For starters, not bad
Winslow, Silva key 4th-quarter rally as Heat win the opener
MIAMI — Erik Spoelstra offered a season forecast to his players earlier in the day, warning them, “There are going to be a lot of highs, a lot of lows, and everything in between.”
He was talking about the Heat’s 2019-20 season.
Miami
He might as well have been talking about Wednesday night’s season-opening 120-101 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies.
There was the high of opening-night buzz AmericanAirlines Arena.
The low of having to play without leading man Jimmy Butler. the at
And in between, well, just about everything from a roster shortchanged by the absences of Dion Waiters and James Johnson, including inspiring fourthquarter effort plays from twoway player Chris Silva, the undrafted forward out of South Carolina.
With Butler out, Justise Winslow
stepped in as a leading man in the starting lineup, closing with 27 points, 7 assists and 7 rebounds, with Goran Dragic thriving in his new bench role, with 19 points.
But this also was about Bam Adebayo energizing with a
14-point, 11-rebound double-double, and rookies Tyler Herro and Kendrick Nunn not wilting under the NBA glare, with Nunn closing with 24 points a game after he scored 40 in an exhibition against the Houston Rockets and Herro 14.
And, so, after a dreary 19-22 home record last season, there is the clean sheet of 1-0 at 601 Biscayne.
The Heat went into the fourth quarter down 84-83, having gone 1-17 at home last season when trailing after three periods, but seized control from there, with a 23-4 run.
Five degrees of Wednesday’s game:
Heat from
1. Missing man: Butler’s Heat debut was put on hold, with Spoelstra announcing less than two hours before the 7:30 p.m. tipoff that the prized offseason acquisition would not be available.
“Jimmy is not going to be here tonight,” Spoelstra said. “It’s for a personal reasons. Everything is fine. Everything is good.”
Spoelstra downplayed
“Everything is fine,” Spoelstra said with a smile. “The truth will come out.”
Butler was with the the team absence. for the morning shootaround.
The timing of Butler’s Heat debut now shifts to Saturday’s road game against the Milwaukee Bucks.
2. For starters: With Butler out, the Heat opened with a lineup of Adebayo, Meyers Leonard, Winslow, Herro and Nunn.
Herro and Nunn became the 10th and 11th rookies to start for the Heat on opening night over the franchise’s 32 seasons. It was the first time the Heat started a pair of rookies since Michael Beasley and Mario Chalmers in the 2008 opener.
Herro scored the Heat’s first points, on a floating bank shot.
Spoelstra downplayed what his starting lineups might look like early in the season.
“It’s more about who’s playing in the game,” he said. “I’ve said this so many different times. And people in basketball get it and understand it: It doesn’t really matter. It’s one of the most overrated things in basketball at all level, is who starts, particularly at this professional level.”
3. Winning hand: Continuing as the Heat’s primary ballhandler, Winslow made a point of taking his man into the post when facing a smaller defender.
Although the initial attempts were shaky, he came around to fill the box score, smoother with his stroke as the game went on.
While there likely won’t be as many opportunities for Winslow with Butler in the mix, the performance could make it easier for the Heat when Butler takes his breaks.
4. Short-handed: This was a night when Johnson and Waiters could have had an opportunity to do damage if not in the Heat doghouse.
But with Waiters suspended and Johnson yet to meet his team conditioning requirement, the Heat essentially were, when factoring in Butler’s absence, reduced to a four-man bench of Dragic, Derrick Jones Jr., Kelly Olynyk and Duncan Robinson.
As it is, with foul trouble to the power rotation, Spoelstra had to turn to Silva, who helped spark the fourth-quarter turnaround.
5. First ever: The Heat’s firstever coach’s challenge came on a foul called on Silva with 4:57 to play and the Heat up 107-87. The challenge was unsuccessful, with the Heat charged with a timeout and Ja Morant making one of the two ensuing free throws.
Spoelstra contended Silva did not reach in for a foul. The challenge is a one-year NBA experiment, with teams allowed one per game, regardless of success, provided they have a timeout remaining to call.