The HEAT open their 20th anniversary season with a nationally televised 8:00 p.m. game on Nov. 1 against the defending Central Division champion Detroit Pistons at the AmericanAirlines Arena. The match-up will be a re-match of the 2005 and 2006 Eastern Conference Finals. This marks the 15th time in franchise history the HEAT will open the season at home. It will also mark the third time the HEAT have opened with the Pistons and the fourth time that Detroit has been the opponent for Miamis home opener. The HEATs first road contest will be the following night at Indiana. The season opening back-to-back set is the first of 21 this year for the HEAT, Miamis highest total since playing 23 sets of back-to-back contests in the 2003-04 season.
All three games between the HEAT and the Cavaliers, the 2006 and 2007 Eastern Conference champions respectively, will be nationally televised this season. In addition to the Christmas Day game which kicks-off ABCs NBA coverage, the HEATs Jan. 21 Martin Luther King Day home contest against the Cavs will be televised on TNT and the Apr. 13 game in Cleveland will be broadcast on ABC.
Other highlights on this years schedule include the lone Miami appearances of the defending NBA champion Spurs on Jan. 24, a re-match of the 2006 NBA Finals with the Dallas Mavericks on Mar. 16, the Phoenix Suns on Nov. 9 and the Los Angeles Lakers on Feb. 10. The schedule also features the first Miami appearances of the top two picks in this years NBA Draft as Greg Oden leads the Portland Trail Blazers into the American Airlines Arena on Jan. 18 and Kevin Durant and the Seattle SuperSonics invade the AAA on Nov. 14.
The HEATs longest homestand will be seven consecutive games from Jan. 16-29. The homestand is the second longest in franchise history just one game shy of the franchise record set during the 1995-96 season. That homestand includes the first Miami appearances this season of Chicago (Jan. 16) and New York (Jan. 19). Miamis longest road trip is a six-game excursion from Dec. 2-10. The HEAT will also have a five-game road trip from Jan. 4-11.
Miami will have eight home games each in the months of November, January and March. Included in the November games will be the first meeting against Kevin Garnett and the new-look Celtics in a nationally televised game on Nov. 30. The month in which Miami plays the highest number of games is March when the HEAT hits the hardwood 17 times. The month the HEAT is on the road the most is December with 10 games away from the AmericanAirlines Arena.