Heat experiences surreal return to an empty house
Five takeaways from the Heat’s preseason opener against the New Orleans Pelicans. Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro and Duncan Robinson played well for the Heat.
For the first time in nine months, the Heat played a game at AmericanAirlines Arena on Monday.
It was only a preseason game, but it marked the Heat’s first game action at its home arena since the 2019-20 season was suspended on March 11 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Heat opened its two-game pregame schedule with a 114-92 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans.
While it represented a return home for the Heat after making last season’s run to the NBA Finals in the NBA’s Walt Disney World quarantine bubble, so much was different Monday. There were no fans in attendance, a precaution most NBA teams are taking to begin the season during a pandemic.
The Heat trio of Jimmy Butler, Goran Dragic and Andre Iguodala was not available as the team took a cautious approach with the three veterans after the abbreviated twomonth offseason. Butler, Dragic and Iguodala watched from the bench alongside teammates.
Here are five takeaways from the Heat’s loss to the Pelicans:
As expected, the fanless environment at AmericanAirlines Arena made for a unique game experience.
Without any fans in attendance, an arena with a capacity of 21,000 was empty other than players, coaches, team staff, media and arena staff.
There was fake crowd noise, empty arena concourses and strict guidelines that the few in attendance had to follow. Heat owner Micky Arison and president Pat Riley sat socially distanced at a courtside table, and other members of the front office sat in chairs around the court.
The Heat played in empty buildings when games resumed last season in the Disney bubble, but players admitted playing a game in an empty NBA arena would be a little different because of how much more expansive they are.
“It’s definitely going to be a new experience, I’ll say that,” Heat center Meyers Leonard said before Monday’s game. “... Without having 20,000 people in the stands, is there a different level of emotion and crowd noise and those sort of things? Yeah, of course. But there’s a reason why we do what we do and why we’ve been successful at doing that.
It’s because we’re here to play the game of basketball. Now it’s certainly nice to have fans in the arena, but that’s the reality of the world we’re living in, period. So we have to adjust.”
The Heat will play in an empty AmericanAirlines Arena for at least one more home game, with the team announcing last week that its Christmas Day regularseason home opener against the Pelicans will also be played without fans in attendance. Nothing official has been decided yet beyond that game.
It’s hard to get a real read on much when it comes to the Heat’s rotation because Butler, Dragic and Iguodala were not available to play.
The other 17 players on the Heat’s roster were available Monday, and 12 played.
The Heat used a starting lineup of Kendrick Nunn, Tyler Herro, Duncan Robinson, Moe Harkless and Bam Adebayo.
Monday’s bench rotation included KZ Okpala, Leonard, Avery Bradley, Max Strus, Precious Achiuwa, BJ Johnson and Breein Tyree.
The Heat closes its twogame pregame schedule on Friday against the Toronto Raptors in Tampa. It’s still unknown whether coach Erik Spoelstra will use that contest to play his full rotation before Miami begins its regular-season schedule on Dec. 23.
The midrange jumper continues to be an encouraging aspect of Adebayo’s growing offensive game.
The All-Star center is already one of the best defenders at his position, and he’s quickly becoming one of the league’s most skilled offensive big men. Adebayo’s improved midrange jumper is proof of that.
Adebayo, 23, was 17 of 37 (45.9 percent) on midrange shots last postseason after shooting 22.3 percent from midrange in the regular season.
That positive trend continued Monday as the first two shots he made were fluid midrange jumpers. He made two of his three midrange shots in the contest.
And as usual, Adebayo was effective as a facilitator, too. He finished with nine points on 3-of-5 shooting, three rebounds, eight assists, one block and two steals in 19 minutes.
It was an impressive start for Adebayo, who signed the richest contract in Heat history in the offseason — a five-year, $163 million contract extension that could grow to as much as $195 million and begins in the 2021-22 season.
As for the Heat’s other young core pieces, Herro and Robinson stood out Monday.
Herro finished with 17 points while shooting 7-of-14 from the field and 2-of-7 on threes, five rebounds and six assists in 28 minutes.
Robinson finished with 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the field and 4-of-8 shooting on threes in 24 minutes.
Herro is competing with Bradley, Dragic and Nunn for one of the guards spots in the Heat’s starting lineup. But Robinson is already a projected starter after starting 68 regular-season games and all 21 playoff games last season.
Nunn, who finished second in the voting for the NBA’s Rookie of the Year honor and was named to the All-Rookie first team last season, recorded 11 points on 5-of-14 shooting, three rebounds and five assists in 32 minutes in Monday’s preseason opener.
Achiuwa, who was drafted by the Heat in the first round this year, did not enter the game until there was 8:07 remaining in the third quarter. The rookie big man finished with eight points on 4-of-5 shooting and two rebounds in 20 minutes.
The Pelicans were led by forwards Brandon Ingram (22 points, six rebounds and six assists) and Zion Williamson (26 points and 11 rebounds).
As for the competition
for the Heat’s second two-way contract, three of the four candidates played.
With guard Gabe Vincent returning on a two-way deal, Miami has one empty two-way contract spot remaining. The Heat has four Exhibit 10 players on its roster — forward Paul Eboua, wings Johnson and Strus, and guard Tyree — competing for the contract.
Johnson finished scoreless in seven minutes. Strus had 11 points and shot 3-of-11 on threes, while grabbing eight rebounds and dishing out four assists in 24 minutes.
Tyree did not score in four minutes. Eboua did not play.