REACTION: Heat SQUANDER Powell’s BIG NIGHT With Late Mistakes in Season Opener Against Magic

REACTION: Heat SQUANDER Powell’s BIG NIGHT With Late Mistakes in Season Opener Against Magic

Miami began their season with a competitive effort and some strong performances, but ultimately lost a tight game to the Orlando Magic. What do the Heat need to do better? We’ll answer that on today’s episode of Locked on Heat. You are Locked on Heat, your daily Miami Heat podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. All right, welcome to Locked on Heat, your daily podcast on the Miami Heat, however you might be tuning in on YouTube or on your favorite podcast app. Thanks so much for making Locked on Heat your first listen every day. I’m Wes Goldberg, host of Locked on NBA Daily and Real GM radio. I’m here with David Ramil. Both of us are credentialed Heat Media members who cover this team every day. Got a bunch to get to today, uh, including some players who impressed in their first game of the season. We have some questions about the Heat’s approach in the fourth quarter. We are recording this of course David after the Heat lost to the Magic on opening night 125 to 121. Uh I think there was definitely some positives in this game but also some concerns. I suppose we should probably start with the negatives because it was a loss after all. Uh the crunchtime offense to me is still a concern. The Heat went up uh the Heat went three minutes in the fourth quarter without a field goal, which allowed the Magic to take the lead after the Heat had been up by as many as seven points in that fourth quarter. Um turnovers were an issue down the stretch. I think they had six turnovers in that fourth quarter. Rebounding became an issue, especially in those last couple of minutes. Um, and so when you look at a lot of the ways that this Heat team is different than last season, we’ll get to all of those here in in today’s episode, but one way that they were the same, at least for tonight, David, was crunchtime offense still an issue. They didn’t have that closer when they really needed it. And the Magic did. Uh, they had Paliban Carro, they had Fran Vagner, they had Carter Jr., I guess. But, uh, for the Heat, keeping it local, they just, this was a team that went 14- 28 in crunchtime games last year, and now they’re 0 and one this year. It didn’t feel like the offense was so much of a problem in the fourth. They did score 30 points. This was a really high-scoring game. So, they did drop 30 in the fourth. I think the problem was that they gave up 35. So, when I look at the fourth quarter, it wasn’t even really that they lacked scoring punch because I think some guys did step up. Pal was phenomenal all game long and he was uh pretty big in the fourth as well finishing with what eight eight points in the fourth. Um I think Andrew Wiggins did a great job. Also had seven points. Hit a couple big free throws. Was aggressive. Got a good call that Orlando mal managed to challenge and it did go Andrew’s way when it showed that he was actually fouled at the attempt. So he stepped up in those moments. So I don’t even think that the offense was necessarily the problem. To me it was really the defense. They got outsized, out muscled, outrebounded. I know that we’ll talk about that a little bit later with some questions that our listeners had, but uh that’s really the focus here because it just didn’t seem like they had this incredible energy level. They were really good, really energized. I thought it was a really strong showing for about 45 minutes of the game, maybe about 44 or so. Either way, until the last four or five minutes of the game, they looked like they were playing at a really high level. and I thought they might actually find a way to beat a team that a lot of people are looking at as a playoff contender, maybe even a strong finals contender. So, that was a strong showing overall, but what really stood out to me in the fourth quarter was that they did get a little sloppy down the stretch. They were trying to maximize things that just didn’t have the size and able to do so. Defensively, there were some players out on the floor that I think gave up some opportunities for Orlando and maybe they didn’t need to be out on the floor in those key moments and they just did get outsized, too. That was a big concern. Wendell Carter was quiet all game. Bam shut him down completely. Took him off the bench. In our preview with Locked on Magic the day before, we had talked about that matchup. Bam versus Wendell Carter Jr. being a key one. Carter wasn’t a factor or at least he wasn’t for about 45 minutes until the last few minutes of the game where he really stepped up. He had six rebounds by himself in the fourth quarter. That’s not going to get it done. Yeah. And to your point, David, like rebounding was a concern down the stretch. Turnovers was a