Silly us for thinking that the Miami Heat was going to struggle to open this season. The Heat entered the 2025-26 season with a ton of question marks that were only exacerbated by Miami's winless preseason, the first the franchise had had in almost 20 years.
But all the gloom and doom feelings failed to factor in that Erik Spoelstra is still the coach for the Heat, and while there are still things to nitpick here and there, it is clear his offseason vision for this squad is coming to life sooner rather than later.
Miami tops 140 points again in blowout over Charlotte
The core problem for the Heat last year, especially after Jimmy Butler departed, was that they simply couldn't score. Only once last season did the Heat top 140 points, and it took a late-season game against New Orleans to pull that off.
So even though Spoelstra talked about being more up-tempo this season, Miami emerged from the preseason with a putrid-looking offense and a roster that didn't seem to have any real answers beyond Norman Powell.
On Monday, Powell was out with a groin injury. Combined with Tyler Herro and Kasparas Jakucionis also continuing to be out, the Heat were forced to start Summer League star Pelle Larsson.
The end result was 144 points and a slew of Heat fans looking around, going, "Is this real life?"
Somehow, someway, Spoelstra has taken a roster that Las Vegas predicted would win 38 games and has transformed into an offensive powerhouse while missing its star player.
Miami has an elite offense out of nowhere
The Heat lead the NBA in points per game and are 4th in three-point shooting after trading away one of its best three-point shooters. Despite a lack of size on the roster, Miami is also top ten in defensive rebounding percentage and is middle of the pack in offensive rebounding percentage.
Emblematic of Spoelstra pushing all the right buttons to open the new season, Jaime Jaquez Jr. came off the bench to score 28 points on Monday and have a plus/minus of +43. Larsson went from a liability, for whom Spoelstra was giving three minutes a night, to starting on Monday and putting up 17 points.
Seven Heat players were in double digits on Monday. Again, that's without Powell or Herro on the court.
We'll see how well this roster holds up as it is about to enter the meat grinder of its schedule, but one week in, Spoelstra seems to have a perfect feel for how to win this season.