The Miami Heat lost in the regular season opener against the Orlando Magic, 116-97, in what was disappointing fashion as it was on the night a ceremony was held to celebrate Pat Riley’s name being immortalized in the court at Kaseya Center. As the Heat record a loss in the in-state rivalry’s first game, stars Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro spoke after the defeat to cover what went wrong.

A constant narrative this offseason and preseason has been the chemistry of the starting lineup who had not played a single second last year as the talking point will be louder after Wednesday night. While it was a close game in the first half, Orlando opened up their lead over Miami in the second as Adebayo was blunt in his assessment saying it was “embarrassing,” especially on a night celebrating Riley.

“We played bad. It’s not really anything to that,” Adebayo said. “I mean, that’s, that’s as simple as I can make it. It’s embarrassing, especially on a night like this for the Godfather Riley, for us is short term memory. I know it’s the beginning of the season, but we don’t want to create this as like a getting used too thing, for us, it’s win or misery.”

It was a rough night for the star as Adebayo finished the game with nine points as he only shot one of five from the field with most of his points coming from the free throw line, making seven of 10. The same goes for Butler who only had three points on one for eight shooting. Herro on the other hand had some positive moments Wednesday night as he had 14 points to go along with five rebounds and three assists.

Heat’s Tyler Herro says they “want to compete for a championship”

Miami Heat guard Tyler Herro (14) drives past Orlando Magic guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (3) during the first half at Kaseya Center.
Jim Rassol-Imagn Images

As Herro spoke about finding his role with the Heat during the team’s media day, he also has high expectations for the team.

There is no doubt that the Magic had a great defense last season which carried into the opener as they pestered the Heat with their size and athleticism, which really showed in the second half where they had their largest lead at 28 points. Herro would say to ClutchPoints that the play slipped on both sides of the ball which can’t happen since they are competing “for a championship.”

“I don’t think it’s, you know, obviously, Orlando is a great defense, but feel like we have a good enough offense to be able to light them up,” Herro said. “And honestly, we’re getting good shots in the first half, generating good looks, a two point game, three point game at the half, back and forth in the first half, and like I said, we kind of just fell apart there in the second half on both sides of the floor. You know, when the offense started to kind of go the wrong direction, felt like our effort, our intensity, and our attention to detail kind of just went out the window. That can’t happen for a team like us, we want to compete for a championship, and that’s not it.”

Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra also spoke after the game and spoke how “overwhelmed” the team was by the Magic on both sides of the ball as they attacked each area in which Miami was looking to focus on this season like playing faster. At any rate, the team starts 0-1 and looks to bounce back Saturday against the Charlotte Hornets on the road.