concern down the stretch. I did think defensively they had some some miscues. The way it’s similar to last year though is that they found ways to lose in the fourth quarter. Like this team found creative ways to lose and crunch time. Rebounding was not an issue for most of the game. Turnovers was not an issue for most of this game. Defense was not awesome, but I wasn’t like, “Oh, wow. It’s glaring.” Like, there’s definitely things that we could talk about in terms of pace and and the way the Magic were pushing the pace. Obviously, the Heat pushing the pace and this had been um a priority for both of these teams going into this game, but it didn’t feel like those things were an issue for 45 minutes and then for the final three minutes all of a sudden they became an issue. This it reminds me of, you know, Eric Spolstra thinking he has a timeout or just finding way, you know, finding ways to just lose games. I don’t want to make too much out of the negative part of this. The Orlando Magic are widely considered one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference. They were at home. This game was evenly played the entire time. It’s not like the Heat got blown out in this one. Uh, and there are a lot of positives from this. And I guess, you know, if if if there’s among the positives, I thought the offense did look really good for most of this game. They scored 125 point 121 points. Yeah. Um, you and I were texting during the game. This did not look like the offense from the preseason where turnovers were a concern. and it always looked like they were almost moving too fast for their own good. Uh the the shooting was uh up and down. They didn’t get up a ton of threes um in the preseason. They got up 35 three-pointers in this one. You’d still like to get a little bit more, but man, they got to the basket a lot. And so, I’m not going to complain, right? Like, I’d rather get to the rim a bunch. uh if that means that I’m going to give up a few threes. They they you know they did take some mid-range shots, but even the mid-range shots tended to be the ones that were more in the paint as opposed to those like 17 18 footers that you don’t really want a whole lot of. So the offense overall I thought looked really good. The pace was staggering, David, in this game and for the first time they actually looked like they had two uh hands on the wheel of this thing. Yeah, I I think that’s fair. I again it is for the most part watching that game. Uh it’s encouraging. Uh I think Miami certainly looked better. We we talked about what this team looked like in the preseason and you and I were both very clear about well we really can’t take much from preseason but undefeated I mean sorry not having won a game is not having won a game regardless. And you’d like to see at least the process working towards something and it didn’t seem like that was the case during preseason. He didn’t know what to expect. And against a team as big, as physical, as defensively oriented as the Magic are, this could have been a really lopsided game for against Miami. And they could have found a way to really have just been blown out to their credit. They were really solid. I think they did a really good job with pace and everything else like that, but uh they do need to make some tweaks there because I think there were they found a way, like you said, to lose a game. They were up what was it seven, nine, like with the in the fourth quarter. Yeah. At one point. And so, uh, they just allowed a basket here, a foul there, a missed opportunity, a turnover in key moments. They have to find a way to improve there. And I think there’s one particular player that we’ll talk about in the next segment that I feel was mostly responsible. Talk about loss. Oh. Oh, I’m sorry. Don’t don’t talk about it. I thought you were going the other way. Sorry. Sorry. We could talk about We could talk about Norm Powell because he was Let’s do that. Let’s do that. He was the bright spot in this game. So Pal finishes with 28 points on nine of 19 shooting. Went four of eight from three-point range, six of seven from the line. He had nine rebounds, four assists, did have the three turnovers, which weren’t great. But overall, what a performance from Powell. And what stands out to me with him, he just makes it look so easy, doesn’t it? Yes. Yes. Really good game from him. Like I I mean how this is a guy that I I think a lot of heat fans probably don’t even know about. I mean he’s been buried in the west coast in Portland or with the Clippers and he wasn’t really I mean he was a bright spot with the Clippers but again it was the Clippers. It was Kawawaii’s team. It was James Harden’s team and then Pal’s kind of more of an afterthought unless you’re a real hardcore fan that’s watching these West Coast games. You might not have seen him over the last couple seasons. He was coming off the