're able to really take advantage of his offensive skill set.”
The Heat are 20-15 through 35 games which puts them eighth in the Eastern Conference. If there is an opportunity to build another winning streak, Monday night against the Rockets is the prime time to start.
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