Miami Heat

LeBron James would have one fewer NBA title if it weren't for Ray Allen, and he seems to know it.

Allen told Macklin Stern of CBSSports.com that both LeBron and Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra still thank him for his clutch shot in the 2013 NBA Finals.

"There hasn't been a year that's gone by where either one of them hasn't mentioned 2013 to me," Allen said. "They're always grateful for my input."

The San Antonio Spurs were on the brink of winning the championship with a 3-2 series lead and a three-point advantage in the final seconds. James missed the potential game-tying three, but Allen got the second chance and nailed it with 5.2 left on the clock.

Miami earned the 103-100 win in overtime and then clinched the series with a 95-88 Game 7 victory. It was the second straight title for the Heat, but Allen's contributions will not be forgotten.

"When you win on any level—I always try to impress this upon kids that I speak to—it immortalizes you," Allen added. "You'll forever be talked about. You're part of the history of the game in that organization that you've won with."

Miami Heat center Meyers Leonard is set to undergo season-ending shoulder surgery, Shams Charania of Stadium and The Athletic reported Tuesday. 

The team had already ruled Leonard out for Wednesday's matchup with the Washington Wizards at AmericanAirlines Arena. The 28-year-old appeared in three games this season, averaging 3.3 points and 2.3 rebounds in 9.7 minutes per contest.

Leonard had been out since Jan. 9 with a left shoulder strain but was already struggling to stay in the rotation before his injury. 

The big man has been relatively durable throughout his nine seasons in the league. He has played fewer than 50 games just twice in his career and started 49 games with Miami in 2019-20. That performance earned him a one-year deal for $9.4 million, with a team option next season worth $10.2 million. 

It remains unclear how the Illinois product factors into the Heat's long-term plans. 

Rookie power forward Precious Achiuwa (7.4 points, 4.8 rebounds per game) has been developing at a steady rate and should get a bit more trust with Leonard unavailable. Look for Kelly Olynyk to receive a few more minutes as well—especially while Maurice Harkless and Chris Silva remain sidelined.   

Miami Heat forward Duncan Robinson is entering restricted free agency this offseason, and he is expected to get a significant upgrade from his current three-year, $3 million deal.

According to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald, NBA officials think Robinson will ink a contract that will pay him "anywhere between $15 million and $20 million annually." 

The Heat can make him a qualifying offer worth $4.7 million next season, so that will be the only value he adds against the team's cap space, no matter what his salary is, per Jackson. 

That number could drop even lower should the Heat elect to make Robinson an unrestricted free agency, according to ESPN's Bobby Marks. Doing so would take $3 million off of his cap hit, and either option would work as "a required placeholder" rather than a cemented salary component (h/t Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel). 

Regardless, Miami is willing to shell out to keep him around (h/t Jackson): 

"Because he is elite at a skill that’s an enormous commodity (shooting) and has all the intangibles that the Heat values in players, the sense is Miami would be willing to pay the going rate for elite shooters when he becomes a restricted free agent this summer."

In his third year in the league, the Michigan product has solidified his place in the starting lineup for the defending Eastern Conference champions, a year after starting 68 of his 73 appearances. Through 16 starts this season, the 26-year-old is averaging 14.3 points on 44.7 percent shooting from the field with 3.9 rebounds in a career-high 34.1 minutes per game.

In 2019-20, he tallied 13.5 points per game on 47 percent shooting.

The Heat's payroll is already loaded due to max deals for Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo, so any thoughts of a major commitment to Robinson may have to factor in to any other moves the Heat make ahead of the March 25 NBA trade deadline. 

A limited number of fans will be allowed to attend Miami Heat games at AmericanAirlines Arena if they can pass a screening test from dogs trained to detect COVID-19.

According to the Associated Press, the dogs have already been in use to sniff out the virus among friends and family of players and team personnel who have been allowed as spectators this season.

The general public will be allowed to attend beginning Thursday against the Los Angeles Clippers, and season-ticket holders can guarantee their tickets starting Monday.