bench for Toronto earlier in his career and you probably didn’t watch much of him then either. So for a lot of fans they might be like who the heck is this Powell guy? Well, we’ve known about him for a while. He was fantastic and he just made it look easy. Like he had no problems. You talked about during the preseason that they weren’t turning the keys over to Norm and letting him run offense. Well, it didn’t really matter. He was just give me the ball. I’m going to go to work and he did so in a very easy and confident manner. Like he was just really really dominating. What great possession there he put up a three pointer. It carried off the rim. Uh Miami pulled down the rebound. No hesitation. the broadcast crew was like no hesitation from Norm and I believe that was really a big moment because then he wind up getting the ball back hitting another three-pointer at a key moment there and that was really big and then towards the end too like like with 30 something seconds left on the clock he just races down court yams it right over a palo makes it look really easy and he just in a variety of different ways of either getting to the paint from behind the line scoring is not a problem with Norm Powell even his defense I think was much better than anticipated he was pretty solid overall I don’t I think that was the concern defensively. Maybe a little undersized, giving up a couple possessions, trying to get a little too physical to compensate for a lack of size or something like that. But I’m not even concerned about that given the how score how good his scoring was. Uh it was a really strong showing for in his first game with Miami. He looked just as comfortable like he’d been here for a long time. Yeah, defensively I thought he did a nice job fighting over screens. Like you talked about giving more effort during training camp and preseason. That definitely looked like it was the case. But offensively, look, Pal was a plus 12 in a game that the Heat lost by four points. He had the highest plus minus of anybody on the team. And it really felt like that. He felt like Miami’s best player in this game. He played like Miami’s best player in this game. Um there’s this thing, we’ve talked about this before on the show, pointing, right? Make that decision. Shoot, pass, or uh or or dribble within a half a second. And what Pal does is even faster than half a second, right? It’s like point oneing with him. He’s just so quick to make a decision. And yeah, he’s still not necessarily used as the primary initiator, right? And that’s okay. He’s so good at getting the ball thrown to him and then making that quick decision, doing something with the ball. That’s where his strength lies, right? And clearly Eric Spolster realizes this and it’s why I said what I did coming out of the preseason. He’s not going to be a primary pick and roll kind of guy. Miami is not even running a ton of pick and roll. So, it doesn’t even much matter for this team or and so, you know, DaVon comes up, pitches it out to to Norm Powell or maybe Bam has it and he he pitches it back to Norm Powell from the elbow and then Pal’s just so quick to be like, “All right, I’ve got a little bit of space here. I’m going to drive to the basket.” Or, “Hey, you’re playing a little bit off me. I’m going to pull up from three. I don’t really care where I I could be, it could be a deep three.” And he makes them. He’s so fast with his decision- making. And that’s what I think when I say he makes it look so easy. I think that’s what makes it look so easy. He’s just he’s not out there thinking, he’s just doing. And it’s so much fun to watch, especially when it’s going in. He has a nice floater game. The three-point shot is smooth. The drives are physical. He’s a very north south kind of player. And I think it’s the kind of thing that this offense hasn’t had in a really long time. Um, anything else on Norm Powell before we uh do some more player spotlights in the next segment? No, I think it’s just going to give Miami hope. Like this is what the difference is going to be for this team. While a lot of people might be writing off this roster, that confidence and that ability to score with ease is going to help Miami because they do all the other little things for the most part pretty well. Maybe not in the last few minutes of game like they did tonight. But for the most part, he’s going to give them a chance to be in almost every game this season because he’s that good of a scorer. Uh got some positive performances from some other players on the roster. We’re going to talk about that next here on Locked on Heat. Today’s episode is brought to you by Mint Mobile. If you’re still overpaying for wireless, it’s time to say yes to saying no. At Mint Mobile, their favorite word is no. No contracts, no monthly bills, no overages, no hidden fees, no BS. I said yes to making the switch and getting premium wireless for just $15 a month. Mint makes it simple. All plans come with high-speed data and unlimited talk and text delivered on the nation’s largest 5G network. You can even bring your own phone and keep your same number and contacts. I love that you’re getting the same quality service that you might have had before with every other service, but for a fraction of the price. And the setup is super easy. You kept your number and then you’re running in minutes. It’s that easy. Ready to say yes to saying no? Well, make the switch over at mitomobile.comlockdownba. 