Five takeaways from Heat-Magic: Hassan Whiteside had his moments, but it wasn’t enough

Here are five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 104-101 season-opening loss Wednesday to the Orlando Magic at Amway Center.

1. For the most part, the Heat got an engaged and active Hassan Whiteside. That’s a good sign. After an encouraging training camp and preseason, Whiteside turned in an encouraging start to the regular season with 12 points and 18 rebounds in 34 minutes. But there were still times in the fourth quarter that he was beaten for rebounds and failed to contest shots he should have been there for. Whiteside just looked tired at times against Orlando’s impressive length (7-footer Mo Bamba, 6-foot-10 Jonathan Isaac, 6-foot-9 Aaron Gordon and 7-footer Nikola Vucevic).

“I’ll tell you what, I don’t know if we’ll face another team that can match or exceed Hassan’s length,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “So the adjustment the next time will be those same efforts. But if you get jammed up in the paint, there’s probably open guys. But you don’t get to practice that very often. He doesn’t face multiple people, much less one or two guys, who can match his length.”

The Magic outscored the Heat 28-13 in second-chance points.

Wednesday’s opener had its ups and its downs for Whiteside. But at least Spoelstra trusted him enough to play him down the stretch for seven fourth-quarter minutes.

The key for Whiteside is consistency. Let’s not forget that he began last season with a 26-point, 22-rebound performance in Orlando. Can the 29-year-old continue playing at a high level for most of the season? That’s the question Whiteside still needs to answer.

2. The aggressive Josh Richardson made an appearance. He took a career-high 21 shots in the opener, surpassing his previous career-high mark of 20. And it’s not because Richardson was in a flow either, as he finished with 21 points on 8 of 21 shooting from the field and 2 of 10 shooting from three-point range in 38 minutes.

“It’s a role that I’ve asked for and that I’ve been wanting,” Richardson said of his aggressive performance in the opener. “It comes with the good and the bad, so it’s a learning experience.”

3. While much of the talk this offseason has been about the Heat’s young core, don’t forget about Goran Dragic. He’s still the Heat’s best and most reliable offensive player. That was obvious Wednesday, as Dragic created offense for others and himself with his ability to dribble his way into the paint.

Dragic finished with 26 points on 9 of 14 shooting. He was the Heat’s leading scorer last season, and he’s the favorite to hold that title again this year.

“He’s a model of consistency in his approach every single day,” Spoelstra said of Dragic. “… His engine was great tonight. Against a team that defends like that, sometimes you just need a player to be able to create something out of nothing. He was able to do that for most of the night.”

4. Injuries continue to follow the Heat. Key players like Hassan Whiteside, Dion Waiters and Rodney McGruder missed extended time last season due to injuries. That was just a continuation of 2016-17, when Miami’s roster combined to miss an NBA-high 328 games due to injury or illness.

And the Heat isn’t off to a strong start on the injury front this year either. The Heat played Wednesday’s season opener without Wayne Ellington (sore left ankle), Justise Winslow (hamstring tightness), James Johnson (sports hernia surgery) and Waiters (left ankle surgery). All four players are also expected to miss the second game of Miami’s season-opening back-to-back set Thursday against the Washington Wizards.

The good news for the Heat is Ellington and Winslow are out with short-term ailments, with the team using the word “precautionary” when discussing why they are missing time. Johnson is also expected back soon after returning to practice earlier this week. Waiters —while expected to return at some point before the All-Star break — will miss the most time, as he’s yet to return to practice.

5. The Heat went with a starting lineup of Dragic, Richardson, Rodney McGruder, Derrick Jones Jr. and Whiteside to open the season. McGruder and Jones are two names that weren’t on the list of Miami’s projected starters just a few weeks ago, but things changed with Johnson, Waiters, Ellington and Winslow unavailable to play due to injury.

Whether it was to match up with Orlando power forward Aaron Gordon or just to reward him for a productive summer, Spoelstra decided to start Jones instead of 7-footer Kelly Olynyk as Whiteside’s frontcourt partner.

McGruder scored eight on 2 of 9 shooting in 32 minutes. Jones finished with five points and two rebounds, and fouled out after just 17 minutes of action.

“We just have to get better at it,” Spoelstra said when asked about Jones’ foul trouble. “Derrick as a young player has to become an absolute master of technique and discipline. That’s just the way it is. He’s capable of that.”

This story was originally published October 17, 2018 at 10:05 PM.