Heat turn on power in loss

ORLANDO – Erik Spoelstra tossed a changeup into Saturday night’s 93-90 preseason loss to the Orlando Magic, with the Miami Heat offering a lineup twist assuredly not to be on display when it’s for real next time between the teams, on Oct. 18 back at the Amway Center in their regular-season opener.

Minutes after Magic coach Frank Vogel said before the game he expected to the teams to play it close to the vest, Spoelstra said it wouldn’t be a matter of holding back.

“I don’t believe in that,” he said. “We want to get to our game.

“Our game is either going to be good enough . . . or not good enough.”

He got to a game, but it was different than the one on display in the first two exhibitions, this time with Kelly Olynyk opening at power forward in place of James Johnson, and Josh Richardson at point guard in place of Dragic.

The move to hold out Dragic was somewhat anticipated in light of the guard’s championship participation last month for Slovenia in Euro Basket.

But the decision to pair 7-footers in the power rotation, with Olynyk starting alongside Hassan Whiteside, clearly was a move to examine the merits of such an alignment, with the two an either-or proposition solely at center until Saturday.

Spoelstra rounded out the opening lineup with Dion Waiters again at shooting guard and Rodney McGruder again at power forward.

The approach again allowed Spoelstra to insert James Johnson and Tyler Johnson in

tandem midway through the first period, as was the case during the Heat’s most successful stretch of last season. It also evolved to a lineup that had James Johnson at center and Justise Winslow at power forward. Winslow then moved to small forward the first time this preseason when Olynyk returned.

Whiteside thrived in the reset alignment, with 17 points and 14 rebounds in 26 minutes. Olynyk’s productivity was more limited, with two points on 1-of-7 shooting, seven rebounds and four assists. Richardson had his strongest game of the preseason, with 19 points and four steals, with Waiters scoring 17.

It was an uneven performance that saw the Heat move to a 16-point thirdperiod lead before a counterstrike pushed Orlando ahead in the fourth.

With Spoelstra having emptied his bench, guard Derrick Walton Jr. put the Heat up 89-88 with a pair of free throws with 1:04 to play, with Magic firstround pick Jonathan Isaac then credited with a basket on a Bam Adebayo goaltend with 50.2 seconds left to put Orlando up 90-89.

An airball jumper by Adebayo with 27 seconds to play followed. Orlando’s Kalin Lucas converted two foul shots with 23.2 seconds to play for a 92-89 Magic lead.

Adebayo worked his way to the line with 16.5 seconds left, making only the first foul shot, leaving the Heat down 92-90.

The Heat again fouled, with Wes Iwundu 1 of 2 from the line with 15.4 seconds left, as the Magic went up 93-90.

From there, in need of a 3-pointer, Adebayo forced the ball inside, off on his attempt as time expired.

This, though, was more about the long view and what was accomplished with the rotation players.

“Guys are trying to do the right thing,” Spoelstra said. “We just need more minutes and time together.

“I want guys confident. I want to get guys to their strengths.”

The game put the Heat at the midpoint of their sixgame preseason schedule, with Spoelstra saying there has been equal emphasis on both sides of the ball.

“I don’t know which one’s ahead,” he said, with the Heat holding a lengthy video session and practice Friday at an Orlando-area high school and then returning there Saturday morning for an additional session. “We worked on both [in Orlando]. And that’s the thing about this game, you have to play both ends of the court. So we did about equal emphasis.”

With 11 returning players, Spoelstra said the Heat have been working on adding to what already was in place last season.

“I think we can add some sophistication and nuance, next level, adjustments to our defense,” he said. “But the foundation will still be the same, protecting the paint, trying to limit wideopen 3-point looks.

“And then offensively our package is probably a little but further along than it was at this time last year.”

The difference this season is the Heat do not go from shot-blocker to shotblocker when Whiteside goes out, as opposed to when Willie Reed off the bench in the middle last season.

“As we get to know our guys, we’ll make adjustments as necessary,” Spoelstra said. “But our foundation is still going to be the same in terms of what we’re emphasizing.”