In the first of what will likely be several changes to the NBA TV schedule, ESPN has removed the March 2 Detroit at Miami game from its NBA Friday slate. Two games under .500 and without their only legitimate draw, Dwyane Wade, the Heat are rapidly losing their marquee status.
Tomorrow, Miami plays its second-to-last game on ABC for the regular season, a home game against the Cavaliers. After that, Miami only has four more games on national television — a road game against New Jersey (March 15, TNT), a road game against Detroit (April 1, ABC), a road game against Cleveland (April 5, TNT), and a home game against Indiana (April 13, ESPN).
The TNT games are set in stone; the only other option on March 15 is a Spurs/Bucks game, and there are no other options on April 5. ABC could only logically go with Jazz/Rockets on April 1 as a replacement for Heat/Pistons, but likely won’t, considering that Utah is the smallest television market in sports. The only Miami game that could be replaced would be the April 13 game against the Pacers, and, barring Wade’s return, common sense seems to indicate that it will be dumped (possibly in favor of Pistons/Raptors, Nuggets/Hornets, or Jazz/Mavs).
All of this means that the struggling defending champions will make only three more appearances on national television this season. If they make the playoffs, the situation gets more interesting; if Wade returns, every game will air on either ABC, ESPN or TNT. If Wade opts for season ending surgery and does not return, the Heat could very easily — especially if they draw the Toronto Raptors — end up playing the majority of their first round games on NBA TV.
