Conwell stays aggressive, Goldin’s rim protection, things to know from Heat’s second summer game
The Miami Heat continued summer league action with a 93-91 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers’ summer squad on Sunday at Chase Center, falling to 1-1 during its three-game stay at the California Classic. Here are some observations from the Heat’s double-overtime loss to the Lakers in San Francisco:
▪ After going with a starting lineup of guards Jahmir Young and Ryan Conwell, forwards Myron Gardner and J’Vonne Hadley, and center Vlad Goldin in Friday’s 88-87 summer league-opening win over the San Antonio Spurs, the Heat went with a starting group of Young, Conwell, Hadley, forward Trevor Keels and Goldin on Sunday.
Keels started in place of Gardner, who exited Friday’s summer league opener early and missed Sunday’s contest because of a sprained left ankle.
The Heat led by as many as 12 points in the fourth quarter, but the Lakers rallied to tie the score at 87 with 28.2 seconds left in the fourth quarter to force overtime.
The Heat and Lakers were also tied at 91 at the end of the two-minute overtime, which led to a sudden-death second-overtime period.
That’s when the Lakers won the game, as Watson made a game-winning put-back layup on the first possession of double-overtime.
The Heat committed seven turnovers and shot just 1 of 6 on threes during its fourth-quarter collapse.
“We did a lot of great things out there,” Heat assistant coach and summer league head coach Wayne Ellington said. “But there are a lot of things that we got to work on. That’s what summer league is about. It’s about development. We played three really solid quarters. Fourth quarter, I think we got [seven] turnovers in the fourth quarter. So down the stretch, we obviously got to be better. We got to be better, we got to take care of the ball, we got to get good shots. Defensively, we got to get timely stops.”
▪ Keels made the most of his starting opportunity early on, beginning Sunday’s summer league game strong with seven points on 2-of-2 shooting from the field and 1-of-1 shooting on threes, two rebounds, one assist and one steal in the opening quarter.
Keels, 22, finished Sunday’s loss with 16 points on 5-of-15 shooting from the field and 1-of-8 shooting on threes, four rebounds, three assists and three steals in 32 minutes.
Keels is working to prove he belongs in the NBA, as he’s an unrestricted free agent this offseason after the Heat did not extend a two-way contract qualifying offer to him last month.
Keels, who was a second-round pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, closed this past season on a two-way contract with the Heat. His NBA skill is his three-point stroke, shooting an eye-opening 12 of 12 from three-point range in a G League game last season.
“Just showing them that I’m progressing this summer, that I got better,” Keels said of what he wants to prove to the Heat this summer. “Just showing them I can play defense, I can rebound. [Heat coach Erik Spoelstra] and the guys know I can shoot the ball. Now it’s just doing other things.”
Young is in the same position as Keels, with the Heat declining Young’s team option for next season to make him an unrestricted free agent.
Young, 25, closed Sunday’s loss with 14 points on 5-of-13 shooting from the field and 2-of-6 shooting from three-point range, five rebounds, two assists and one steal in 26 minutes.
Young shined in the G League last season, averaging 25.9 points per game for the Heat’s developmental affiliate. But Young logged only 58 minutes across 14 NBA appearances with the Heat last season.
▪ Conwell, who the Heat landed in the second round of this year’s NBA Draft, struggled to make shots on Sunday.
Conwell shot just 2 of 9 from the field and 1 of 8 on threes in the first half on his way to finishing the defeat with 16 points on 6-of-18 shooting from the field and 2-of-6 shooting on threes, seven rebounds, three assists and one steal in 33 minutes. The 22-year-old Conwell stayed aggressive despite his cold shooting, recording team-highs in field-goal attempts and three-point attempts.
This comes after Conwell battled through a 1-of-7 shooting start in Friday’s summer league opener to finish his summer league debut with 21 points on 4-of-12 shooting from the field, 3-of-7 shooting on threes and 4-of-4 shooting from the foul line.
“The true sign of a shooter is when you go through a little adversity and your shot is not falling, but you continue to take the next one,” Ellington said when asked about Conwell following Sunday’s summer league loss. “You always believe the next one is going in. And I really feel that he has that type of confidence.”
▪ Former Miami Hurricanes guard Tre Donaldson, who is the only player the Heat currently has signed to a two-way contract, bounced back from his quiet two-point summer league debut to record 11 points on 4-of-4 shooting from the field and 1-of-1 shooting on threes, two rebounds and four assists on Sunday.
Donaldson, 22, went undrafted this year.
▪ Goldin struggled to finish around the basket on Sunday, scoring six points on 3-of-9 shooting from the field.
But Goldin was a deterrent at the rim, totaling four blocks. Goldin picked up nine fouls along the way, coming close to summer league’s 10-foul limit.
Goldin’s most impressive block of the day came when he denied a dunk attempt from 6-foot-7 Lakers forward Adou Thiero early in the third quarter.
Watson then threw down a dunk over Goldin a few minutes later, and the Lakers’ bench let Goldin know about it.
So Goldin came down on the other end and had some words for the Lakers after he completed a dunk of his own. Goldin was called for a technical foul for trash talking.
“That’s a big emphasis for Vlad,” Ellington said of Goldin continuing to challenge shots at the rim. “We want him as close to the paint as possible on every defensive possession, protecting the paint, protecting the rim. He’s continuing to get better and better at it. Obviously we got to continue to work with him and develop him on doing it with discipline. But he did show flashes. He had four blocks, so that’s a plus for him. He’s only going to continue to get better at it.”
Goldin, who went undrafted last year, closed last season on a two-way contract with the Heat. The 7-footer is a restricted free agent after receiving a two-way contract qualifying offer that can be rescinded by the Heat before mid-July.
▪ Sunday marked the second of three games that the Heat’s summer league team will play in the California Classic before moving on to Las Vegas Summer League.
The Heat’s summer squad plays its final game of the California Classic on Monday against the Golden State Warriors’ Gold summer roster at Chase Center (10 p.m., NBA TV, Prime Video, ESPN+).
This story was originally published July 5, 2026 at 6:47 PM.
