The Miami Heat suffered a loss to their in-state rival in the Orlando Magic Wednesday night in the season opener, 116-97, where it was on the same day that Pat Riley was commemorated with his name on the court of the Kaseya Center. One of the many takeaways from the Heat’s loss to the Magic was the defensive side of the ball which has been a strength of the team in the past as head coach Erik Spoelstra and others speak about the lackluster performance.

Miami finished with a top-five defense last season and although the team lost a key piece in Caleb Martin, the team was still active throughout the preseason, having at least 15 steals in each game, having just five in the opener. Spoelstra was blunt after the game to the media about the defensive effort saying that the “activity level” was absent from the team.

“No, the activity level wasn’t there,” Spoelstra said. “You don’t need stats to see it, like you can feel it when we’re active. It might not lead to steals, but, yeah, what we’ve felt the last two, three weeks, we didn’t feel that tonight.”

When looking at the phrase “Heat Culture,” some people wold roll their eyes as it has been repeated time and time again about the team, but there is no doubt that it rings true especially on the defensive end. It has been the team’s staple for years that no one else can match their defensive intensity, except Wednesday night saw Orlando do just that.

Heat’s Bam Adebayo explains why the “activity level” was low

Orlando Magic center Moritz Wagner (21) gets fouled by Miami Heat forward Duncan Robinson (55) as forward Haywood Highsmith (24) closes in during the second half at Kaseya Center.
Jim Rassol-Imagn Images

While the first half was a relatively close game, things started to take a turn for the worse in the second where the Magic exploded for 39 points in the third period which in return, resulted in 18 points for the Heat. The poor offense dictated the defense or it could be the other way around as Adebayo mentions after the game where he also credited the “butterflies” that the team could have had since it is the first game.

“I feel like activity just died down,” Adebayo said. “You know, first game butterflies. Everybody wants to play well, everybody wants to do the right thing. So for us, it’s making that our identity first, and worry about the offense later.”

Adebayo would have a down outing to start the season with nine points and five rebounds as he only made one field goal out of five attempts where most of his points came from the free throw line where he made seven out of 10 tries. It was an even stranger performance for star Jimmy Butler as he finished with three points on one for eight shooting as both are looking to lead a new offense that is faster and focuses on shots in the restricted area and from deep.

Heat’s Tyler Herro down plays disappointing performance in opener

One player that was solid was Tyler Herro who was noted for being up to any role on the Heat as he ended the night with 14 points to go along with five rebounds and three assists. He would speak about the defensive side of the ball and how the goal is for that aforementioned activity level to be up as Orlando was “too comfortable.”

“I mean, just getting deflections, getting our hands on the ball, being active,” Herro said. “Have our minds, you know, a step ahead trying to, you know, think the game at another level. We’re playing one pass ahead, where we can get in the lanes, like I said, getting deflections or getting steals. They were just too comfortable. I think it started in the first play the second half on one of the entry passes. And that kind of sets the tone for the for the whole game and for that second half there. So we’ll be better. We feel like we’re doing the right thing. We just got to continue to build good habits. It’s the first game of the season. No one’s going 82-0.”

Heat were “overwhelmed” on both sides of the ball

As the Heat look to bounce back facing a tough Eastern Conference this season, there will be more chances to get one back against the Magic and especially their main star in Paolo Banchero. The former first overall pick was sensational Wednesday against Miami as he scored 33 points and collected 11 rebounds while he shot 50 percent from the field as was mentioned by Spoelstra when also talking how the team was “overwhelmed.”

“They just absolutely overwhelmed us off our misses first I thought we started the half getting okay looks,” Spoelstra said. “Four of the looks were from three, but those were the appropriate looks. This team really protects the pain and the rim, we knock down two or three of those maybe give them to blink a little bit, but we missed those, and then they’re just running it down our gut. From that point, it became either transition offense, rebounding or matchup based where they just attacked us in off of some of those matchups.”

“Banchero was great tonight, that’s an understatement,” Spoelstra said. “But he forced a lot of different things out of our defense, and we need to shore that up, and we will get better with that. And offensively, you know, we have to trust some of the things that we’ve been working on. You know, in preseason, it’s looked a lot different than this. Obviously, that’s a very good defense. That’s a tough five defense. They’re very active, long so you have to trust, you know, what we do even more.”

Heat’s Terry Rozier on how poor offense leads to poor defense

One could credit the disappointing performance to the ongoing narrative of the Heat’s starting five and how they are continuing to build chemistry. While the preseason showed the highs and lows, this was their first meaningful game together where there is no doubt more work needs to be done on both sides of the ball.

The same sentiments were echoed by star Terry Rozier who finished the game with 19 points which led the entire team on five for 15 shooting to go along with six rebounds and five assists. He would once again repeat the word of the day for the Heat which is “active,” saying that the lack of offensive efficiency led to such on the defensive end.

“I think we let our offense dictate our defense,” Rozier said. “Once they started hitting shots, the score erupted and they never looked back. We got to be more active and it starts with me, both offense and defense, it starts with me.”

While fandoms of every team will be reactionary, it’s important to remember that it is only one game with 81 left as Miami looks to still turn some heads this season. They start 0-1 and look to get  one in the win column Saturday when they face the Charlotte Hornets on the road.