Heat falls to Grizzlies to close second winless preseason in team history. Takeaways
Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 141-125 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday night at Kaseya Center to close its six-game preseason schedule with a winless 0-6 record. Next up for the Heat is its regular-season opener on Wednesday against the Magic in Orlando:
While the Heat has held out most of its regulars in recent preseason finales, it played all of its healthy regulars in this year’s final preseason game. And those regulars played for most of the exhibition.
The only Heat players unavailable for Friday’s preseason finale were Tyler Herro (ankle surgery), Kasparas Jakucionis (right groin strain). Nikola Jovic (lower back pain).
That had the Heat going with a starting lineup of Davion Mitchell, Norman Powell, Andrew Wiggins, Bam Adebayo and Kel’el Ware.
The Heat then used Dru Smith, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Pelle Larsson and Simone Fontecchio off the bench in the first half.
This one felt like a preseason dress rehearsal game for the Heat, which tightened its rotation to nine players for Friday’s first half.
That nine-man rotation produced a 68-64 halftime lead for the Heat, as Powell totaled a team-high 13 points on 4-of-8 shooting from the field and 2-of-4 shooting from three-point range in 16 first-half minutes.
The Heat then began the second half with the same lineup it started the game with.
The Heat then extended its rotation to 10 players midway through the third quarter, subbing in Terry Rozier.
But after the Heat entered the fourth quarter with a one-point lead, the Heat extended the rotation to the back end of its preseason roster by playing Keshad Johnson, Jahmir Young, Myron Gardner, Vlad Goldin and Ethan Thompson.
The Grizzlies went on to crush the Heat 39-22 in the fourth quarter on their way to the win.
“Could we have stopped the game after the third quarter?” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra joked. “There were some things that I was looking to see in this game, and I saw a lot of them. A lot of that was with the starters, and some of those rotation minutes as well when the second unit came in. So we’ll build on that.”
Three Heat players hit the 20-point mark on Friday.
Adebayo closed with 23 points on 9-of-17 shooting from the field, 2-of-6 shooting from three-point range and 3-of-5 shooting from the foul line, eight rebounds, four assists, two steals and one block in 26 minutes.
Powell finished with 23 points on 8-of-13 shooting from the field, 3-of-6 shooting from behind the arc and 4-of-5 shooting from the foul line, six assists and one steal in 25 minutes.
Ware ended the night with 20 points on 7-of-15 shooting from the field, 0-of-3 shooting on threes and 6-of-6 shooting from the foul line, 14 rebounds, one steal and one block in 30 minutes.
The Heat finished the preseason without a win.
At 0-6, the Heat finished the preseason winless for just the second time in franchise history. The only other time the Heat went winless in the preseason was in 2007, when it dropped all seven of its exhibitions.
That 2007-08 season didn’t go well, as the Heat went just 15-67 that regular season following its 0-7 preseason.
The Heat hopes this winless preseason isn’t a bad omen for what’s ahead this time around.
“We’re not going to focus on what the record was in the preseason,” Spoelstra said. “We’ll focus on some of the things that were consistent to how we want to play.”
Adebayo added: “Obviously, we don’t like losing in the preseason, but it is what it is. When the first game starts, hopefully we’ll have a better turnout.”
With Jovic out, Adebayo and Ware started their second straight game together on Friday after not playing a second together through the Heat’s first four exhibitions.
As a rookie, Ware earned consistent minutes and then was promoted to a starting role in January after logging double-digit minutes in just two of the Heat’s first 25 games last regular season. The 7-foot Ware started next to the 6-foot-9 Adebayo to form a double-big lineup for the final three months of the season.
Ware started 33 games alongside Adebayo last regular season and the Heat posted a 14-19 record in those games with that double-big frontcourt. The Heat outscored opponents by 4.6 points per 100 possessions in the 541 minutes that Adebayo and Ware played together last regular season, as the defense produced impressive results but the offense was underwhelming with this duo on the court.
But Spoelstra went away from the Adebayo-Ware frontcourt look to begin the preseason, as they didn’t play a second together through the first four exhibitions. Instead, Jovic started the first three games alongside Adebayo this preseason before Jovic went out with his back issue
However with Jovic unavailable, Spoelstra used a frontcourt of Adebayo and Ware to start the final two exhibitions.
In their first action together this preseason, the Atlanta Hawks outscored the Heat by three points in the 8:03 that Adebayo and Ware played together on Monday.
In their second consecutive start together, the Grizzlies outscored the Heat by seven points in the 14 minutes that Adebayo and Ware played together on Friday.
So this preseason, opponents outscored the Heat by 10 points in the 22 minutes that Ware and Adebayo played together.
After missing the Heat’s first five preseason games with a strained hamstring, Rozier played in his first exhibition of the year on Friday.
Rozier entered for his first action of the preseason with 5:56 left in Friday’s third quarter. He totaled four points on 2-of-4 shooting from the field and 0-of-1 shooting on threes, two rebounds and one steal in 11 minutes in his preseason debut.
With Herro expected to miss at least the first month of the regular season after undergoing ankle surgery last month, Rozier’s skill set could be needed while Herro is sidelined.
But minutes won’t be easy to come by, as Powell, Mitchell and Smith all appear to be ahead of Rozier on the depth chart as the start of the regular season nears. Larsson and Jakucionis are other Heat guards vying for minutes this season.
Rozier began last season as a Heat starter and was expected to be one of the team’s top offensive players, but he instead completely fell out of the Heat’s rotation toward the end of the season.
Rozier averaged 10.6 points per game on 39.1% shooting from the field and 29.5% shooting from three-point range in 64 appearances last regular season. That’s the fewest points he has averaged and the worst field-goal percentage he has recorded in a season since his fourth NBA season in 2018-19, with Rozier’s three-point percentage his worst for a season since his rookie year in 2015-16.
Rozier was one of only four players in the NBA who shot worse than 40% from the field and worse than 30% on threes while playing in at least 60 games last regular season. That list also includes Tidjane Salaun, Ricky Council IV and Jett Howard.
“He put in a lot of work this summer,” Spoelstra said of Rozier prior to Friday’s exhibition. “So yes, the last two weeks have probably been a bummer for him because of all that time that he put in and he was playing well. He was in great shape. All that work doesn’t go away. So he was able to ramp up the last few days. He was able to go through practice yesterday. I think his mind is clear. He gives you that scoring punch, the toughness. I think those will be on display since he’s healthy.”
With the Heat’s preseason coming to an end Friday, the front office has come roster decisions to make in the coming days and hours.
The Heat’s roster is currently at the preseason maximum of 21 players, but rosters must be cut to a maximum total of 18 players (15 on standard contracts and three on two-way contracts) by the start of the regular season.
NBA teams have a 5 p.m. deadline on Monday to cut rosters to the regular-season maximum. But most of those moves actually need to be made by 5 p.m. Saturday because of the 48-hour waiver period.
Among the roster questions that the Heat needs to answer by the end of the weekend:
▪ Will Achiuwa remain on the Heat’s roster for opening night?
▪ Who will get the Heat’s third and final two-way contract?
▪ Will the Heat keep its current two-way contract players, Gardner and Goldin, around for the start of the regular season?
This story was originally published October 17, 2025 at 10:31 PM.
