Giannis, new-look Heat again impress in home preseason win over Pelicans. Takeaways and details
.JPG "Miami Heat forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (7) competes for the ball against New Orleans Pelicans forward Zion Williamson (1) in the first half of their preseason NBA basketball game at Kaseya Center on Oct. 8, 2026, in Miami.")
Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 128-118 exhibition win over the New Orleans Pelicans in its second of five preseason games on Thursday night at Kaseya Center. The Heat is now 2-0 this preseason:
It’s just the preseason, but Thursday still marked a first for two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo.
On Saturday, Antetokounmpo played in his first game with the Heat.
On Thursday, he played in his first game at Kaseya Center as a member of the Heat. Antetokounmpo spent the first 13 seasons of his NBA career with the Milwaukee Bucks before being traded to the Heat this past summer.
Antetokounmpo, who was the first Heat starter introduced by the public address announcer ahead of the first home exhibition, made the most of his minutes. He closed Thursday’s exhibition with 18 points on 8-of-13 shooting from the field and 2-of-5 shooting from the foul line, three rebounds, four assists and one steal in 17:52 before being held out of the second half of the preseason contest.
“I’ve always tried to get to my spot, be aggressive, make the right play, play hard, and that won’t change no matter where I am and who’s next to me,” Antetokounmpo said after Thursday’s exhibition win. “I just got to keep on being myself.”
Antetokounmpo opened the scoring Thursday, scoring the first points of the night on a one-legged fadeaway jumper from the free-throw line.
Antetokounmpo went on to record six points on 3-of-5 shooting from the field, one rebound and one assist during a 5:53 stint to begin Thursday’s game.
Antetokounmpo’s second stint of the night lasted longer, as he entered the contest with 3:25 left in the first quarter and was substituted out of the game with 7:28 remaining in the second quarter. He totaled six points on 3-of-5 shooting from the field, two rebounds and one assist during this 7:57 stint.
Antetokounmpo’s third and final stint of the game came when he played the final 4:02 of the second quarter, adding six points and two assists during this stretch before sitting out the second half.
Through the Heat’s first two exhibitions, Antetokounmpo is averaging 13.5 points, 3.5 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game while shooting 11 of 16 (68.8%) from the field in 16 minutes per game. He has not played in the second half of either of the two preseason games.
“He was more assertive tonight, putting the ball on the floor and getting to the basket,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of Antetokounmpo. “We want that. We need that.”
The Heat’s starting lineup again produced positive results.
The Heat has now used the starting lineup of Davion Mitchell, Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins, Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo in each of its first two preseason games.
And this group, which is expected to be the Heat’s opening night starting unit, again was a positive.
The Heat’s starting lineup outscored the Pelicans 31-29 in 9:55 together on Thursday before all five starters sat out the second half.
This comes after the Heat’s starting group outscored the Toronto Raptors 34-29 in 12:13 together during Saturday’s preseason opener.
There were positive contributions from throughout the Heat’s starting unit.
Along with Antetokounmpo’s impressive display, Adebayo totaled nine points on 3-of-5 shooting from the field, 1-of-1 shooting on threes, 2-of-3 shooting from the foul line, five rebounds and two assists in 16:03.
Wiggins contributed 13 points on 4-of-5 shooting from the field, 1-of-1 shooting from three-point range and 4-of-5 shooting from the free-throw line, two rebounds and one steal in 15:11.
Mitchell finished with nine points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field and 1-of-1 shooting on threes, one rebound and seven assists in 20:18.
Thompson closed with five points, two rebounds, four assists and three blocks in 14:05. But he struggled to make shots, going 2 of 7 from the field and 1 of 6 on threes.
With the starters playing in the first half, the Heat entered halftime with a 73-64 advantage.
The five Heat reserves who played in the first half were Bobby Portis Jr., Tim Hardaway Jr., Nikola Jovic, Ryan Conwell and Simone Fontecchio.
Portis finished with 11 points on 4-of-13 shooting from the field and 1-of-4 shooting on threes, six rebounds, two assists, two steals and one block in 19 minutes.
Hardaway added 11 points 4-of-8 shooting from the field and 2-of-6 shooting from three-point range, three rebounds, two assists in 19 minutes.
