ORLANDO — Observations and other notes of interest from Wednesday night’s 125-121 loss to the Orlando Magic:
– The previous math, the one we mostly saw in the preseason, appears to be back.
– Even after a statistically dominant preseason by Kel’el Ware.
– Even after coach Erik Spoelstra stressed how willing a pupil Ware has been.
– In Wednesday night’s first half, either Bam Adebayo or Ware.
– But neither together, with Adebayo playing 16 minutes over the first two quarters, Ware the other eight.
– And so it went through the Heat’s high-energy opener.
– Playing out the same way in the second half.
– With Ware not entering for the first time in the second half until 2:16 remained in the third quarter.
– Then exiting with 8:02 to play.
– So 14 minutes, seven points, four rebounds.
– Watching when Orlando was coming up with so many late offensive rebounds.
– Is this the best way to grow your 2024 first-round pick?
– With Ware as a fill-in component?
– Yes, one game, not to overstate.
– But if this season is about development (it is), and if Adebayo is considered a Heat leading man (he is), then better together when it comes to Ware and Adebayo?
– And so, after the two finished last season together, this time only staggered minutes.
– Even with Ware available, the Heat went with an opening lineup of Adebayo, Nikola Jovic, Andrew Wiggins, Norman Powell and Davion Mitchell.
– Ware had been listed as questionable earlier with an ankle sprain.
– The opening-night start for Adebayo was his seventh with the Heat, tying him with Udonis Haslem for second on the franchise’s all-time list behind only the 12 season-opening starts of Dwyane Wade.
– Adebayo opened defensively on Paolo Banchero.
– Powell’s first Heat attempt was a successful 3-pointer to open the scoring.
– Powell’s second attempt resulted in a three-shot foul on the Magic, leaving him with six points on one FGA.
– Adebayo’s first attempt of the season was a successful 3-pointer.
– The Heat were without Tyler Herro and Kasparas Jakucionis.
– The timetable provided by the Heat in the wake of Herro’s ankle surgery last week was of a return in mid-to-late November.
– Jakucionis is dealing with a groin strain suffered during the Heat’s previous visit to Orlando in the preseason.
– “He’s doing well,” Spoelstra said of the rookie guard. “I know he’s doing more and more each day. But I don’t have a specific timeline.”
– In addition to Herro and Jakucionis being inactive for Heat, so was two-way player Jahmir Young.
– Vlad Goldin and Myron Gardner, the Heat’s other two-way players, were active.
– Based on their current roster composition with 14 on standard contacts, the Heat have 90 total combined games that two-way players can be active. That number is now down to 88, with Goldin and Gardner active on Wednesday night.
– With Wiggins called for his second foul 3:32 into the game, Jaime Jaquez Jr. entered as the Heat’s first substitute.
– Wiggins did not have a statistic other than his two fouls in his opening stint.
– Ware then entered along with Simone Fontecchio and Dru Smith in the Heat’s second substitution, with 3:44 left in the opening period.
– With Adebayo, Jovic and Mitchell sitting.
– Pelle Larsson then made it 10 deep at the start of the second period.
– That had only Terry Rozier and Keshad Johnson from the standard roster out of the rotation mix.
– Going in, Spoelstra said the emotion of the night was real.
– “We’ve been chomping at the bit for a while,” Spoelstra said. “I think there’s a healthy enthusiasm. I think that’s great. Everybody should have that feeling on opening night.”
– Of the Heat-Magic rivalry, Spoelstra said going in, “It’s always contested aggressively when our two teams match up. And as competitors you have to embrace it, enjoy that, expect it. The new players, you inherit our experiences against the Magic.”
– While the Magic’s rebounding dominance over the Heat during the preseason was a theme going in, Spoelstra said it has to remain an ongoing Heat focus.
– “I think it’ll be important, no matter what, finishing our defense, doing things with physicality and force,” he said.
– Among those on the Magic’s roster is former Heat center Orlando Robinson.
– Of being in Orlando, Robinson quipped to the Orlando Sentinel, “I love it. It’s really nice to see your name on the front of a jersey and the back.”
– Former Heat two-way player Jamal Cain also is with the Magic, like Robinson on a two-way deal. “I know Orlando was a team that wanted to sign me when I first started my NBA journey,” Cain told the Orlando Sentinel. “So, just to be here full-circle, it means a lot.”
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