Bundled-Up NBA Games Favor the Miami Heat

It’s pretty clear that this upcoming NBA season will be one like no other, and that includes bundling up games.

The NBA decided to do this to limit travel as much as possible, which ultimately means that teams will play an opponent twice over a short stretch.

When Meyers Leonard was talking about it, he said it’s just about “locking in,” and there are not many teams better at staying focused or locked in.

The reason I believe this favors Miami is mostly to do with Heat star, Jimmy Butler. One of his biggest strengths is that he is very dangerous when he can lock in on one team in a playoff series, by overloading on film and breaking them down.

And well, although it will only be a regular season game, nothing is stopping him from doing it once again.

Obviously there will be bundled up games that are on back-to-back days, like the Milwaukee Bucks match-up in the third and fourth game. But there will also be times when they play the same team over the course of a few days.

Another person that will have a field day with this concept is Head Coach Erik Spoelstra. It was clear that he is very good at making adjustments on the fly after he put it on display in the bubble. And now he gets to adjust yet again, but this time to his advantage, since similar to Jimmy, he can focus on one team over a short period of time.

Another thing that Meyers Leonard mentioned when speaking about it was “Less travel is beneficial for player recovery.” This one benefits Miami since they have a lot of key veterans on this team, including Jimmy Butler and Goran Dragic, who could use any advantage given to keep their bodies rested.

But with all of the back-to-backs, the young guys will be needed heavily, and Miami has plenty of them.

It will be interesting to see Jimmy Butler and Erik Spoelstra use this unique circumstance to their advantage, which will result in altered game-plans from one day to the next.

And I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re beginning to get prepped today, since it is the first day of team training camp.