Giannis Antetokounmpo finally made the move to the Miami Heat after years of being a superstar on generally ordinary Milwaukee Bucks rosters. The two-time MVP arrived in Miami after winning the 2021 championship, but did not have the kind of help he needed in his later years at the franchise.
Now, after the Heat were handed a blowout loss by Anthony Edwards against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Giannis undoubtedly finds himself in familiar territory. Despite returning from the game with 35 points, the next highest scorer on Miami was Bam Adebayo with just 15 points, with the Greek Freak himself claiming after the game that his team needs to do better, per BasketNews.
“Trust, man,” he said. “We just got to trust what we doing. We have to be better. Our offense got to be better. We got to trust one another. Our trust cannot go out the window. Our spacing has to be better. Our offense was very, very stagnant. We did not look as fluid as the preseason.”
We look at four overreactions from Miami’s opening day loss to the Timberwolves, who undoubtedly have one of the most entertaining backcourts in the NBA.
#1 Miami are over-reliant on Giannis for offensive inspiration
Antetokounmpo scored 35 points on 13-of-19 shooting in his first competitive game for the Heat, but could not prevent the 131-106 loss. He added six rebounds, one assist and one steal in approximately 30 minutes, becoming the highest-scoring player in a Heat debut, surpassing LeBron James' 31-point debut in 2010.
The larger concern was Miami's lack of offensive support. Whether the Heat can succeed this season will largely depend on whether they can build a cohesive offense around Antetokounmpo rather than relying on him to generate the majority of its production.
The Timberwolves finished with 21 three-pointers on 50 attempts, shooting 42% from beyond the arc. Miami, meanwhile, made just eight of 33 attempts from three-point range, a 24.2% success rate, which represents a 39-point deficit when it comes to three-point shooting alone. However, it was the lack of ‘trust’ that Giannis himself lamented the most.
#2 The Heat looked starkly different compared to the preseason
Antetokounmpo said Miami's offense and defense looked substantially different in the opener from what the team had shown during the preseason. He stressed that the team needed to maintain its trust in one another when shots stopped falling.
The Timberwolves also outrebounded Miami 52-34, a margin of 18. They also collected 17 offensive rebounds compared to four for the Heat, which points to a lack of movement both in offense and defense.
Head coach Erik Spoelstra claimed the Heat were too often watching shots rather than pursuing rebounds. The problem becomes notable because Miami has considerable size through Antetokounmpo and Adebayo.
Finally, the Heat committed 19 turnovers, which the Timberwolves converted into 31 points. The lack of backcourt depth and quality, especially against a team that now arguably has the league’s best backcourt, further compounded Miami’s problems, and it remains to be seen whether they can find the right solutions this season.
Article Continues Below#3 As predicted, Heat’s weakness appears to be floor spacing
Antetokounmpo said Miami's spacing needed to improve and described the offense as stagnant compared with its preseason performances. The lack of fluidity made it more difficult for the Heat to generate consistent scoring opportunities beyond their new superstar's individual production.
There is no doubt that Antetokounmpo is most effective when he can attack the basket and put pressure on the defense. Reliable perimeter shooting is likely to force opponents to defend farther from the rim, opening driving lanes and reducing their ability to crowd the paint.
However, with Davion Mitchell and Klay Thompson as their starting guards and an obvious lack of shooting through the roster, the Heat will run the risk of being too reliant on their two leading stars.
Of course, one loss does not necessarily mean that Miami does not have the right solutions. There remains genuine quality across the roster and Spoelstra does have a consistent tendency to find the best solutions with respect to his available personnel. The challenge for now, however, is not likely to get any easier, with Miami now set to take on the Detroit Pistons next.