Takeaways from the Heat’s final scrimmage — a loss to the Grizzlies. The real games are next
This isn’t exactly how the Miami Heat wanted to enter seeding games.
With its full rotation available for the first time during the three-game scrimmage schedule, the Heat couldn’t keep up with the Memphis Grizzlies in a 128-110 loss Tuesday afternoon in its third and final exhibition at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex in Lake Buena Vista. Miami won its first practice game, but dropped the final two to finish with a 1-2 scrimmage record.
The Heat begins its eight-game seeding schedule Saturday against the Denver Nuggets at 1 p.m (Fox Sports Sun, ESPN).
Miami enters the restart with the fourth-best record in the Eastern Conference at 41-24. But the Heat’s playoff seed is still to be determined, with the eight-game format making it possible for Miami to finish anywhere between second and sixth place in the East — although second place is very likely out of reach with the No. 2 Toronto Raptors 5.5 games ahead of the Heat.
The Heat is 2.5 games behind the third-place Boston Celtics and two games ahead of the fifth-place Indiana Pacers and sixth-place Philadelphia 76ers.
Five takeaways from the Heat’s scrimmage loss to the Grizzlies on Tuesday at the Visa Athletic Center ...
Two issues that have hurt the Heat at times this season popped up in Tuesday’s exhibition.
Miami’s defense struggled against Memphis, which scored 128 points on 46.9 percent shooting from the field and 19-of-42 shooting on threes. Grizzlies star rookie Ja Morant led the charge with 22 points and 12 assists.
As for the Heat’s other issue, it committed 18 turnovers that Memphis turned into 24 points.
“Guys should be frustrated and angry over not playing well,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We have an extremely competitive roster. And our guys want to play well together, and we didn’t today. Memphis had a lot to say about that. They played well, put a lot of pressure on us, got in the paint. And as soon as they started making the threes and everything, everything else pretty much feel apart.”
The Heat, which has finished with a top-10 defense in each of the past four seasons, enters the restart statistically mediocre on that end of the court with the league’s 14th-best defensive rating this season.
Including Tuesday’s underwhelming defensive performance, the Heat allowed opponents to shoot a combined 47.3 percent from the field and make an average of 14.7 threes per game on 40 percent shooting from deep during the three Disney scrimmages.
To put those numbers into perspective, the Heat has allowed opponents to make 44.7 percent of their shots from the field and 34.6 percent of their shots from three-point range this season.
Is there reason to be concerned about the Heat’s defense?
“It’s not very concerning, because we know what we’ve got to do,” All-Star wing Jimmy Butler said. “We didn’t make anything difficult for them tonight. We didn’t get back, we didn’t rebound, we turned the ball over. We did everything that we always say we’re not going to do.”
But Heat forward Duncan Robinson said on Fox Sports Sun: “We just weren’t able to get stops. So that’s definitely a concern. We have to work on our connection on defense.”
The scrimmages are just that — scrimmages. But the numbers from the first 65 games of the season indicate defense is an area Miami must improve in to have playoff success.
Miami also hasn’t been great when it comes to turnovers, committing the 14th-most turnovers (14.9 per game) in the NBA this season. It was an even bigger issue early in the season, when the Heat was committing the most turnovers (18.2 turnovers per game) in the NBA during its first 20 games.
The Heat used the third and final scrimmage as its “dress rehearsal” exhibition before beginning the games that count later this week.
Tuesday marked the first time Miami has had all of its rotation players available during the three-game exhibition schedule. Center Bam Adebayo made his Disney debut against the Grizzlies after entering the NBA bubble alongside guard Kendrick Nunn on July 21, two weeks later than the rest of their teammates following a COVID-19 diagnosis for both players.
With the full rotation available, Tuesday’s scrimmage served as a glimpse at who Spoelstra will use when the Heat begins its seeding schedule.
Miami went with a starting lineup of Nunn, Butler, Robinson, Meyers Leonard and Adebayo.
The first five players used off the Heat’s bench were Goran Dragic, Jae Crowder, Tyler Herro, Derrick Jones Jr. and Andre Iguodala. Spoelstra used 10 players in the first quarter, and then subbed in Kelly Olynyk as the 11th man to start the second quarter.
Butler turned in his best offensive game of the exhibition schedule with 18 points on 4-of-5 shooting from the field and 1-of-1 shooting on threes to go with seven assists in 23 minutes against the Grizzlies.
While the Heat’s rotation from game-to-game will likely depend on the matchup, it’s clear the 11 players that will be used when available are Nunn, Butler, Robinson, Leonard, Adebayo, Dragic, Crowder, Herro, Jones, Iguodala and Olynyk. Those 11 were the only ones Spoelstra played Tuesday until late in the game.