Later in the game, Heat guards Tre Donaldson and Myron Gardner shined.
Donaldson, who is on a two-way contract after going undrafted out of the University of Miami in June, finished with 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the field and 2-of-3 shooting on threes and two assists in 15 minutes.
Gardner, who has $500,000 of his salary for this season currently guaranteed, recorded 11 points on 3-of-6 shooting from the field and 3-of-5 shooting from three-point range, four rebounds and four assists in 15 minutes.
The Heat’s uptempo pace was on display in Thursday’s preseason game.
After making big offensive changes one year ago to go from one of the slowest teams in the league to the fastest-paced team in the NBA last season, Spoelstra has made it clear that he wants Miami to again play fast this season.
With the rotation regulars playing in the first two quarters, the Heat used that uptempo attack to build an eye-opening 23-4 advantage in fast-break points in the first half. The fact that the Pelicans were sloppy helped the Heat get out in transition, as New Orleans committed 14 turnovers in the first half.
“That’s definitely part of our intentions of how we want to be disruptive,” Spoelstra said of the Heat’s up-tempo first half. “We want to be able to take advantage of transition opportunities. We can change ends of the floor fast. We have that kind of speed. We just have to continue to be intentional about what we’re doing. I liked scoring 73, but it felt like we could have been even sharper with some of our execution.”
That fast pace has led to two high-scoring performances for the Heat this preseason.
After scoring 129 points in Saturday’s preseason opener, the Heat put up 128 points on Thursday.
“We’re working. We’re getting better,” Antetokounmpo said. “The team is scoring the ball. The second unit is playing great. The third unit is coming in, competing, winning games for us. It’s looking good so far, but still we can be a lot better.”
Adebayo added: “The regular season hasn’t really started. But when we get this thing going, I think you’ll see a lot of 70-point halves.”
The Heat was without three players for its second preseason game.
Along with missing guard Dru Smith (right calf strain) and two-way contract forward Keshad Johnson (right hamstring strain) for the second straight exhibition game, the Heat was also without guard Pelle Larsson (sick) on Thursday.
Larsson was still dealing with the lingering effects of an illness that has also forced him to miss practice this week.
Larsson totaled 13 points on 3-of-3 shooting from the field and 7-of-7 shooting from the foul line, two rebounds, two assists and two steals in 11 minutes in the Heat’s win over the Raptors to open the preseason on Saturday in Quebec City, Canada. Larsson is expected to play a major role in the Heat’s bench rotation this season.
The other 18 players on the Heat’s 21-man preseason roster were available for Thursday’s exhibition.
The Heat will remain at home for the next week, as it continues its preparation for the start of the regular season.
The Heat hosts the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday in its third preseason of five preseason games and then remains in Miami to face the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday at Kaseya Center. There will be plenty of practice time for the Heat during the three-day gap between those games.
The Heat then travels to Orlando to close its five-game preseason schedule against the Magic at Kia Center on Oct. 16.
The Heat opens the regular season on Oct. 21 against the Timberwolves in Miami.
“It feels like we have guys that are familiar with what we’re doing and then we’re incorporating the new guys,” Spoelstra said of the Heat’s preseason preparation. “It’s not different from, I guess, like everybody else in the league. We’re just in the middle of our process right now.”
▪ The Heat made roster moves following Thursday’s game involving its Exhibit 10 players.
The Heat waived guard Lester Quinones and forward J’Vonne Hadley from the Exhibit 10 deals.
The Heat then signed and waived veteran guard Dennis Smith Jr. from an Exhibit 10 contract before signing guard Gabe Madsen and center Kylor Kelley to Exhibit 10 deals. Madsen and Kelley will be at Heat practice tomorrow.
An Exhibit 10 contract is essentially an invite to training camp/preseason and protects players from being signed away by another team. Exhibit 10 deals usually result in a player being waived before the start of the regular season and then being transitioned to that team’s G League affiliate.
The Heat’s roster is still at the 21-player preseason maximum.
This story was originally published October 8, 2026 at 9:54 PM with the headline "Giannis, new-look Heat again impress in home preseason win over Pelicans. Takeaways and details."
