{"id":852683,"date":"2026-10-07T01:54:39","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T01:54:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/852683\/"},"modified":"2026-10-07T01:54:39","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T01:54:39","slug":"giannis-antetokounmpo-finally-takes-the-heat-court-for-heat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/852683\/","title":{"rendered":"Giannis Antetokounmpo finally takes the Heat court for Heat"},"content":{"rendered":"

MIAMI \u2014 Typically, an intrasquad scrimmage during the NBA preseason merits a yawn.<\/p>\n

This one, however, felt different. Because Tuesday night\u2019s Red, White & Pink Game marked the first time Giannis Antetokounmpo was in action<\/a> in Heat colors on the Heat\u2019s court.<\/p>\n

Yes, there were bigger messages to be shared, with the game benefiting Baptist Health Herbert Wertheim Cancer Institute, as a tribute to those fighting and those who have beaten breast cancer.<\/p>\n

So good cause, good vibes and a low-stress means to introduce Antetokounmpo to the home crowd.<\/p>\n

The event began with Heat players introduced while accompanied by survivors, patients and doctors, entering the court with the guests of honor, with Antetokounmpo introduced immediately before Bam Adebayo.<\/p>\n

Antetokounmpo addressed the crowd before the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel good. This is my first time being out here with fans,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s good to be on this side. I feel good. I\u2019m excited. I\u2019m motivated. I\u2019m working hard. I\u2019m locked in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of the event, Adebayo related it the approach of coach Erik Spoelstra, \u201cSpo always has this thing about sharing in success. This night is about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Which Spoelstra then stressed when he spoke on the court.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis night is about the survivors and everybody who is dealing with this,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Five Degrees of Heat from Tuesday night\u2019s scrimmage:<\/p>\n

1. The event: Antetokounmpo and Adebayo opened alongside each other, in a first five rounded out by Davion Mitchell, Klay Thompson and Simone Fontecchio.<\/p>\n

Four of those five started Saturday\u2019s preseason-opening victory over the Toronto Raptors, with Fontecchio filling in for Saturday starter Andrew Wiggins, who missed the scrimmage due to illness.<\/p>\n

During the opening period Mitchell actually dunked (albeit in the lack of defense). He last dunked in an NBA game during the 2022-23 season while with the Sacramento Kings. Mitchell then dunked again in the second half.<\/p>\n

That was followed by a volley of 3-pointers from Adebayo, who played in a pink do-rag.<\/p>\n

After the opening period, Antetokounmpo, known for his fascination for dad jokes, found himself in a joke-off with Adebayo.<\/p>\n

He was asked by Adebayo, \u201cWhat did the fast tomato say to the slow tomato?\u201d With Antetokounmpo unable to answer, Adebayo said, \u201cKetchup.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other humor on the night included Nikola Jovic and second-round pick Ryan Conwell attempting to score on Antetokounmpo.<\/p>\n

2. Meaningful moments: Although teammates also were the opponent Tuesday, a pair of Heat newcomers said the scrimmage still held meaning.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn opportunity to bring our families, our kids, to be able to see what we do,\u201d Antetokounmpo said. \u201cYou just see that a little bit behind the scenes of, like, when daddy says, \u2018I\u2019m going to work,\u2019 what that actually means.\u201d<\/p>\n

Said Thompson, \u201cIt\u2019s really cool that the fan who might not be able to come to the amount of games they like gets a chance to come see us up close and personal. So it means a great deal for us, and obviously for a great cause.\u201d<\/p>\n

3. Sitting out: Due to illness, neither Pelle Larsson nor Wiggins were available for the scrimmage, with injured Dru Smith and Keshad Johnson also missing the event.<\/p>\n

Despite being sidelined by a strained right hamstring sustained last week in camp, an injury that is expected to have him out for weeks, Johnson did light shooting before the scrimmage.<\/p>\n

Johnson is one of three Heat players under two-way contract<\/a>, the NBA maximum, with teams allowed to swap out two-way contracts at any time without a hit against the salary cap.<\/p>\n

Smith sustained a strained right calf during camp and also is expected to be out multiple weeks.<\/p>\n

He walked onto the court during the pregame introductions without any type of limited gait.<\/p>\n

4. As expected: Antetokounmpo did his pre-scrimmage drill work with assistant coach Vin Baker, who accompanied Antetokounmpo from the Bucks this summer.<\/p>\n

Malik Allen, the Heat\u2019s long-time big-man coach, handled the pregame drilling with centers Adebayo and Nick Richards.<\/p>\n

5. New voice: Tuesday marked the first time on the microphone for Gale Nelson as the team\u2019s new public-address announcer.<\/p>\n

Nelson replaced long-time Heat voice Michael Baiamonte, who retired following last season.<\/p>\n

Nelson was briefly introduced to the crowd prior to the start of the scrimmage, offering a booming presence similar to Baiamonte\u2019s sometimes-over-the-top approach.<\/p>\n

Following the introductions, Nelson said of the night\u2019s guests of honor, \u201cThank you for being an inspiration to us all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Up next: Up next for the Heat is a run of three consecutive home exhibitions, starting with Thursday night\u2019s 7:30 p.m. matchup against the New Orleans Pelicans, with a Saturday 8 p.m. exhibition against the visiting Minnesota Timberwolves to follow.<\/p>\n

The Heat then conclude their five-game preseason schedule with an Oct. 14 home game against the Brooklyn Nets and an Oct. 16 road game against the Orlando Magic.<\/p>\n

That all leads to opening night of the regular season on Oct. 21 against the visiting Timberwolves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MIAMI \u2014 Typically, an intrasquad scrimmage during the NBA preseason merits a yawn. This one, however, felt different.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":852684,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3778],"tags":[7,144,165,295,189,3881,6,66],"class_list":["post-852683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami-heat","tag-basketball","tag-heat","tag-latest-headlines","tag-miami","tag-miami-heat","tag-miamiheat","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/117397137915884793","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=852683"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852683\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/852684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=852683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=852683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=852683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}