Game two of the preseason slate for the Miami Heat played out in a similar manner as game one:
A game that was fine while the starters still in the game that eventually slipped away once the reserves got in. Miami lost to Milwaukee 103-93 to fall to 0-2 in the preseason.
In one breath, it's preseason, and none of this matters. But there is a very real flaw brewing even with the starters in the game that was a fear entering the season.
Miami doesn't have enough playmakers
During the one half where he did play, Norman Powell continues to look like a massive steal for the Heat. Powell had 18 points off 6/12 shooting, 3/6 from three. Most of Powell's damage came from transition opportunities or from Nikola Jovic drawing attention and passing to Powell.
The problem is that even with Powell's 18 points in the 1st half, Miami only had 48 points as a team at halftime.
And it highlights a simple truth that most fans knew coming into the season:
Miami just doesn't have enough ball handlers to alleviate the pressure.
Part of it is the fact that Tyler Herro and Davion Mitchell sat this one out, but that isn't the sole explanation of why Miami had 13 turnovers in the first half alone, with Bam Adebayo racking up five himself in the first half.
The Heat have talked about wanting to play an uptempo style this season after finishing with the 3rd fewest possessions per game in 2024-25, and in theory, this is the correct way to go if they don't have a true playmaker to run a half-court offense.
But when the end result is 48 points in a half with 13 turnovers because there is no one to take care of the ball, that's a concern.
And to be fair, we are somewhat splitting hairs here as all five of Miami's starters finished positive for +/- on Monday, including Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Jovic finishing +12 after they went back out to start the 2nd half.
But as defenses will start to ramp up and better clamp down, Monday was one of those games you make a mental note of as a potential sign of trouble down the road.