What went wrong for the Heat in its season-opening loss? Takeaways and some answers
It was sloppy, and the Miami Heat struggled in the fourth quarter.
That’s not the way the Heat wanted its first game of the 2020-21 season to be described, and the result wasn’t what it was looking for either.
Less than three months after falling two games short of a championship in the NBA Finals, the Heat opened the season with a 113-107 loss to the Orlando Magic on Wednesday at the Amway Center.
Miami (0-1) entered the fourth quarter with a four-point lead, but Orlando (1-0) dominated the final period, 34-24, to run away with the victory.
“Offensively, through the course of the game, we just obviously were not getting enough shots on goal. It wasn’t your typical offensive flow and movement that you’re accustomed to seeing with us,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We needed a whole lot more singles and easy plays, just to get everybody in rhythm, and feeling a part of it offensively. And then defensively, the second opportunities ... and they put us away from there.”
Evan Fournier led the Magic with a team-high 25 points on 9-of-13 shooting, and Aaron Gordon contributed 20 points and seven rebounds.
Next up for Miami is a Christmas Day showcase game. The Heat returns to AmericanAirlines Arena for its home opener against the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday.
Here are five takeaways from the Heat’s loss to the Magic to open the regular season:
The Heat’s rotation will fluctuate throughout the season, but Wednesday’s opener provided a baseline of what to expect.
Miami used a starting lineup of Tyler Herro, Duncan Robinson, Jimmy Butler, Moe Harkless and Bam Adebayo against the Magic.
Robinson, Butler and Adebayo were projected as Heat starters, but the other two spots were up for grabs.
Herro, 20, got the start to begin his second NBA season over guards Goran Dragic, Kendrick Nunn and Avery Bradley. Herro started only eight of the 55 regular-season games he appeared in as a rookie last season, and he made five starts in the playoffs — all coming in the NBA Finals after Dragic went out because of a torn plantar fascia in his left foot that he suffered in Game 1 of the championship series.
Herro recorded 13 points on 6-of-14 shooting, six rebounds and four assists in 32 minutes on Wednesday.
Harkless, who signed with the Heat as a free agent this offseason, got the start alongside Adebayo in the Heat’s frontcourt over Andre Iguodala, Meyers Leonard, KZ Okpala and Kelly Olynyk. The 27-year-old Harkless started in both of Miami’s preseason games, and he started 48 total games while splitting last season with the Los Angeles Clippers and New York Knicks.
Harkless finished the opener with three points on 1-of-4 shooting from the field and 1 of 2 shooting on threes, two rebounds and one assist in 23 minutes.
“I thought Moe’s defensive activity during some of his minutes was really good,” Spoelstra said. “I think it’s a matter of getting him in better game condition and getting him in Miami Heat condition to be able to sustain that activity for longer periods of time. But there are definitely some things we can build on there.”
The Herro-Robinson-Butler-Harkless-Adebayo starting lineup was outscored 38-34 in 17 minutes in the opener.
The Heat’s bench rotation Wednesday included five players: Dragic, Iguodala, Olynyk, Precious Achiuwa and Nunn.
Dragic was sharp, with 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting, four rebounds and seven assists in 26 minutes. Achiuwa finished his regular-season NBA debut with eight points and three rebounds in 14 minutes.
“I told Spo that however you’re going to use me, I’m here for the team,” Dragic said of starting the season as the Heat’s sixth man. “I’m already feeling comfortable with this role off the bench. And it’s fine. I feel great. The foot, I feel no pain, nothing. So maybe just a little bit wind, I need to get in better shape. But that’s going to come.”
With 13 realistic rotation options available and a 10-man rotation used Wednesday, there wasn’t room for everybody. Bradley, Udonis Haslem, Leonard, Okpala and Chris Silva were the five active Heat players who did not play in the season opener.
It continues to look like the midrange jumper is going to be a very effective shot for Adebayo this season.
Adebayo put together a dominant performance to begin his fourth NBA season, finishing with 25 points on 11-of-16 shooting, 11 rebounds and four assists.
Adebayo continues to look comfortable and confident with his improved outside shot, as he made three of his four attempts from the midrange Wednesday.
