While it is only preseason, Saturday night was filled with plenty of anticipation for the new-look Miami Heat against the Toronto Raptors.
Predictably, both teams looked fairly disjointed. There were a lot of fouls, a healthy amount of unforced errors and, frankly, helter-skelter basketball from two teams trying to play frantically while their legs weren’t under them.
Ultimately, the Miami Heat — led by superstar forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, who scored nine points in 14 minutes — secured a 129-105 win over Toronto inside Quebec City, Canada, the first of five preseason games for Miami.
In his first (un?)official debut, Antetokounmpo stole the spotlight. In addition to his nine points, which came on a perfect 3-of-3 shooting, he tallied four rebounds and seven assists. He was creating a bevy of open looks, and his teammates capitalized.
Antetokounmpo and the rest of the Heat starters (Bam Adebayo, Davion Mitchell, Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins), plus a few of the Heat reserves (Bobby Portis, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Pelle Larsson) only played in the first half.
Over that span, the Heat totaled 76 points on 53.7 percent shooting, including 47.8 percent from 3-point range. They led by 21 at halftime. Bam Adebayo had 10 points and six rebounds; Andrew Wiggins had 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting from deep; Tim Hardaway Jr. had 14 points on a perfect 4-4 from the floor (3-3 3PT), while Pelle Larsson had 13 points, two rebounds, two assists and two steals.
Scottie Barnes and Immanuel Quickley were the Raptors’ only two starters to sit during the second half. Barnes finished with 11 points on 5-of-11 shooting, while Quickley had just five points.
The final numbers don’t matter much in the grand scheme of things, but the first half was everything we wanted to see from the Heat — and then some. The best news of all was no injuries!
Miami’s next preseason game will be on Thursday, Oct. 8, against the New Orleans Pelicans.
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As expected, some good and some bad.
Starting unit was a little sloppy. As I said about Klay before multiple times, he cant create for himselves any more. The main problem will be how to get him enough quality shots to get something out of him. They will need to develop several plays just for him to get there.
But of course, Wiggins gets a lot of open shots because Bam and Gianiss penetrations and Klays gravity.
Second unit was very good as an unit, with Pelle the best player. That boy become a real monster. Portis, Simone and THJ were good. Even Jovic played really well this group.
We have a team, thats for sure. If anything stands out, playmaking will be a problem, in starting unit and in bench unit. Mitchell looked like a borderline starting level point guard in this game, and Pelle is not a playmaker.
Gotta admit, I’m starting to get excited for this season
Starting? Okay then.
Antetokumbo,Bam,Hardaway Jnr, Wiggins,Larsson were good. Liked Klay hussle in defense but did not get the ball when he was open. Some bad decisions by the PG, Mitchell.This is just first preseason game.Others need to shake up the rust. Watched first half and last few minutes of the 4th quarter.
Klay was just cold. His shooting will improve.
Davion needs to become a more aggressive shooter. He is hesitant to shoot, even when he is in the best position to take a clear shot. If he becomes a scoring threat, teams will not be so tempted to play him loose so they help out on defense elsewhere.
Jovic looks like he is coming around. Hopefully, he finds his mojo before the beginning of the season and doesn’t look back. I was impressed by his 7 rebounds and 4 assists.
Giannis, Bam, Wiggins, Pelle, Portis and Hardaway all looked like they are ready to start the season now. A couple of the reserves looked pretty good too.
This team is going to be very scary once everyone is in rhythm and everything clicks.