Takeaways from short-handed Heat’s preseason loss to Hawks, as Udonis Haslem makes appearance
The Miami Heat didn’t have Bam Adebayo, Jimmy Butler, Kyle Lowry and eight others for Thursday night’s preseason game.
The result: The Heat’s first loss of the preseason.
The Heat fell to the Hawks, which played most of their regulars, 127-92 at State Farm Arena. Miami opened the preseason with four consecutive wins before the defeat.
It was an uphill battle for the Heat from the start with just nine available players. Adebayo, Butler, Dewayne Dedmon, Marcus Garrett, Tyler Herro, Lowry, Markieff Morris, Victor Oladipo, Duncan Robinson, P.J. Tucker and Omer Yurtseven all remained in Miami for the front end of the preseason back-to-back.
That left the Heat with a roster of Udonis Haslem, Caleb Martin, KZ Okpala, Micah Potter, Javonte Smart, Dru Smith, D.J. Stewart, Max Strus and Gabe Vincent against the Hawks. Miami started Vincent, Martin, Strus, Okpala and Haslem.
The Hawks didn’t allow the depleted Heat to hang around, entering the second quarter with a 33-17 lead. By halftime, that advantage had grown to 24.
Haslem, 41, finished with one point, four rebounds, three assists and two blocks in 13 minutes in his first preseason action in three years.
The Heat’s leading scorer was Smart, who is signed to an Exhibit 10 contract. Smart ended the night with 20 points on 8-of-16 shooting and five rebounds.
The Hawks were led by star guard Trae Young, who finished with 27 points and 15 assists. He’s the first player with 25 points and 15 assists in a preseason game since James Harden did it in 2016, according to ESPN Stats & Info.
The Heat (4-1) now returns home to close its six-game preseason schedule on Friday against the Boston Celtics at FTX Arena (6:30 p.m., ESPN2) on the second night of a back-to-back. The Heat opens the regular season on Oct. 21.
Here are five takeaways from the Heat’s preseason loss to the Hawks:
More than half of the Heat’s 20-man roster, including most of the rotation regulars, weren’t in Atlanta for Thursday’s game.
With the Heat beginning a back-to-back set on Thursday to close its preseason schedule, the belief is that most of the players who were unavailable against the Hawks will be available for Friday’s preseason finale against the Celtics for one final dress rehearsal prior to the start of the regular season.
The Heat is the only team in the NBA playing two back-to-back sets during the preseason. Miami also sat most of its regulars on the back end of its first preseason back-to-back on Oct. 8 against the San Antonio Spurs.
Haslem played in his first preseason game since 2018.
Haslem played the first 7:25 of the game, missing both of his shots but recording one rebound, two assists and one block during his initial stint. Okpala, not Haslem, jumped as the center to open the game.
Haslem’s next shift came to open the second half, as he played the first six minutes of the third quarter. He scored his only point of the game on a free throw, grabbed three rebounds, dished out another assist, blocked another shot and took a charge during that stretch.
Haslem’s playing time was limited on Thursday in part because he just rejoined the Heat on Sunday after being away from the team since the start of training camp. He missed the first two weeks of practices following the Aug. 30 death of his father, Johnnie Haslem, at 70 years old.
“He’s working his way back into shape,” coach Erik Spoelstra said of Haslem. “He didn’t participate in training camp, and I didn’t want to run him into the ground tonight. That’s not what it was about. But it was good for him just to get a little bit of a run, get his feet wet, get a little bit of rhythm and he can build on that.”
Haslem said following the game: “To be expected, a little fatigued and legs not all the way there. But still got a rebound every three minutes, which is about my average for my career. I still do that. I got a charge, so we can still do that. But it was fun. Unfortunately, obviously we didn’t get it done. But our young guys played hard.”
It marked Haslem’s first start in any game since the 2019-20 regular-season finale in the Walt Disney World bubble on Aug. 14, 2020. He has started two regular-season games since the start of the 2015-16 season.
Entering his 19th NBA season, Haslem has played less of an on-court role and more of a leadership role in recent seasons. He has played in 29 games since the start of the 2017-18 season, but has served as a Heat captain in each of the past 14 seasons (the longest tenure in team history).
Haslem played in just one game last regular season.
The potential rotation regulars who did play Thursday had their moments, but were mostly inefficient.
Martin, Strus and Vincent combined for 36 points on 37 shots.
Martin finished 11 points on 5-of-14 shooting from the field, three rebounds and four assists in 29 minutes.
Strus recorded 18 points on 6-of-14 shooting from the field and 5-of-9 shooting on threes and nine rebounds in 30 minutes. He scored 12 points in the second half.
Vincent contributed seven points on 2-of-9 shooting, two rebounds and 10 assists in 31 minutes.
The Heat’s Exhibit 10 players again had an opportunity to log extended preseason minutes on Thursday, but their days on the roster are numbered.
Potter turned in a double-double performance with 16 points and 16 rebounds. He has recorded two double-doubles in the preseason.
Smart scored a team-high 20 points on 8-of-16 shooting from the field and 3-of-8 shooting on threes, and five rebounds.
Among the Heat’s Exhibit 10 players, Potter and Smart have stood out as potential intriguing developmental prospects for the organization’s G League affiliate.
Smith scored four points and Stewart contributed five points on Thursday.
All four are expected to be waived by the Heat in the coming days.
NBA teams have a 5 p.m. Monday deadline to cut rosters to a maximum of 15 players, which does not include those under two-way contracts. Because of the 48-hour waiver period, teams have to make those moves by 5 p.m. Saturday.
The Heat, which has carried the preseason maximum of 20 players, will almost assuredly enter the regular season with 14 players on standard contracts — one below the NBA limit — to avoid crossing the luxury tax threshold. Miami also already filled both of its two-way contract spots by locking Garrett and Martin prior to the start of the training camp.
That leaves the Heat’s four Exhibit 10 players on track to be waived by the Saturday deadline.
But because Potter, Smart, Smith and Stewart signed Exhibit 10 contracts, it makes it more likely that they’ll stay within the Heat’s developmental program as part of its G League affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce. Exhibit 10 deals come with guarantees up to $50,000 if those players choose to play in the G League for the Skyforce.
The Heat can designate four players as affiliate players to get them to its G League team, and Potter, Smart, Smith and Stewart will likely be those four. But, of course, Exhibit 10 players waived with the intention of moving them to the G League are also eligible to sign a two-way deal or standard contract with any NBA team.
Okpala played more than 20 minutes for the first time this preseason and flashed some of his potential, especially on the defensive end.
With the Heat’s roster shorthanded, the 22-year-old forward started and played 35 minutes. He finished with 10 points on 4-of-13 shooting, seven rebounds, one block and three steals.
The 6-8 Okpala was used to defend the 6-1 Young for most of the third quarter.
“You felt us a little bit more defensively in that second half,” Spoelstra said. “And that was KZ being on the ball and making some multiple efforts.”
Okpala, who is entering his third NBA season, has totaled 20 points on 30.4 percent shooting, 13 rebounds and one assist in 67 minutes in three preseason games. He missed two of the first five preseason games because of Achilles inflammation.
The Heat traded three second-round picks to acquire Okpala on draft night in 2019. He has played more minutes in the G League (572) than in the NBA (473) in his first two NBA seasons.
Okpala’s playing time will likely be limited to open this season, too, after the Heat added Tucker and Morris in free agency this past summer.
This story was originally published October 14, 2021 at 9:24 PM.
