Preseason basketball has officially arrived!
The Miami Heat will play the first of their six preseason games Saturday night against the Orlando Magic in San Juan, Puerto Rico, at 8:00 p.m. EST on NBATV!
Miami will be without five guards, including Tyler Herro, Davion Mitchell and Pelle Larsson. Orlando will be without the Wagner brothers plus Jalen Suggs, who’s recovering from arthroscopic knee surgery he underwent in March.
Don’t expect Erik Spoelstra to play his starters heavy minutes. But expect plenty of on-ball reps from Nikola Jovic — the team’s de-facto point guard — in addition to Jaime Jaquez Jr., Norman Powell and Andrew Wiggins, when they’re on the floor.
Here’s our game thread!
Miami Heat Starters:
- Norman Powell, G
- Jaime Jaquez Jr., F
- Nikola Jovic, F
- Andrew Wiggins, F
- Bam Adebayo, C
Orlando Magic Starters:
- Tyus Jones, G
- Desmond Bane, G
- Tristan Da Silva, F
- Paolo Banchero, F
- Wendell Carter Jr., C
Broadcast Info:
- Tipoff: 8:00 PM EST
- TV: NBATV
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What are you looking forward to the most on Saturday night between the Heat and Magic? Let us know in the comments below!
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I m positively surprised, this will be relatively strong and fun team to watch. No really bad man in this game in Heat uniform, bod also nobody really stepped out from the bunch.
Team wise, the positive thing is fast pace with not that many turnovers. Bad thing is, as for years now, terrible rebounding.
Players in order from the best to the worst.
Dru-I still believe, that Heat would be much better team with him last year. The best playmaker in the team, by far. Good defender too.
Simone-Not just a shooter. He can defend, run and finish.
Wiggins-much better then last year.
Ware-impactful. Thats what we need from him.
Keshad-best game from him in long time. Still, I dont believe he is a NBA player.
Jovic- this should be a norm now.
Powell-he can shoot and defend.
JJJ-incomplete. this is not his position. If he will not improve his outside game, he will be out of the league soon.
Bam-I thing this kind of the game is not his type of the game.
Achiuwa. I m not sure, but he seems a bit fat to me. He is not moving well also.
The rest wont make a team, but there are some interesting players. Its clear, that Goldin cant help this year. And Dain has a potential to be better player then Keshad.
wiggins much better than last year lol theyve played one pre season game.hes like a 10 year vet by now.he is who he is an ok nba player.will have some good nights and some off nights.but he can defend pretty good.a good 4th option on a good nba team.hes a poorer version of bridges nyk.no love for keshad to early to make judgement on him need to see more of him hes intriguing.i have not seen lots clippers game to judge norm looks like only hole in game might be the jumper its more like caleb martin line drive shot rather than soft arc shot.achiuwas 3rd big off bench.hes an athletic big he’ll be ok.jovic got paid rcs looking for 15 5 5 that would be nice,shooting % the most important stat gotta be above 45 and 38 .still need that one ss im packaging ty and wiggy for some disgruntled ss player at trade deadline.murray zion package.ja package.need that one ss for jewelry.if they could have added kd and minus a tyler wiggy i think we could have won the east.or at least had a shot
da silvas nice looking player
is there a chance jjj doesnt make team?
There’s a chance he gets traded before the deadline. Depending on how the team is doing by then, the to-be-traded list may include several Heat players.
He’s already made the team relative to being under contract. Maybe the question is ‘is there a chance he doesn’t make in to the rotation?’ Only 3 choices – he plays, sits on the bench, or is traded.
not sure what happened to jjj he looked so good to start his career.last 1 1/2 years not good.his defense is ok just cant shoot it or drive it anymore.maybe needs to be with sunman on calif team.
Yes, he did not look good. Forgot how to ball fake. If he can’t shoot from outside, he won’t have much of a future.
If he doesn’t get his mojo back, he’s a candidate to become a good throw-in/filler when Miami decides to trade Herro. Recommend he be traded to city with high Latino population (e.g. Lakers, Clippers, Kings, Nuggets, Suns, Spurs, Rockets).
fontecchio much better athlete than uncan .gonna play better d than uncan might not shoot as good as uncan
Would have a spot on 10 man rotation. If Spo uses 8 player rotation, he will need to compete to earn a spot.
keshod not sure about offense can defend very athletic.
Keshad gonna be like Jovic. It may take 3-4 years for him to really blossom. If he does well this season (and isn’t traded) I think he will get a team friendly 2-3 year extension. 4 seasons is enough to decide whether a young player is a keeper or not.
dru with the 3 nice
I didn’t even know he would play. He is definitely a mature PG who plays under control and is a good defender. I can see Mitchell starting and Dru on the second unit. Two alternating point of attack PGs would totally disrupt the other team’s offensive rhythm. Off Night 1 and Off Night 2. If that happens, one of the starting guards (Herro or Powell) will need to come off the bench with Ware or Jovic, depending on whether Bam is starting PF or C.
Dru looked surprisingly good. Like you, we are nervous watching him. He dove for balls once or twice yesterday and all you think is ‘please get back up’.
drus d awesome
drus very instinctive player.im so nervous watching him play
juwan howards son on magic
And Jason Richardson’s son.
heat are running good to see
an aggressive bam is needed no more quitter
id like to see bam get more attempts he seems to disappear in games for a while w/o quitter here hes the alpha
bane suggs wagner banchero .bam wiggins ware norm who u taking
You forgot Carter and Mitchell.
orlando and heat 2 even tier two teams.8-10 west teams better nyk cleve clearly better
magic have tyus jones didnt know that he will help
watching replay little bit midnight watched canes game
Been switching between games. Happy with the Cane’s effort. Heat players have had some good moments.
bad finish for canes mario let them back in game
Stay healthy, Dru!
Let’s go Heat! And Canes!