Erik Spoelstra wanted nothing to do with the altitude conversation Wednesday afternoon.
The first question asked of the 15th-year Miami head coach at Ball Arena ahead of the NBA Finals opener Thursday night was about playing on the Front Range with much shorter rest than an acclimated Denver team.
He put zero stock into 5,280 feet.
“If Denver wants to tip this thing off at the top of Everest, we’ll do that,” Spoelstra, the two-time NBA champion, said. “This thing is going to be decided between the four lines. They’ve also got to come back to Miami. If you want to make it about that, we’ll turn off the air conditioning and they’ve got to play in 90-degree humidity, sap the (crap) out of their legs.
“This thing is going to be decided between those four lines, and we’ll decide it then.”
Heat guard Duncan Robinson echoed his head coach’s sentiment.
“I mean, we’ve played here before, so it’s not some folklore that no one has seen before,” he said. “A lot of us have played here a handful of times.
“It’s nothing new. We don’t expect it to have any sort of impact.”
No Herro in Game 1: Heat guard Tyler Herro may be nearing a return, but it won’t happen Thursday night.
Spoelstra made that clear when asked about the percentage chance that Herro, who broke his hand diving for a loose ball April 16 and had surgery shortly afterward, might play during the Finals.
“I’m not a math guy, so I’m not good with percentages,” Spoelstra said. “He will not play tomorrow.”
Herro started 67 games for the Heat this year and averaged 20.1 points, five rebounds and four assists per game. He’s a career 38% 3-point shooter. He was seen before and after games in the Boston series shooting and working out on the court.
Might he return Sunday for Game 2 or next week in Miami? Or late in the series if it goes long?
“I can’t even make any kind of proclamation until he takes these next important steps, and that’s with contact and doing things more on the court live,” Spoelstra said. “We’ll just see. We’re all encouraged by his progress that he’s made, but we want to continue to be responsible and make the best decisions. He’s not there yet.”
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