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And it’s all handled by real doctors. It’s about confidence, connection, and getting back to the moments that matter. So visit rugg.com/lockdonba to get 15% off your for first order. That’s ruggi.com/lockedonba. And don’t forget to use our code locked on NBA so they know that we sent you. Rouette, stop making excuses and start making moves. We’ll be right back. Thanks for making Lockdown Heat your first listen every day. Uh, let’s spotlight some players from this game. I want to start with DaVon Mitchell. Okay, what a game. 16 points, 12 assists. I mentioned Norm Pal had the highest plus minus on the team. Of other guys that played 30 minutes, DaVon was the only other one to have a positive plus minus in this game. And that makes a lot of sense. He was awesome. He was great from the beginning of this one, he had four assists and five points in eight first quarter minutes. And what really stands out to me with DaVon Mitchell, and we know about the defense with him, right? He’s going to fight over screens. He’s going to be a dog defensively. He’s going to be physical with you. All these things. He’s an underrated offensive player. And it’s not just because he shot 45% from three when he got traded to the Heat last year. The thing that I always pointed out with him the moment he got here, he has this fast ball pitch of a pass. Yeah. Like it comes woring at you, right? Like you’ve got to be ready for it. And it felt very sort of out of place in the offense last year. And it feels very much at home now in this fast-pac offense. And so does DaVon. I think we’re in for an even more well-rounded offensive season from DaVon Mitchell. As long as they’re continuing to push the pace like this, he feels very much at home. He loves to get up in uh down the court quickly. He loves these hit ahead passes like very Kyle Lowry-esque in that way. Uh I he’s not only um being helped by the pace. I think he’s he’s often the one and the point guard should be doing this. He’s often the one pushing the pace. So, you know, I think after Kasparus Yakonis had those 10 assists in his preseason debut, we talked about, wow, you know, it’s really nice to have this rookie and have a point guard who’s out here able to push the pace. And obviously, Yakonis can can and wants to do that, but let’s not sleep on DaVon. He is very capable of pushing the pace from that point guard spot. He gets downhill uh very much like Norm Pal. He’s he’s going to try to get two feet in the paint. He’s going to be trying to finish at the rim. Uh he’s he’s very adept at at kicking out out of those possessions and again just keeping that tempo up and I think he’s uh he was a huge part of Miami’s offense in this game. He was fantastic u getting the starting job too. I think we had talked about that this was the lineup that made the most sense with him and Nico out there. So Khil Wear coming off the bench in tonight’s game. Um and Mitchell just seemed to flourish. Uh very good point by you about how he kind of fits into this kind of offense. Last year it’s a little slower. You’re still kind of trying to figure out Jimmy on the roster, Jimmy not on the roster, whatever. It was just a very strange season to try and kind of build any kind of momentum, but you still saw flashes. And yet now when this is the identity and this is what you’re leaning into, fits perfectly and and does really help to set that pace and bring that tenacity. If you’re a Heat fan and you don’t love watching DaVon Mitchell play, I don’t know what you’re doing. I don’t know what you’re missing out there in your life because this player just makes everything exciting on both sides of the ball. Like he doesn’t give up. he’s got this energy. Uh it’s just it’s really fun to watch him play and thrive in a in a team that kind of just needs a guy like him to really step up at this point. I’m really I’m almost curious to see what happens when Tyler Herro returns because it’s almost like do you have to keep him or Powell off the bench? Like I don’t know what happens there. Like it’s a it’s an interesting situation because Davia just seems like he’s the right player for the point guard position. Not just because of what he does offensively, but what he does bring defensively as well. So, a lot to