At the games, dogs will walk past fans, and if a dog sits, that means the virus has been found and that person will not be allowed in.

Fans who are allergic to or afraid of dogs are in luck, as individuals will have the option to complete a rapid antigen test that takes less than 45 minutes to process. 

According to the AP report, a German study discovered that dogs can detect the virus 94 percent of the time, and dogs are used in a similar fashion in airports in Dubai and Helsinki. 

In addition to being checked by dogs or undergoing the test, fans will have to fill out a mandatory health questionnaire and wear masks throughout the duration of their stay, and concessions will be limited to water and soda with no cash transactions accepted. Isolation rooms will be available if a fan falls ill during the game. 

The defending Eastern Conference champions will fill less than 10 percent of the building's capacity with attendance hovering under 2,000. The arena has sold out the past 451 games, the sixth-longest streak in NBA history.

Miami Heat shooting guard Tyler Herro will not play Saturday against the Detroit Pistons because of neck spasms, per the Associated Press' Tim Reynolds.

The 20-year-old has averaged 17.6 points on 46.9 percent shooting (30.2 percent from three-point range) alongside 6.7 rebounds in 33.7 minutes per game.

Herro helped guide the Heat to a much-improved 44-29 record last season after the team finished 39-43 the year prior. Miami cruised into the playoffs thanks in part to his efforts, which included 12 games of 20 or more points (and a high of 30).

Herro dominated in the playoffs en route to helping Miami reach the NBA Finals, where the Heat fell to the Los Angeles Lakers. He posted 16.0 points per game.

The former Kentucky star suffered numerous injuries in 2019-20, including a right ankle ailment that forced him out of the lineup for five weeks. A left knee bruise (two games) and a sprained right ankle (one game) kept him out for three more matchups.

The Heat are a far better team with him in the lineup (34-21 in 2019-20) than without (10-8), and they are already short-handed as it is.

Of note, Jimmy Butler will also miss the Pistons game because of the NBA's health and safety protocols. However, the team will welcome back center Bam Adebayo, who missed two games because of the NBA's health and safety protocols as well.

Now that the first major domino of the NBA trade season has fallen, all eyes are on Washington Wizards star Bradley Beal leading up to the March 25 trade deadline. 

Per Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald, the Miami Heat have a "high" level of interest in acquiring Beal if the Wizards make him available. 

Jackson did note there's no indication at this point that Washington will move Beal and the Heat likely wouldn't include Tyler Herro, Duncan Robinson and Precious Achiuwa all together in a deal. 

Miami's renewed interest in Beal comes after the Brooklyn Nets added James Harden in a three-team trade with the Houston Rockets and Cleveland Cavaliers. 

The Heat are off to a slow start with a 4-6 record through 10 games. The reigning Eastern Conference champions rank 20th in offensive and defensive rating. They finished seventh and 11th, respectively, in those categories last season. 

Jackson and Anthony Chiang reported in November that the Heat were "very interested" in Beal, putting him second on a hypothetical trade list behind Giannis Antetokoumpo. 

Antetokoumpo has since re-signed with the Milwaukee Bucks for five years, making Beal the most-likely star left to possibly be traded this season.  

Washington general manager Tommy Sheppard has been steadfast in saying that Beal remains committed to the organization. 

Beal has been the lone bright spot in an otherwise rough start to the season for the Wizards. The 27-year-old is averaging an NBA-high 34.9 points per game on 49.4 percent shooting from the field. 

Washington's 3-8 record is tied with the Toronto Raptors for the second-worst mark in the Eastern Conference. 

The Miami Heat exceeded expectations just by reaching the 2020 NBA Finals inside the Walt Disney World Resort bubble, but Jimmy Butler still believes they should have beaten the powerhouse Los Angeles Lakers.

"We still think that we should have won—and we were down a couple of guys," he said in a profile by Zito Madu of GQ.

