Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 113-109 win over the Charlotte Hornets to open the preseason on Tuesday night at Kaseya Center: This was not the Heat’s preseason dress rehearsal, and there’s no guarantee the Heat will even have a preseason dress rehearsal. The Heat was without two important pieces in Tuesday’s preseason opener, as Jimmy Butler and Caleb Martin were unavailable for the contest. Butler is the Heat’s best player and a fixture in the Heat’s starting lineup and Martin will either be a big part of the Heat’s bench rotation or a starter. Martin, 28, missed the game because of left knee tendinosis that also limited him in Saturday’s training camp practice and kept him out of Monday’s intrasquad scrimmage. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said Monday that the Heat “just want to make sure that [Martin] is feeling great moving forward and he’s getting better each day.” Butler’s absence was not related to an injury. Butler, 34, has not played many preseason games in the past and that’s expected to continue this season. He played in two preseason games last season and two preseason games in 2021-22. Spoelstra said before Tuesday’s contest he hopes “to play everybody at least a little bit” in the next two games. The Heat has four preseason games left to play: The Heat travels to take on the San Antonio Spurs on Friday, hosts the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday and Brooklyn Nets on Oct. 18, and wraps up the preseason in Houston against the Rockets on Oct. 20. The Heat opens the regular season on Oct. 25 against the Detroit Pistons at Kaseya Center. Without Butler and Martin, it was hard to get a real read on a potential starting lineup for opening night. That’s because Butler will be in the Heat’s starting lineup when healthy and Martin could be in the Heat’s starting lineup when healthy. Without them, the Heat opened the preseason with a starting lineup of Kyle Lowry, Tyler Herro, Josh Richardson, Kevin Love and Bam Adebayo. Does that mean Lowry will be the starting point guard on opening night? Not necessarily because Spoelstra could start a trio of Butler, Herro and Richardson on the perimeter when Butler is available. Does that mean the Heat will use a starting frontcourt of Love and Adebayo? Not necessarily because Spoelstra could start a frontcourt of Martin and Adebayo when Martin returns. As for Tuesday’s preseason opener, Adebayo and Herro led the starters to combine for 16 of the Heat’s first 18 points. Adebayo, Love and Lowry did not play in the second half. Adebayo finished with 13 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field and 5-of-6 shooting from the foul line, six rebounds and one assist in 15 first-half minutes. Love did not score, but closed with four rebounds, one assist and one block in eight first-half minutes. Lowry ended the preseason opener with three points on 1-of-2 shooting from three-point range in 15 first-half minutes. Richardson contributed seven points on 3-of-7 shooting from the field and 1-of-3 shooting on threes, four rebounds, three assists and one steal in 21 minutes. The rest of the Heat’s rotation in the preseason opener offered a few hints at what it could look like at the start of the regular season. As a side note, Cole Swider continued to impress in the comeback win. While Lowry, Herro, Richardson, Love and Adebayo started, the first three used off the bench were Haywood Highsmith, Duncan Robinson and Thomas Bryant. Those were the only eight players the Heat used in the opening quarter. The Heat then brought in Jaime Jaquez Jr., Dru Smith and Nikola Jovic off the bench in the second quarter to extend the rotation to 11 players in the first half. With 19 available players on Tuesday, the eight who were not used in the first half even with two rotation players out were Jamal Cain, Justin Champagnie, Cheick Diallo, R.J. Hampton, Drew Peterson, Orlando Robinson, Swider and Alondes Williams. Swider, Orlando Robinson, Hampton and Cain entered the preseason opener in the second half. Swider got hot late, scoring all 17 of his points Tuesday in the fourth quarter. The 6-foot-9 sharpshooter, who is on a tryout contract and is competing for a spot on the Heat’s regular-season roster, hit five of his eight three-point attempts in the final period, including a go-ahead three-pointer with 1:01 to play to give the Heat a two-point lead. The Heat never trailed again after trailing by nine points with 3:41 left in the fourth quarter. Jaquez, Orlando Robinson, Hampton, Swider and Cain were on the court for the late-game comeback. “Obviously, Cole hit some big threes to bring us back and then take the lead,” Spoelstra said. “But Jaime made some really nice plays. Either drawing two and spraying and just making the right plays when the ball was in his hands. A lot of those plays were initiated with his pick-and-roll to start.” Champagnie, Diallo, Peterson and Williams were the only available Heat players who did not appear in Tuesday’s game.