like in his performance there. But, um, can I can I talk about one player in particular? If we move off Davian, I got to say, uh, this was a disappointing Bio. And, um, that’s kind of where I want to take this right now because I I like what we saw from DaVon Mitchell. Clearly, I think Andrew Wiggins had a solid game. We’ll talk about him a little bit later. We talked about Norm already, but going four of 13, not good. Not good. And I’m sorry this is uh Bam does so many things well. I think he did a really good job mostly on Palo Panerero his defense his timing was active as a rebounder and yet was really auspiciously quiet in the last few minutes of the game and gave up a key rebound to Wendell Carter Jr. as well. Now that wasn’t necessarily his fault. The ball caramemed off at a really weird angle and seemed to like just go completely over Bam’s head and land right in Carter’s hands. So that’s not really his fault, but it’s still he did get out he did get out muscled though. Like he he wasn’t in great position regardless of where that ball was going, right? And and even getting a foul on Desmond Bane, too, when he was scrambling for a loose ball. Again, it’s hard to criticize it for that because that’s effort. Like he’s diving to the floor against a really strong backcourt player in Bane and yet he still was overly physical and and you know did commit a foul. So, but it’s the four of 13. like there were moments there where he he should have hit a couple easier shots. Uh this was a game where he if he had just been average, if he had gone six of 13, they win the game. Like it’s that simple. Like I I think it would have been enough. And so um he needs to step up. He really does. And and I thought we were going to see that effort from him all game long. And and I was I was pleasantly impressed with all the other things. We talked about that. We know we’re going to get that from B, but that’s not enough. and and I feel like he’s going to defer a little bit too much to Powell now and not necessarily want to take on that extra responsibility as a scorer and that’s that’s not what he’s there for. He has to be able to provide a little bit more. He was able to get to the line and capitalize on most of it. Five of seven from the line. Uh but still not that’s not enough. Four-13 really is just kind of a stinker there and it just kind of leaves a a blight on otherwise a pretty solid showing overall for Pam. I tweeted after the third quarter. For people wondering, uh, for people who question Bam Adabio’s value still, just look at that third quarter. I might have tweeted prematurely there. Um, he did have a really good third quarter. He was two for two in that third quarter. Uh, made a number uh four rebounds, five points or something. Made a number of really impressive defensive plays and just kept that kept everything together during a big Heat run. That was the only good stretch of the game for Bam. He was really quiet in the first half and he was bad in the fourth quarter. Um, you mentioned that rebound. I fault him for that offensive rebound. Wendell, the Heat have a ch. They’re they’re down two with a chance to potentially get the ball back with 10ish seconds left and Wiggins has a really good contest on Palero and forces a miss. And all the Heat need to do is get that defensive rebound to get a possession with a chance to tie or win the game. and Pal and and and Wendel Carter Jr. who was bad for three quarters, three and a half quarters really suddenly just finds like this extra bit of muscle and then Bam just looked like he had ran out of protein. I don’t know what happened because he just starts getting pushed out of the way by Wendell Carter Jr. over and over and over again, including on that last rebound. Um the Magic get the ball back on that offensive rebound. Carter makes a free throw and then it’s it’s a two possession game and um they don’t really have a chance with 6 seconds left to do much of anything. So, and then they lose the game. Yeah. Is a tough performance. Bam. You mentioned he was four of 13. He was one of five from three-point range, three of eight from two-point range. It wasn’t good either way. And I thought that the Heat did a nice job after a quiet first quarter or first half from BAM of trying to get him more involved at the start of the third quarter. they ran a little bit more pick and roll at that beginning of the third quarter to just try to get him something. I still just wonder where Bam’s offense is going to come in this particular scheme when you’re not running a ton of pick and roll. You’re not running a ton of dribble handoffs. It’s a lot of push the ball, drive against find a weak link and then drive against that weak link and if the if the the shot at the rim isn’t there, kick out to a shooter and then go and go and go again. But um I did think that we saw flashes there in the third