As Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier was arrested by the FBI on Thursday morning, relating to sports betting, there was a game shortly before in which the team lost a close one to the Orlando Magic in the season opener, 125-121. While the Heat had an unknown outlook for the 2025-26 season in the style they wanted to play, head coach Erik Spoelstra would speak positively about the team despite the loss.
While there are no moral victories in any sport, as Spoelstra mentions, there is no denying that there were a lot of good signs from the outing, especially in the effort to play up-tempo. Finishing towards the bottom of the league the last handful of seasons in pace, they recorded 111.5 possessions per 48 minutes, which would have finished as the fastest pace in the league last season.
What it led to was initial production as the team scored 39 points, raining down three-pointers on Orlando, though as the game went on, they would struggle on the offensive glass and with turnovers. Either way, Spoelstra was “encouraged” by the game.
“It was one hell of a basketball game, going back and forth,” Spoelstra said, via the team’s YouTube page. “Stylistically, it’s slightly different than previous Heat-Magic Games, but the competitive nature of it was definitely there from both teams.
“But I’m encouraged by more things than not from this game. And I’m not looking for moral victories,” Spoelstra continued. “I’m not talking about that at all, but there’s definitely things that we can we can build on and have a game that can win on the road.”
Heat’s Erik Spoelstra on how the players are “gaining confidence”
With Heat star Tyler Herro missing the start of the season, everybody stepped up, including newcomer Norman Powell, who scored 28 points, recorded nine rebounds, and had four assists. Other performances included Bam Adebayo, who had a 15-point, 12-rebound double-double, and even Davion Mitchell with 16 points and 12 assists.
The fast pace would slow down a bit in the second half, though Miami outscored Orlando 26-21 in the third quarter, but fell in the end as the team had seven turnovers in the final nine minutes of the game. In total, the Heat had 19 turnovers, which led to 25 Magic points.
Still, Spoelstra would continue to see the players “getting more comfortable” in this new style of offense.
“Naturally slows down a little bit in the fourth, but I think that’s going to continue to get better,” Spoelstra said. “Guys are getting more comfortable. We haven’t had a game where we’ve been able to consistently do it yet, but that’s on its way. Through three quarters, we put up a good amount of points, and we’re doing it a little bit easier way than we have. Guys are gaining confidence, the ball is moving great, even there at the end, we got some great looks.”
Miami will look to improve its fast-paced style as the next game is on Friday against the Memphis Grizzlies.
