When it doubt, sit it out.
That primarily was the theme of Thursday night time’s 109-80 exhibition victory at Barclays Center even earlier than the Miami Heat took the courtroom towards the Brooklyn Nets.
So no Tyler Herro, Caleb Martin, Omer Yurtseven and Dewayne Dedmon for the Heat, and nonetheless no Victor Oladipo or Gabe Vincent.
In every case, nothing greater than nagging aches and pains, but in addition no cause for coach Erik Spoelstra to push issues two weeks out from the Oct. 19 regular-season opener towards the Chicago Bulls at FTX Arena.
It additionally was a case of Nets Lite, with Brooklyn with out Kyrie Irving, Seth Curry, Joe Harris and T.J. Warren. In the wake of the start of his second baby this week, Irving watched from the baseline.
Through all of it, Kyle Lowry and Bam Adebayo performed as main males for the Heat, Adebayo closing with 17 factors in 24 minutes, Lowry with 15 in 24. By distinction, it was a quiet night time for Jimmy Butler, with two factors in 17 minutes in his preseason debut.
The Heat additionally received 15 factors, 11 rebounds and 5 steals from undrafted prospect Jamal Cain.
Spoelstra mentioned the sport was heartening due to the depth delivered by his crew after a blowout preseason-opening loss Tuesday night time at FTX Arena to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
“That’s who we are,” he mentioned. “That’s what we want to establish.”
Kevin Durant led the Nets with 22 factors in 26 minutes.
Five Degrees of Heat from Thursday’s exhibition towards the Nets:
1. Power drain: It seems Yurtseven closed Tuesday’s loss with ankle soreness, unable to persuade Spoelstra to permit him to play.
“I tried going at shootaround, but they said no,” Yurtseven mentioned.
Then, 90 minutes earlier than tipoff, the Heat introduced that Dedmon was not accessible resulting from plantar fasciitis.
“Something new, but I’m OK,” Dedmon mentioned.
That placed on maintain the experimentation with twin facilities that Spoelstra utilized Tuesday in beginning Yurtseven and Adebayo.
Instead, it was first-round decide Nikola Jovic getting into because the Heat’s first middle off the bench, with a formidable show of his outsized perimeter abilities, closing with 10 factors, 5 assists and three rebounds in 16 minutes.
“He’s extremely unique,” Spoelstra mentioned of the 6-foot-10 19-year-old.
2. Still undecided: With Martin out resulting from knee ache, it additional placed on maintain a choice on the beginning substitute at energy ahead for P.J. Tucker, who left in free company for the Philadelphia 76ers.
“Tuck had a major influence on our team, there’s no denying that,” Spoelstra mentioned, “however our guys have been round lengthy sufficient that you simply simply need to count on that there might be some change.
“You’re not going to plug somebody in to be him. I don’t want that. You know that it’ll look different, and that’s what I want to be intentional about, being open-minded. I’d like to be different and hopefully better, and it might be two or three different players. It might be one. But I don’t know at this point.”
Haywood Highsmith opened Thursday at energy ahead, scoreless on 0-for-4 taking pictures, with 5 rebounds and 5 assists.
3. Quick change: With a fast turnaround to Friday night time’s exhibition in Memphis, Herro mentioned he additionally expects to take a seat out towards the Grizzlies. Herro bruised his proper knee throughout Tuesday’s loss however continued on.
“It’s just sore,” Herro mentioned, “so I really need a couple of days.”
Max Strus began rather than Herro, closing 4 of 12 from the sector.
Spoelstra mentioned earlier than Thursday’s recreation that the expectation is for Oladipo to make his preseason debut in Monday night time’s residence exhibition towards the Houston Rockets. The Heat have been cautious with Oladipo after 4 injury-plagued seasons.
But Spoelstra mentioned the plan is for Vincent to make his first preseason look in Memphis, with the reserve guard coping with knee ache the previous two weeks.
“I’m hopeful,” Vincent mentioned.
Following the sport, Spoelstra mentioned Adebayo, Lowry and Butler all could be given the night time off in Memphis.
4. Butler’s debut: After being held out Tuesday, ostensibly for relaxation, Butler was again in an NBA setting for the primary time since his missed 3-point try late in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals as a substitute despatched the Boston Celtics to the NBA Finals.
Butler joined Highsmith, Strus, Adebayo and Lowry within the beginning lineup.
Butler closed 1 of 4 from the sector, with 4 rebounds and an help.
“He’s had a great camp,” Spoelstra mentioned of Butler. “He’s in terrific shape.”
5. Kid stuff: With so many rotation gamers out, it opened the door for early minutes for Heat neophytes Jovic, Cain, Dru Smith and Marcus Garrett.
Cain confirmed the athleticism that earned a camp invitation out of summer time league, with the undrafted guard out of Oakland University making his first 5 pictures.
“You feel good for guys that have really been putting in the work,” Spoelstra mentioned.
Cain mentioned the sport pitted him towards his basketball idol in Durant.
“I was trying to embrace the moment,” Cain mentioned.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com