quarter of ways to get Bam more involved and I think that’s something that the Heat are going to have to build on. Um let’s get let’s take a break right here. Um I thought it was a nice game from Wiggins. You mentioned that too. Little bit of a quiet night uh quiet nights from KL Wear and Nicola Yoic. We’ll talk a little bit more about Eric Spolster’s lineup decisions in this one. Why we didn’t see Bam and Wear together and what if we had seen Bam and Wear together in those crucial fourth quarter minutes at the end of this game. Would that have made the difference? We’ll talk about that next. Today’s episode is brought to you by Skiims. When I found out that Ski was making underwear for men, well, I was intrigued. I’ve heard so much about their quality from friends and family, and I just had to give it a try. And let me tell you, it lives up to the hype. I’ve always had issues with underwear, whether it’s fit or comfort, just finding the right style for me. And Ski has changed all that. Their men’s line offers something for everyone. From boxer briefs to classic briefs, all designed with a perfect balance of comfort and style. I tried the Skibs boxer brief and I’m hooked. Those are the perfect ones for my particular lifestyle. They move with me. They never lose their shape and they stay in place all day. Whether I’m working out, running errands, playing with my son. They’re the most comfortable and reliable underwear I’ve ever owned. Plus, the lightweight material feels amazing. Almost like you’re wearing nothing at all. So, shopke.com. Let them know we sent you. After you place your order, select podcast in the survey and select our show in the dropown menu that follows. That’s skims.com. sks.com. We’ll be right back. All right. Thanks uh to our Lockdown Heat Insider community for sending in some questions for the postgame show. If you want to join that every day or club, you can do so by uh using the link in the show notes. It gives you access to us, our game notes during the games, and uh a chance to ask us these questions for our postgame show. So, let’s jump right in. Uh one Lockdown Heat insider writes in, “Do you think that they should have found a way to put wear in for rebounding in the last few minutes?” David, what do you think? Absolutely. Um I think he was he could have been a differencemaker out there. I think you were a little concerned about uh maybe getting into foul trouble in what was a close game because he does get a little not absent-minded necessarily, but as he’s trying to do something with, you know, using his physicality and his size, he could get a little caught up in the moment and maybe commit a foul. And you don’t want to do that in the waning moments of game that’s so tight and everything else like that, but you wind up leaving a player out there in my opinion who struggled defensive mightily. That’s uh Haka Jr. like I talked to you about it during the game and it just seemed like he was uh a real for as good as he looked and he did really look good offensively again a lot of the the you know spin moves and things that we saw from him as a rookie comfortable mid-range jumper that I don’t think we saw from him at any point last season not that I can recall it was just very rare to see him as fluid as he looked today offensively but defensively it was clear also that the Magic who aren’t exactly a powerhouse offensively even with the addition of Desmond Bane they were targeting They were trying to get him into every play. France Vagner was attacking Haime mercilessly, especially in the fourth quarter when it wasn’t Nico, it was Haime. They were going at those two guys all night. Yep. Yeah. So, uh, it’s a concern. So, he was out there in those moments and I think he was getting picked on and probably wound up being not much of a factor and I would have liked wear out there to be honest with you because I think he would have at least added some size and maybe Carter doesn’t feel as comfortable being that aggressive. Maybe he’s not in that same position. He would have had to maybe climb over Wear’s back in order to get down those rebounds. Not that he couldn’t have done it, but you at least want to throw up some kind of a roadblock, an actual physical roadblock to getting those key rebounds at those key moments. And I think for that, Khal certainly would have been a great help. So, I want to read this next question and then keep having this conversation because I want to kind of push this conversation forward. Malachi writes in, “It feels like to me that where might have been more injured than we thought. Why did Bam and him not play together at all? I feel like it would have helped us down the stretch.” So, again, kind of talking about rebounding there. We did not see Bam and Wear together at all in this game. Now, it is worth mentioning that Khal Wear was questionable as of this morning. Was