The Miami Heat are in a state of free fall to start the season dropping another game this time to the Charolette Hornets 110-115. This time they wasted an excellent effort by Davion Mitchell posting his second double, double of the season.
This time it was Giannis Antetokounmpo who wasn’t firing on all cylinders. Here are five takeaways I have from tonight’s actions.
1) Davion Mitchell
He was electric in the second half. He was everywhere defensively and pushed the pace on offense. We even say the rare back cut from this Miami offense from Davion.
He led the team in scoring with 22 points, led the team in assists with 10 all while being insanely efficient with 61.5/75/100 shooting splits on the night. He will need to be more aggressive in future games for the Heat to find its footing.
2) Bobby Portis
The veteran teammate of Giannis came through as he has all season long. He helped spark the second half come back with his intensity, efficiency on 40/40/100 shooting splits.
He also was pivotal on the glass in that half. He pulled down 8 rebounds on the night and swiped two steals. He has been the second-best acquisition this off-season.
3) Two Stars
Where were Bam Adebayo and Giannis on the night when the Heat faced a short-handed Hornets squad? They were complete no shows and that can’t happen from your leaders. Bam and Giannis combined for 34 points on terrible efficiency. 11 of 28 from the field 39% and 2-7 from deep 28.5%.
4) THE OFFENSE
The offense was very lackluster to start the game. They tried to force feed bam to get him going. That didn’t work. He looked sluggish and disengaged as the shots continued to not fall. It wasn’t until the second quarter comeback fueled by Portis and Mitchell did you see the fire.
In the second half you saw more on ball screens, away screens and actions. Sharp shooting Klay Thompson got back on track tonight shooting 44.7% from deep.
5) THE DEFENSE
The Miami Heat aren’t finishing their defensive possessions. They are 22nd in the league in giving up second chance points at 19.3 per game. The Heat are playing with the 14th fastest pace in the league because it is hard to run when you are taking the ball out of the net every game.
Miami has the 2nd worst defensive rating in the NBA. The only worse team is the Phoenix Suns who appear to be a one hit wonder last season. They have the 3rd worst net rating at -16.3.
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