Yes, it’s a long season. And, yes, 79 games remain for the Miami Heat.
But who had 0-3 on their season-opening Bingo card at the outset of the Giannis Antetokounmpo era, particularly with two of the first three at home and the third game, Saturday night’s 115-110 loss to the Charlotte Hornets at Spectrum Center, coming against a short-handed opponent that lost the previous night by 47?
Despite a fourth-quarter rally, it did not get any better on the won-loss ledger for Erik Spoelstra’s team that third time around, with the wear on the Giannis-or-bust reliance showing in Antetokounmpo’s Saturday night productivity.
So now not only the first 0-3 start of Antetokounmpo’s career, but the first 0-3 start for the Heat since the start of the 2007-08 season.
As in a season the Heat went 15-67 and had to settle for the lottery consolation of Michael Beasley.
This time, Antetokounmpo was able to offer only 14 points on a night he fouled out, with Bam Adebayo scoring 20 and Davion Mitchell adding 22 points and 10 assists.
Up next for the Heat are the Mavericks on Monday night at Kaseya Center, with Dallas without sidelined Cooper Flagg and Kyrie Irving for Saturday night’s game against the Spurs.
From there, six of the next seven will be on the road, a stretch that begins with a Wednesday night road game against the Atlanta Hawks.
Five Degrees of Heat from Saturday night’s game:
— 1. Game flow: It was tied 31-31 after the opening period, with the Heat trailing 66-58 at halftime.
The deficit then reached 76-63 early in the third period, forcing Spoelstra to call timeout 2:47 into the second half after an 8-0 Charlotte run.
It got worse from there, with Spoelstra forced into another timeout when the Hornets went up 83-63 with 7:17 left in the third period.
It reached the point that Ryan Conwell was inserted with 3:56 left in the third period, the first action beyond mop-up duty for last June’s second-round pick out of Louisville.
The Heat went into the fourth quarter down 96-75.
— 2. Closing time: But then a 27-4 Heat run to open the final period put the Heat up 102-100.The rally came with the Heat fielding a lineup of Adebayo, Mitchell, Bobby Portis, Tim Hardaway Jr., and Pelle Larsson.
Then, with it tied 102-102, Antetokounmpo entered for the first time in the fourth quarter with 5 minutes to play, subbing in for Portis.
With 4:05 to play, an offensive foul was called on Antetokounmpo, with the Heat down 104-102.
And then a dagger, a four-point play as part of a successful 3-point conversation by Grayson Allen and a foul on Hardaway, putting Charlotte up 108-104 with 3:19 to play.
Antetokounmpo then fouled out with 1:57 to play.
The Heat later clawed back within 113-110 with 7 seconds to play on a Mitchell 3-pointer, before Allen closed out the scoring with a pair of free throws.
— 3. Giannis’ night: After scoring 35 and 36 points in his first two games, Antetokounmpo had only two official field-goal attempts in the opening period, with his eight points in the quarter largely built off his 6 of 7 from the line.
Antetokounmpo then was called for his third foul and forced to the bench with 9:08 left in the second period, after the Hornets won a video challenge that left Antetokounmpo with an offensive foul.
With it the Heat’s third game in four nights, the heavy lifting became evident with Antetokounmpo, who forced the action with an offensive foul with 6:59 left in the third period for his fourth foul.
He closed 4 of 11 from the field, 6 of 8 from the line, with six rebounds.
— 4. Adebayo’s night: A night after foul trouble limited him to four points on six shots, Adebayo was more active at the outset.
While the offense lagged early, often settling for jumpers in what turned into a 4-of-12 start from the field, the Heat captain eventually came around with more of what had been expected.
He closed 7 of 17 from the field, with eight rebounds.
Adebayo entered with a season high of 15 points in the opener against the Timberwolves.
— 5. Opposing perspective: While the Heat pointed to the quality of the opposition in their opening home losses to the Minnesota Timberwolves and Detroit Pistons, this hardly was the same opposing pedigree.
While the Heat had their entire roster available, the Hornets were without arguably two of their best players in Kon Knueppel and Coby White.
Further, the Hornets were coming off a 128-81 Friday night home loss to the Atlanta Hawks.