there a minutes limit on him? Did they just not want to throw him out there in those crucial moments against a physical Orlando Magic team? That’s possible. He did just play 13 14 minutes in this game. Bam played 34. Nico played 23. Um I thought it was a very quiet night from where and Nico. I just don’t as good as you feel about a bunch of other things from this team overall. It’s really it’s going to be really hard to win a lot of games if you’re getting really nothing from the other from from your front court basically at all. It was a bad Bam game. It was a quiet Nico game and it was a quiet KL Wear game partly because he wasn’t on the court a lot. But even when he was on the court, I didn’t feel like he was making a tremendous impact. You know, he had he had a block shot. He wasn’t rebounding amazing. He had four rebounds in 14 minutes. I mean, that’s okay. He had seven points, but it wasn’t like this tremendous Khal Wear game where he was forcing Eric Spolster to play him. Now, I will say it obviously would have been nice to have him, especially on that last possession when Wendell Carter got uh Junior got the um that last bucket, but Orlando was playing with one center in Wendell Carter Jr. Yeah, I think they I Spo was probably a little concerned about them getting spaced out. He probably wanted his best rebounder, his best defensive rebounder. That that is still Bam by the way if you look at the Heat’s defensive rebounding rates. Sure. They do rebound best as a team when Bam is in there as opposed as opposed to when KL We is in there. But um could they have put both of them on the court? Maybe. But then that forces Bam out away from the basket potentially uh guarding Paulo whatever all these other things. It’s really easy to say in hindsight that Kawware should have been in there. I I I don’t know. I could I could go either way. Your point on Himeme is is well taken though and it would have been nice to at least see them together at some point in this game, right? Like again it was very strange. We didn’t see Bam and Wear play a minute together in this game. That part feels strange to me, especially against a bigger Orlando Magic team. It feels a lot like Spose rotation choices last year too where I mean that was the case even when they were starting together. It was either like one or the other, especially down the stretch where didn’t get a lot of those key moments, those opportunities in crutch time. And I I think the the best closing lineup against the Magic. And I’m not going to say that you have to stick to it. This is game one of 82, so you don’t necessarily have to continue to go this route, but uh I I think you put DaVon out there for sure, Powell out there for his defense, Wiggins, who was really solid today for his two-way versatility, and you put Bam and Wear out there. And I think that’s a good balance. That should have been enough rather than having Haime out there and kind of forcing that. I know you’re looking for another ball handler, a guy to initiate offense or bring the ball up court or something and maybe be opportunistic with his offense, but it just wasn’t getting done. I think towards the end of the game, they were kind of figuring out what Heyman was capable of and they were still looking to attack him defensively and so he’s a liability on the floor. So, this isn’t necessarily again on Hyman. Bam was a concern. Ano was a concern. There were players there that struggled to some degree and you had a lot of what we saw last year where it was kind of a player thriving in one direction and not necessarily in the other and you need more two-way versatility, but at least if you’re going to put wear out there, I think it would have added just enough size to make things a little bit more difficult for a big and physical team like Orlando. Yep. Can’t disagree with you. It just it feels like Spo in this game at least and in the preseason and in everything that we’ve kind of been hearing is trading defense for offense a little bit in order to juice the offense. And that gets us through this last question from Billy who writes in, “Couldn’t watch the game, but I followed on the ESPN app from watching the stats. It doesn’t feel like scoring is going to be the huge pain point that it was last season, especially when Tyler Herro returns. If there is a positive from this, David may and maybe this is a good way to end the episode right here, but I’m gonna say something crazy. The Heat lost this game. For the first time in a long time, I had fun watching a Heat game. It was fun. It was It was a fun game. They scored 121 points. Um the broadcast had this. It was the most points they scored in the first quarter of a of a game since um in a season opener since 2022, 2021 or something like that. I thought this game was played at a really fun pace. I thought there was a lot of good uh positives coming