Miami Heat play Damian Lillard in the what-if game of early season
It will look so normal, so very normal. There will be the normal, run-on mumbling in Tuesday’s pregame that serves as visitors’ introductions, the normal filing of those names on the court.
But then there will come the abnormal moment after all these months of Damian Lillard finally standing before Miami Heat fans.
There’s no manual for what comes next, if anything at all.
Do you boo for his letting go of the rope, for not burning his boat, for wanting to be part of the Heat but not acting the full, cantankerous part when that was the only way it might happen last offseason?
Or do you let it pass in silence, even indifference, considering that moment is gone and, anyway, Lillard was an All-Star pawn in a game between the Portland and Heat front offices?
This game’s back story is Tuesday’s big story, no question, and not just because the shadow of what-could-have-been lingers over Milwaukee’s game against the Heat.
It’s what is this season, too. Lillard is a Milwaukee Buck, an added heavyweight on a heavyweight contender, as their play already shows.
Meanwhile, Tyler Herro remains a Heat player. So does Kyle Lowry and maybe Duncan Robinson. And Caleb Martin. And no doubt Nikola Jokic, rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr. and a No. 1 draft pick or two. Whew.
But there’s more than just all that. It’s what the Heat didn’t do in waiting at the Lillard altar. They didn’t trade Lowry for a serviceable point guard. They watched Max Strus and Gabe Vincent leave town and did nothing to replace them while Pat Riley was big-game hunting.
They put all their hope in the idea Portland general manager Joe Cronin would bend to Lillard’s demand for the Heat in the manner teams typically bend to superstars’ demands.
Lillard publicly pushed and prodded. But when it came to being the bad guy in Portland, his career team, Lillard didn’t pull a James Harden by not showing up for practices, and he wasn’t a Jimmy Butler, like when Philadelphia was just another team happy to be rid of him as he went to the Heat.
Do you blame Lillard for being a more respectable, sports citizen? Or Portland for getting more in their trade — some decent players, a few first-round picks — than the Heat probably offered?
Or do you just chalk it up as a move that that wasn’t to be but again showed how popular the Heat are. Just like Kevin Durant waiving his no-trade cause to be with the Heat or Phoenix. And ending up in Phoenix.
That underlines the reality, too. The Heat are a well-run, well-coached, well-considered team that knows it needs another sizable star.
They have a, what, two-year winning window with Jimmy Butler at 34? Lillard, at 33, fit that. That’s why there’ll some what-might-have-been lament Tuesday night.
It’s a trade the Heat still need, no matter the cost. Remember when Riley traded a young nucleus for Shaquille O’Neal? Remember his playoff mantra that still holds of, “Rotate eight, use seven, play six, trust five?”
Lillard nearly was in the Heat’s trust. Now they have to go through him. Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo formed the high, pick-and-roll that every team uses — Sunday night for the winning Milwaukee play against Lillard’s former Portland team.
They did the same a week earlier against Dallas. Come the playoff spring, that’s what everyone will have to stop when they come up against Milwaukee.
Lillard is averaging 25.6 points, 6.3 assists and enough big plays that says Milwaukee can reach another level by the playoffs. So, by talent, might Boston.
There’s a proper local response to all that: The same was said two of the past four years when the Heat pushed by them on the way to the NBA Finals.
The Heat are tough that way. And surprising. They’re finding who they are, growing the kids, and off to a fine, 10-7 start after the oddest of offseasons.
Lillard’s arrival Tuesday night is a reminder of what isn’t. Do you boo him? Overlook him? It doesn’t much matter now. The Heat’s season comes down in some form to beating him.