“I’ll get a better idea as we evaluate this team,” Spoelstra said of the state of the Heat’s rotation. “The most important thing is getting a full mix of players out there, together, in the game.”
Against a Grizzlies team that plays fast, the Heat went with a lot of small lineups. Miami used a Dragic-Crowder-Herro-Jones-Iguodala lineup late in the first quarter.
The starting lineup Spoelstra went with Tuesday isn’t surprising because it’s the one the Heat has used for most of the season. It has also been one of the NBA’s top lineups.
More importantly, it’s the starting lineup the Heat is expected to use when seeding games begin.
The Heat has used the Nunn-Butler-Robinson-Leonard-Adebayo lineup to start 38 games — 30 more games than any other starting lineup Miami has used this season.
For good reason, too, as this five-man group has posted an impressive plus/minus of plus-121 in 488 minutes this season. That’s, by far, the best plus/minus for any Heat lineup and the sixth-best plus/minus among all NBA lineups.
Tuesday marked the first time Miami has used the Nunn-Butler-Robinson-Leonard-Adebayo lineup to start a game since a Feb. 3 win over the Philadelphia 76ers, with Leonard’s ankle injury keeping him out for the 16 games prior to the league shutdown.
The lineup looked sharp offensively to start Tuesday’s scrimmage, with 14 points on 6-of-11 shooting and six assists during the first 6 minutes and 14 seconds of the game. But the group wasn’t as effective on the defensive end, as the Grizzlies scored 18 points during that stretch.
“We’re still getting back into a rhythm of things, everybody, not just the starting unit, everybody,” Butler said. “And I don’t know how long it will take. But I know it has to happen. We just got to take care of the ball, guard, play basketball the right way. That’s what basketball players do. I think the coaches do a great job of putting us in a great position to be successful on both ends of the floor. We’ve just got to go out and execute better.”
In Adebayo’s first game action since March 11, he was solid.
Adebayo finished Tuesday’s scrimmage with 16 points on 7-of-12 shooting, four rebounds, three assists and two blocks in 25 minutes. It’s the only exhibition the All-Star was able to take part in after arriving to Disney late because of a COVID-19 diagnosis.
“He was pretty sharp,” Spoelstra said of Adebayo. “The most important thing was getting those game minutes and working to get that second wind.”
Adebayo said after the game: “I feel like I’m back. I feel like to get back in the flow, it shouldn’t take that much longer.”
When asked how long it will take for him to return to form, Adebayo replied: “Give me another game.”
Just because Miami’s scrimmage schedule is over doesn’t mean Adebayo has no preparation time remaining. The Heat will hold a few practices this week before beginning its seeding schedule Saturday, and Adebayo has three weeks to get ready for the Aug. 17 start of the playoffs.
In his third NBA season and first as a full-time starter, Adebayo is averaging career highs in points (16.2), rebounds (10.5), assists (5.1), steals (1.2), blocks (1.3) and minutes (34.4) in 65 games (all starts).
Nunn, who entered the NBA bubble late alongside Adebayo, finished Tuesday’s loss with six points on 2-of-10 shooting in 21 minutes. It was Nunn’s second scrimmage after he made his Disney debut in Saturday’s exhibition against the Utah Jazz.
The good news, besides Adebayo’s strong debut: The Heat’s ball movement is still a strength. Miami finished Tuesday’s scrimmage with 33 assists on 36 made baskets.
The Heat’s three-game scrimmage schedule was an opportunity for rookie forward KZ Okpala to get in on some game action. But right Achilles tendinitis kept the him out of the final two exhibition games.
Okpala, who is not expected to be a part of Miami’s rotation when seeding games begin, did not play in any of the team’s three Disney scrimmages. The 21-year-old was available for the first exhibition last week but did not play and he was held out of the final two exhibitions because of right Achilles tendinitis.
A strained left Achilles kept Okpala (6-8, 215 pounds) out for 19 consecutive games early in the season.
“KZ won’t play today,” Spoelstra said before Tuesday’s exhibition. “The idea will be to get some work in the background, do another good day tomorrow and then hopefully he’ll be able to practice full-scale on Thursday. He really has only missed a couple practices.”
Okpala, who was acquired by the Heat last summer in a draft-night trade with the second pick in the second round (No. 32 overall), has logged 26 minutes of playing time in five NBA games this season. He recorded 21 of those minutes in a Feb. 7 loss to the Sacramento Kings, when he totaled seven points, four rebounds, one assist and two steals.
Most of Okpala’s playing time this season has come in the G League, where he has played in 20 games with the Sioux Falls Skyforce. He averaged 11.7 points on 36.8 percent shooting, seven rebounds, two assists, 1.4 steals and 1.1 blocks in 28.6 minutes with the Skyforce.
This story was originally published July 28, 2020 at 4:23 PM.