out of this thing offensively. I think there’s obvious things that you want to build on, obvious things that you need to address. But after an 0 and6 preseason where you and I were coming away from this, I’m like, are we sure about this offense? like, are we sure this offense is going to work? This game showed something between the preeason and 3 days of practices and opening night against the Orlando Magic. And we said this even after the preseason, you don’t want to put a lot of stock on the preseason. NBA preseason matters way less than people think it does, right? But the offense looked good. It looked like they knew what they wanted to do. Um, and if this team is going to choose offense over defense sometimes, yeah, maybe you could be more situational in some of those decision make uh decisions if you’re expolster. But overall, I’m here for it because at least the game was joyful. It was uh good pace, good offense, and I think I you know, you called it specifically. I think the fact that Mitchell and Powell are your back court is the big reason for that. Like they are so fun. They push the pace. They attack. Norm’s decision making is such a bright spot there. So, that was a really good call by you and I think it it just it juices up an offense that was so desperately in need of some kind of spark there. So, I think it’s going to be a lot of fun to watch. So, I don’t think it was, you know, there are no moral victories in basketball. You can’t hang your head and say, you know what, we were right there. We were almost there. And certainly, you don’t want this to be a sign of things to to come. I don’t want this to be something that this team continues to do or show in other upcoming matchups. But having said that, I think you saw the offense, you saw what they did do well, and that’s certainly an encouraging sign because I don’t know that BAM is going to go for 13 again. And I don’t know that Spo is going to make the same choices. And yet you you still I think you can trust Mitchell’s performance, Powell’s performance, and know that this is going to be a big part of what this team looks like in the future. And that’s a good sign and certainly something that’s encouraging for He fans. Turnovers and rebounding became an issue late in the game. They were not a big issue during most of the game and they were a big issue during the preseason. They cleaned those things up basically right away until they sort of came back a little bit in those last couple minutes. Um there were some things that I think you can find with Bam to build on and maybe uh scale coming up to try to get him more involved and get him a little bit more comfortable in the offense. Just overall, I don’t know about you, but based on where I was coming into this game versus where I am coming out of this game, I feel better about this team coming out of the game than I did before the game. How about you? Yeah, I think so, too. I I think again, it was an encouraging game and I thought they were in it and uh being on the road in Orlando. Um certainly this is a good Orlando team. This was a really good Orlando team last year and they’re a very good Orlando team this year and Bane really did provide a spark there, but I I think they still held their own against this group and it should have been enough. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t. Magic shot 39% from three in this game and and the Heat almost won it. So, um all right, let us know what you guys think in the YouTube comments. Do you feel better about this team coming out of the game than he did going into the game? What do you think about uh this season and these upcoming games? But thanks so much for making Locked on Heat your first listen every day. We’ll see you right back here tomorrow here on Locked on Heat.

The Miami Heat opened their season with a thrilling but tough loss to the Orlando Magic, and there’s plenty to unpack.

In this episode of Locked on Heat, Wes Goldberg and David Ramil break down Miami’s offensive improvements, late-game rebounding issues, and standout performances from Norm Powell and Davion Mitchell. Wes and David analyze what went wrong in the fourth quarter, why Bam Adebayo’s quiet night mattered, and what Eric Spoelstra’s lineup decisions reveal about this year’s team identity. With a faster pace, smarter decision-making, and new energy in the backcourt, the Heat may be building toward something exciting despite the loss. Tune in for expert postgame insights from two credentialed Heat media members who cover the team every day.

00:00 – Intro
01:00 – Crunch Time Issues
07:30 – Norm Powell’s Breakout Performance
14:30 – Davion Mitchell’s Playmaking and Fit
17:00 – Bam Adebayo’s Disappointing Night
26:00 – Listener Questions: Should Ware Have Closed the Game?
30:30 – Why This Loss Still Brings Hope

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