3 Ways the Miami Heat can bounce back from rough season-opening loss

It wasn’t exactly a sparkling start to the Miami Heat’s season, but the Orlando Magic are a tough opponent. Game 2 should offer a chance to get right. To earn their first win of the season, there are a few things the Heat will need to fix.

Get the ball to the stars

Jimmy Butler ranked seventh on the team with 37 touches and posted a usage rating of 16.7%. That’s basically playing like Chris Boucher in Toronto. On the flip side, Paolo Banchero touched the ball 66 times and posted a usage rating of 34.2% – the range associated with a star player.

Bam Adebayo was just ahead of Butler in touches with 41, but that ranked sixth on the team. The Heat players with more touches than the two stars? Terry Rozier, Nikola Jovic, Tyler Herro, Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Haywood Highsmith. HAYWOOD HIGHSMITH.

In no world should five Heat players have the ball in their hands more than Butler and Adebayo.

“You lose track of the game when you’re trying to do the right thing all the time,” Adebayo said after the game. “I feel like that’s where me and Jimmy got to come together and figure out how we can be aggressive in the new offense.”

Sure, there’s a learning curve. Adebayo is being used more as a hub. Butler begins many possessions stationed in the corner within Miami’s new, five-out offense. Guys like Rozier and Herro could do a better job of feeding them the ball. 

But they are also the stars of the team. If they want the ball, they can go get it. 

Ramp up the defensive intensity

Miami’s first regular-season game felt more like a preseason game than any of their preseason games. They walked through possessions and didn’t match Orlando’s physicality. 

Heat defenders routinely died on screens. Here’s Rozier giving up an open layup to Jalen Suggs on the first play of the disastrous third quarter in which the Heat were out-scored 39-18.

Jovic, who defended Orlando’s centers while Adebayo slotted on Banchero, couldn’t match up with their strength.

Butler was uncharacteristically lost on defense, switching when he wasn’t supposed to and playing a step behind. Here he is, giving up a wide-open backdoor cut to Franz Wagner.

Play in the full court

Erik Spoelstra has spoken a lot about how he wants to increase the pace and run off turnovers. The Heat mostly did that in the preseason, but it was the preseason. Teams are supposed to be sloppy, and Miami capitalized on those opportunities. 

But the Magic came into Miami prepared. They ran a sound offense and took care of the ball. After recording 15 steals per game in the preseason, the Heat had just five on opening night and recorded just 18 fastbreak points. Among those limited chances, most occurred in a back-and-forth first quarter. They dried up as the game went on, and the decisive third quarter was played to the Magic’s advantage, as the game slowed to 90 possessions per 48 minutes.

By forcing the Heat to play in the halfcourt and deep into the shot clock, the Magic set the tone for the rest of the game. The Heat took just three shots near the rim and took just four free throws in the third quarter as the Magic built a 32-point lead.

“We have to trust some of the things that we’ve been working on in the preseason,” Spoelstra said. “It has looked a lot different than this. But obviously, that’s a very good defense. That’s a top-five defense. They’re very active, long. So you have to trust what we do even more.”

What’s next?

Fortunately for the Heat, their next opponent, the Charlotte Hornets, doesn’t present the same defensive problems as the Magic, who finished last season with a top-three defensive rating. 

In their opener against the Houston Rockets, the Hornets turned the ball over 16 times and gave up 103 shot attempts. 

Saturday should give the Heat a chance to get back to what worked in the preseason.