It was a disappointing start to the season as the Miami Heat fell to their in-state rival in the Orlando Magic, 116-97, in the opener at Kaseya Center where it was also a night to celebrate Pat Riley for having his name on the court. One of the key takeaways from the Heat’s loss to the Magic was the down performances of stars Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo as they are running a new offense.

There has been a focus ever since training camp and in the preseason where the Heat were going to play faster while focusing on shots in the paint and from deep. While there were some moments of effectiveness in the first half, the game plan fell apart in the second where Orlando opened up their monstrous lead to 28 points.

Heat’s Bam Adebayo on what him and Jimmy Butler have to get better at

Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo (13) looks to pass the ball as Orlando Magic center Wendell Carter Jr. (34) defends during the first half at Kaseya Center.
Jim Rassol-Imagn Images

For Adebayo specifically, he finished the game with nine points, but only made one shot from the field out of seven attempts where most of the points came from the free throw line, making seven of 10. As for Butler, he finished with one of his worst games in recent memory having three points on one for eight shooting.

The star big-man would say to ClutchPoints after the game that himself and Butler have to further understand the “new offense” and how to be “aggressive” in it while also playing to their strengths.

“For me man, I was just running the offense,” Adebayo said. “And you know, you fall short of that sometimes, you get lost track of the game. You’re trying to do the right thing all the time. And I feel like that’s where me and Jimmy, you know, got to come together and figure out how we can be aggressive in the new offense.”

There will no doubt be questions with this new look offense if players like Butler and Adebayo could really thrive in what Spoelstra and the coaching staff want to accomplish. However, it is important to remember that it is only one game with 81 left so there is plenty of time for the team to reach their goals schematically as it mostly looked effective in training camp and the preseason.

Heat were “overwhelmed” by Magic per Erik Spoelstra

Miami Heat forward Jimmy Butler (22) and the Heat bench look on late in the game with the score out of reach to the Orlando Magic at Kaseya Center.
Jim Rassol-Imagn Images

If anything, credit has to be given to Orlando as they were one of the best defenses in the league last season and look to be the same this go around as their size, strength, athleticism, and more disrupted Miami’s flow. Spoelstra would even say after the game how “overwhelmed” the team was because of the Magic’s defense and gave kudos to star Paolo Banchero who scored 33 points and 11 rebounds.

“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 continued. “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 Erik Spoelstra details some positives in the opening loss

Going back to the first half, it was crucial to see how the new starting lineup would like as they were working to build chemistry throughout the preseason. It would start slow as they missed on some shot opportunities, but they would find a rhythm towards the middle of the first period, going on a 10-0 run that featured a fast play style with good flow and execution which Spoelstra mentions after the game.

“There were some very good moments in the first half,” Spoelstra said. “You know, at one point. There was a couple points where we got up six, eight, and then, you know, their second chance opportunities just really gave them life, kept them, kept their spirit alive, and allowed them to get back in the game and take the lead. But there were some good skirmishes in that first half. In the second half, we just didn’t, we didn’t match that.”

Heat’s Bam Adebayo on if they strayed away from new offense

Still, the Magic would find their rhythm in the second quarter and especially in the third where they scored a monstrous 39 points compared to the Heat’s worse in 18. Adebayo would say that he does not believe they moved on from the new offense as the game went on and credited missed shots as why it looked like that as the team shot 39 percent from the field and 32.4 percent from deep.

“I wouldn’t say we got away from it [the new offense],” Adebayo said. “I feel like we it looked worse than what it was because the ball wasn’t going in. So it’s gonna look like we we stopped doing we’re supposed to do, but I just feel like because we missed shots, we shot what, 30, 38% from the field. You’re gonna think we got away from it, but it’s just, we just missed shots.”

Tyler Herro “not even worried” about Heat’s offense

For any fan that is concerned about the offense, Tyler Herro would ease the worries after the game where he had most of the positive plays Wednesday night finishing with 14 points, five rebounds, and three assists. He would even say that the aspects to clean up more so lie on the effort, intensity, and “attention to detail.”

“Honestly, I’m not even worried about the offense,” Herro said. “I’m more concerned on our effort, our intensity and our attention to detail, I’m not worried about the shot attempts or anything like that. We’ll figure that out. We have good enough game, you see the first half, we just fell apart in the second half. Now I want to point it towards the offense, more energy there.”

Whatever the case may be, there is no doubt that more often that not if Butler and Adebayo combined to make 1 out of 13 shots every game, the team will lose. However, that most likely won’t happen as it would be valid to see Wednesday as an anomaly and hope there is adjustments in the future.

At any rate, the Heat start the season 0-1 as they look to bounce back as they take on the Charlotte Hornets on the road this Saturday.