Aside from the players who did not get into the preseason opener until the second half, it was notable that Bryant was the first center used off the bench over Orlando Robinson. Bryant looks to be the Heat’s backup center at the moment. This was nice. pic.twitter.com/BzBySNUkAx — Anthony Chiang (@Anthony_Chiang) October 11, 2023 Jaquez, who the Heat selected with the 18th pick in this year’s draft, finished his first NBA preseason game with 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the field, 0-of-1 shooting on threes and 3-of-4 shooting from the foul line, seven rebounds and two assists in 24 minutes. He turned in one of the highlights of the night, showing off his excellent footwork in the post to spin his way for a layup over Hornets forward Gordon Hayward. Jovic, who the Heat drafted in the first round last year, finished Tuesday’s preseason win with two points, two rebounds and one assist in seven minutes. He did not play in the second half after injuring his right knee. Jovic’s knee injury will be further evaluated on Wednesday, but the team believes it’s a minor issue. Speaking of Bryant, he impressed in the preseason opener. Bryant, who split last season between the Los Angeles Lakers and Denver Nuggets, recorded 15 points on 4-of-7-shooting from the field, 0-of-1 shooting on threes and 7-of-7 shooting from the foul line, eight rebounds and two assists on Tuesday. Bryant’s most impressive sequence of the night came in the third quarter, when he blocked a LaMelo Ball layup attempt and quickly threw a full-court outlet pass to Richardson for a transition dunk on the other end. Thomas Bryant, take a bow pic.twitter.com/5EXKlrtCUh — Bally Sports Sun: HEAT (@BallyHEAT) October 11, 2023 Bryant, 26, joined the Heat in free agency this summer, signing a two-year contract at the minimum that includes a player option in the second season. The 26-year-old Bryant (6-10 and 248 pounds) is entering his seventh NBA season. He has averaged 10.1 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game while shooting 59.8 percent from the field and 118 of 322 (36.6 percent) on threes during his NBA career. Tuesday was just one preseason game, but Bryant’s performance at least offered some hope that the Heat may be able to survive the non-Adebayo minutes this season. Miami was outscored by four points per 100 possessions when Adebayo wasn’t on the court last regular season. “He has a physical presence in the paint,” Spoelstra said of Bryant. “But he has exceptional touch, as well. He can do it at the free-throw line area or catch and take it to the rim. He has a variety of different kind of jump hooks or finishes at the rim. He’s been historically a very good finisher in the paint, so this is not something new. And he fits a need that we felt like we were searching for.” Herro is going to score a lot of points this season. Herro, who was at the center of the Damian Lillard trade speculation this summer, closed the preseason opener with a game-high 22 points on 9-of-22 shooting from the field, 2-of-7 shooting on threes and 2-of-2 shooting from the foul line, five rebounds and three assists in 24 minutes. Herro was aggressive from the start, taking 10 shots in his first 12 minutes on the court. He totaled 12 points on 11 field-goal attempts in the first half. “He’s just explosive,” Spoelstra said when asked about Herro’s performance. “That easily could have been 14 makes. A lot of them went in and out and he just does it in a fashion that he makes it look kind of easy. And it’s not easy to score in this league against some of the best defenses.” While playing as a full-time starter for the first time in his NBA career, Herro closed last regular season as the Heat’s third-leading scorer with 20.1 points per game on 43.9 percent shooting from the field and 37.8 percent shooting from three-point range. Adebayo and Butler were the only Heat players who averaged more points than Herro.
Aside from the players who did not get into the preseason opener until the second half, it was notable that Bryant was the first center used off the bench over Orlando Robinson. Bryant looks to be the Heat’s backup center at the moment. This was nice. pic.twitter.com/BzBySNUkAx — Anthony Chiang (@Anthony_Chiang) October 11, 2023 Jaquez, who the Heat selected with the 18th pick in this year’s draft, finished his first NBA preseason game with 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the field, 0-of-1 shooting on threes and 3-of-4 shooting from the foul line, seven rebounds and two assists in 24 minutes. He turned in one of the highlights of the night, showing off his excellent footwork in the post to spin his way for a layup over Hornets forward Gordon Hayward. Jovic, who the Heat drafted in the first round last year, finished Tuesday’s preseason win with two points, two rebounds and one assist in seven minutes. He did not play in the second half after injuring his right knee. Jovic’s knee injury will be further evaluated on Wednesday, but the team believes it’s a minor issue. Speaking of Bryant, he impressed in the preseason opener. Bryant, who split last season between the Los Angeles Lakers and Denver Nuggets, recorded 15 points on 4-of-7-shooting from the field, 0-of-1 shooting on threes and 7-of-7 shooting from the foul line, eight rebounds and two assists on Tuesday. Bryant’s most impressive sequence of the night came in the third quarter, when he blocked a LaMelo Ball layup attempt and quickly threw a full-court outlet pass to Richardson for a transition dunk on the other end. Thomas Bryant, take a bow pic.twitter.com/5EXKlrtCUh — Bally Sports Sun: HEAT (@BallyHEAT) October 11, 2023 Bryant, 26, joined the Heat in free agency this summer, signing a two-year contract at the minimum that includes a player option in the second season. The 26-year-old Bryant (6-10 and 248 pounds) is entering his seventh NBA season. He has averaged 10.1 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game while shooting 59.8 percent from the field and 118 of 322 (36.6 percent) on threes during his NBA career. Tuesday was just one preseason game, but Bryant’s performance at least offered some hope that the Heat may be able to survive the non-Adebayo minutes this season. Miami was outscored by four points per 100 possessions when Adebayo wasn’t on the court last regular season. “He has a physical presence in the paint,” Spoelstra said of Bryant. “But he has exceptional touch, as well. He can do it at the free-throw line area or catch and take it to the rim. He has a variety of different kind of jump hooks or finishes at the rim. He’s been historically a very good finisher in the paint, so this is not something new. And he fits a need that we felt like we were searching for.” Herro is going to score a lot of points this season. Herro, who was at the center of the Damian Lillard trade speculation this summer, closed the preseason opener with a game-high 22 points on 9-of-22 shooting from the field, 2-of-7 shooting on threes and 2-of-2 shooting from the foul line, five rebounds and three assists in 24 minutes. Herro was aggressive from the start, taking 10 shots in his first 12 minutes on the court. He totaled 12 points on 11 field-goal attempts in the first half. “He’s just explosive,” Spoelstra said when asked about Herro’s performance. “That easily could have been 14 makes. A lot of them went in and out and he just does it in a fashion that he makes it look kind of easy. And it’s not easy to score in this league against some of the best defenses.” While playing as a full-time starter for the first time in his NBA career, Herro closed last regular season as the Heat’s third-leading scorer with 20.1 points per game on 43.9 percent shooting from the field and 37.8 percent shooting from three-point range. Adebayo and Butler were the only Heat players who averaged more points than Herro.