It’s just a continuation of the growth Adebayo has displayed with his outside shot since last postseason. He was 17 of 37 (45.9 percent) on midrange shots in the playoffs after shooting 22.3 percent from midrange in the regular season.
During the Heat’s two-game preseason, Adebayo shot 3 of 4 on midrange shots.
But it wasn’t all good for Adebayo. He finished with a team-high seven turnovers.
Speaking of turnovers, the Heat was very sloppy in the season opener. It was a big reason Miami lost.
Following an abbreviated two-month offseason and two-game preseason that Butler did not even play in, the Heat unsurprisingly still has some rust to work through. Miami committed 22 turnovers that Orlando turned into 24 points.
The first half was especially sloppy. The Magic scored 18 points off 12 first-half turnovers from the Heat.
“You have to give Orlando credit,” Spoelstra said. “They are active. They are long. They’re disruptive. They were top five in steals last year. They did the same thing in the short preseason. So you have to be very precise. Your spacing has to be great. And you have to be willing to work the offense and sometimes makes the easy play and get it to the second side and execute from there.”
The Magic wasn’t much better, finishing the opener with 18 turnovers. But Orlando managed to outscore Miami 24-20 on points off turnovers.
Adebayo, Butler (six turnovers) and Herro (four turnovers) combined to commit 17 turnovers Wednesday.
“I feel like turnovers was the real reason why we cost us the game,” Adebayo said. “We’re going to fix that. Like I said earlier, I feel like we were out of sync. We weren’t all on the same page today, so once we all get on the same page and get in sync, I feel like we won’t have 22 turnovers.”
The Heat also did not get up as many threes as usual. Miami, which averaged 13.4 made threes on 35.4 three-point attempts per game last season, shot 7 of 20 on threes in Orlando.
Butler was the beneficiary of some of the Magic’s mistakes.
The Heat’s All-Star wing set a new career-high with seven steals in the opener. He also finished with 19 points, three rebounds and seven assists in 36 minutes.
Butler, who finished 5-of-5 from the foul line, tweaked his right ankle during the loss, but he remained in the game.
“They stepped on my ankle. That’s what they did,” Butler said when asked how how the Magic limited his free-throw attempts and opportunities around the rim. “So I couldn’t move the way that I wanted to. It’s not an excuse. But I feel like I can get into the paint at will. I missed some shots. That’s what it is.”
Butler came alive offensively after he was called for a technical foul with 6:33 remaining in the third quarter for arguing that he was fouled while trying to record a steal. He scored 11 of his 19 points after the technical.
Butler’s seven steals on Wednesday is tied for the third-most recorded in a game by a Heat player in franchise history. Guard Mario Chalmers set the team record with nine steals in a win over the Philadelphia 76ers on Nov. 5, 2008.
While the Heat had a full complement of players for its season opener, the NBA received a strong reminder Wednesday of just how unique and challenging this season will be amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
On only the second day of the season, the Houston Rockets could not field the league-required eight available players for Wednesday’s game against the Oklahoma City Thunder in accordance with the league’s Health and Safety Protocols. As a result, the NBA postponed the Rockets-Thunder game at Toyota Center.
The NBA said in a release: “Three Houston Rockets players have returned tests that were either positive or inconclusive for coronavirus under the NBA’s testing program. Following the contact tracing protocol, four other players are quarantined at this time. Additionally, James Harden is unavailable due to a violation of the Health and Safety Protocols. All other Rockets players were tested again today, and all returned negative results. Houston has one additional player who is unavailable due to injury.”
Before Wednesday’s opener in Orlando, Spoelstra said it’s a reminder of the reality that the NBA season is starting during an ongoing pandemic.
“I think every organization, you just have to expect [the unexpected], and you have to be prepared for a bunch of unpredictable things,” Spoelstra said. “I don’t know all the details of [Houston’s situation], so I can’t comment too much on that. But I think all of us are very aware that there is a reality, the virus is still out there. And sometimes when you’re able to be in this NBA world and continue to do what we love to do, for a slight moment you can almost lose track of that.”
This story was originally published December 23, 2020 at 9:32 PM.