Both Goran Dragic and Bam Adebayo battled through injuries during the series, leaving the Heat without two of their top playmakers for extended stretches.

Adebayo figured to be Miami's best counter to Anthony Davis defensively and posed a matchup problem on the other end because of his versatility, while Dragic is a playmaking creator who can either score himself or set up his teammates for open looks.

Their absences and the fact they were less than 100 percent put even more pressure on Butler, and he largely delivered by helping his team push the series to six games and battling with LeBron James.

He averaged 26.2 points, 9.8 assists, 8.3 rebounds and 2.2 steals per game while shooting 54.6 percent from the field during the series.

Butler was particularly impressive in Game 5 when he tallied a triple-double of 35 points, 12 rebounds, 11 assists and five steals while outdueling James down the stretch. He famously slumped over in pure exhaustion during the final minutes, and he addressed the idea that perception of him changed during that performance:

Now everybody has a different outlook on who I am as a person and as a teammate and as a player, and I've been that same dude since I've become somebody in the league. You just saw me win a couple of games, so now you want to try to change that narrative? I don't care about none of that. It means that I'm going to go out there and I'm going to compete.

That's me in everything that I do. Now, you know people want to try to switch up on me. Nah. I am where I need to be, where I want to be. In Miami. They love me for that.

The goal of returning to the NBA Finals and this time winning remains, but Miami is off to an uneven 4-5 start to the 2020-21 campaign.

If Butler plays as he did for those Finals, that inconsistency figures to turn around in the immediate future.

The Miami Heat's game against the Boston Celtics on Sunday was postponed because COVID-19 contact tracing following an inconclusive test left the Heat organization without the required number of players available. 

A day later, Jimmy Butler, Goran Dragic, Kendrick Nunn, Bam Adebayo, Moe Harkless, Udonis Haslem and KZ Okpala have been ruled out as a result of the league's health and safety protocols following contact tracing, according to Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press. They join Avery Bradley, who moved to the list on Sunday. 

The Heat are slated to play the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday. 

A number of teams along the East Coast have had players out in the last few days because of COVID-19 protocols.

After the Celtics faced Miami in Florida on Wednesday, they traveled to face the Washington Wizards. After that meeting on Friday, Celtics star Jayson Tatum was ordered to quarantine for 10-14 days, in accordance with the league's protocols. Boston would have had just eight players available for their game against the Heat, since nine players were sidelined—seven of them because of COVID-19 protocols. 

As for Washington, who the Heat played Saturday, they were missing Bradley Beal, who was required to sit out while undergoing contact tracing. 

The 76ers are also dealing with COVID-19. Against the Denver Nuggets on Saturday, they had just seven players actually available, below the league minimum of eight. Mike Scott, who has missed time with a knee injury, was listed as available in order to allow the game to go on, but he did not play.

As of now, Tuesday's game is still on. 

Avery Bradley will miss Sunday's game against the Boston Celtics because of the NBA's COVID-19 health and safety protocols, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.

Wojnarowski also reported, "Bradley is expected to miss more time."

The veteran guard is averaging 10 points and 1.7 assists while shooting 44.8 percent from the perimeter through seven games.

The NBA's protocols stipulate a player who tests positive for COVID-19 has to quarantine for at least 10 days. Once the quarantine is complete, he has to work out on his own for two days before he's eligible to return to his team. Exposure to somebody carrying the virus can mean a seven-day quarantine as well.

The policies are forcing some teams to forge ahead while significantly undermanned.

Only seven members of the Philadelphia 76ers played in the team's 115-103 loss to the Denver Nuggets on Saturday. The aforementioned Celtics listed seven players on their injury report for reasons tied to the protocols:

Wojnarowski alluded to a lengthier absence for Bradley, but it's unclear what that timeframe could look like.

Once they've finished with Boston, the Heat have three games scheduled for the upcoming week. At the very least, Bradley's availability for Tuesday night against the Sixers might be in some doubt.