Before a worldwide pandemic brought sports to a halt, the Heat was positioned to achieve one of its preseason goals: homecourt advantage in the first round of the NBA playoffs.
But with the NBA now poised to resume play at a neutral site (the Wide World of Sports Complex near Orlando), the fact Miami stands fourth in the East _ two games ahead of No. 5 Indiana and No. 6 Philadelphia _ is moot, from a home-court standpoint.
It also seemingly negates one of the Heat's biggest strengths this season _ its performance at AmericanAirlines Arena.
Keep in mind that among all Eastern Conference playoff teams, the Heat and 76ers had the biggest disparity in home and road records.
Miami was 27-5 at home but 14-19 on the road. The gulf was even greater for the 76ers, who were 29-2 at home, 10-24 on the road.
By contrast, the team between them in the standings _ Indiana _ was 21-11 at home, 18-15 on the road.
One of the great unknowns _ and a key determinant in how far Miami goes in postseason _ is whether the Heat's neutral-site play will mirror their road play this season. The Heat must hope that it does not.
But the reality is the Heat's best three young wings _ Duncan Robinson, Tyler Herro and Kendrick Nunn _ have been substantially better shooters at home.
Nunn is shooting 40.2% on three-pointers at home, 32.6 on the road.
Herro is at 41.9 on three-pointers at home, 36.3 on the road.
Robinson shoots 50.0% on threes at home, 39.9 on the road.
So what causes this?
"Familiarity," Robinson said in March. "Routine is big. Sometimes on the road, routine changes. I'm a big routine guy. But also playing in front of your fans (is a factor). You have a certain level of confidence."
The Heat is the league's best three-point shooting team at home but 14th best on the road.
The good news: The Heat's two All-Stars _ Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo _ haven't played worse on the road this season, from a statistical standpoint.
Adebayo is averaging 16.3 points at home compared to 16.2 on the road and averages more rebounds on the road (10.9 to 10.1).
Butler averages more points on the road (20.8 to 19.7) and shoots much better on the road (48.4% to 42.5).
Another plus: Meyers Leonard _ who missed six weeks with an ankle injury but is expected to be available when play resumes _ has been significantly better on the road, shooting 50.7% on threes away from home compared with 29.5% at American Airlines Arena.
If you put the home-court issue aside, one veteran NBA scout said the Heat should hope the current standings hold up, meaning the Heat would play Indiana and not Philadelphia in the first round.
The NBA has not announced its playoff format or whether there will be more regular-season games, though some media reports say additional regular-season games are likely.
Because 76ers stars Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons have had two months to heal from injuries, a resumption of the regular season could result in Philadelphia jumping Indiana for the fifth seed.
The Pacers and 76ers have identical 39-26 records, but Indiana holds the tiebreaker by virtue of a 2-1 lead in the season series with Philadelphia. Miami won both games against Indiana and three of four against Philadelphia.
"Indiana is a better matchup for the Heat," the scout said, putting the home/road splits aside. "I know about the season series, but Miami doesn't match up well with Philadelphia" when the 76ers are fully healthy.
Here's how the scout broke down both of the most likely potential Heat first-round matchups:
_ With Heat-Philadelphia: "First of all, who is going to guard Embiid?" the scout said, noting that putting Adebayo on Embiid puts Adebayo at risk of foul trouble and putting Leonard on Embiid _ and Adebayo on Al Horford _ leaves Miami at a deficit defensively against Embiid.
"The other thing is, who is going to guard Tobias Harris and Ben Simmons? If you put Butler on Harris, then you could have Derrick Jones Jr. on Simmons, but playing Jones a lot limits them offensively. Jae Crowder would have trouble defending Harris. And then you have Josh Richardson.
"The Heat unquestionably has the better bench and it's not even close. If I were Philadelphia, I would play Horford off the bench. He hasn't been very good playing with Embiid anyway."
_ With Heat-Indiana: "(Domantas) Sabonis is more guardable for Adebayo than Embiid would be," the scout said, noting Miami would be fine with Adebayo or Leonard defending Sabonis and the other on Myles Turner.
"And Victor Oladipo is more guardable these days coming off the injury. Even if Macolm Brogdon is healthy, I would give the edge to Kendrick Nunn or Goran Dragic when he's in the game. Doug McDermott has been a plus off the bench for Indiana, but Miami has the edge there, too.
"And who's their star who would lift them (Indiana) in a playoff game? That would be a better matchup for Miami. And I question Indiana's playoff fiber," with the Pacers having lost in the first round the past two seasons and swept last season by Boston.
