Miami Heat: 3 takeaways from the first preseason game

The Miami Heat played their first preseason game on Tuesday against the San Antonio Spurs. Here are three immediate takeaways.

The Miami Heat got their season officially underway on Tuesday night, sort of, as they took on the San Antonio Spurs in Miami for their first preseason game. The game was a bit dicey early for this Heat team, but they got it together rather quickly to close the quarter.

They trailed the Spurs 22-23 at the end of the first, but it was mostly Miami Heat from there on out. This takes us to our three big takeaways from the game.

Miami Heat size is for real

We asked recently if the Miami Heat would try and use their overall team size as an advantage this season. We got our answer on Tuesday and in fact, we got it early. Although Coach Spoelstra was quoted as basically saying that these lineups from Tuesday were fluid and to not make anything of them, the starting lineup was a pretty big one.

It consisted of Justise Winslow, Jimmy Butler, Duncan Robinson, Bam Adebayo, and Meyers Leonard. To put that into perspective, you had 6’7, 6’8, 6’8, 6’10, and 7’1 across the board as your starting Miami Heat lineup on Tuesday. While some may question Bam’s ability to play as a spacing four when needed to be, his improved ball skills should allow for him to excel in any scenario that the big man may find himself in.

There were several different variations of the lineup during this game, but quite a few of them had size. As we presumed they might, the Miami Heat look to be one of the bigger teams in the league and they will use it to their advantage when they can.

Not only did we see a few different big lineups against the Spurs, but there are a few more that can be played with when everyone is back to full health, and even a few more just when considering the players that played in the game. Tuesday night was a good first showing regardless, let’s hope they continue to gel and improve as a team and as separate five-man units.