Erik Spoelstra after Heat drop 144 on the Nets: ‘Our pick-and-roll defense in the first half was really bad’

MIAMI — Oct. 14, 2026 — The Miami Heat scored 144 points against the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday night, shot 59 percent from the floor and put up 62 points in the paint. Erik Spoelstra still spent a good part of his postgame news conference on the other end of the floor.

“Offensively, I don’t have a ton of complaints,” the Heat coach said after the 144-128 preseason win at Kaseya Center. “But we do need to shore up our defense. Our pick-and-roll defense in the first half was really bad, and that’s a dangerous offensive team.”

Brooklyn scored 66 points in the first half and went into the break down only 69-66. Spoelstra pointed to the actions the Nets run for Julius Randle and Michael Porter Jr., who finished with 27 points in 27 minutes. “They have actions and things with Randle and Porter Jr. that if you’re not really on top of what you’re supposed to do systematically, and effort and focus, they can make you pay,” he said, “which they did in that first half.” Miami held the Nets to 62 after halftime, including 25 in the fourth quarter.

Getting organized around Giannis

Giannis Antetokounmpo had 20 points on 8-of-10 shooting, 15 rebounds, nine assists and three blocks in 24 minutes, and Spoelstra admitted he sometimes watches like a fan. “I’m probably like everybody else that’s watching this, and you can witness that level of greatness, and [it was] in bursts, particularly that first half,” he said. “We’re just very grateful to have [him] on our side in the Miami Heat uniform.”

Getting fully comfortable in a new system will take time, Spoelstra said, “but as it’s taking time, he’s going to impose his will on the game. I think that’s what matters most.” The work for everyone else is to be in the right places when Antetokounmpo puts his head down. “You have to get organized when he’s attacking and make sure that we’re in the right spots,” Spoelstra said. “The details with our spacing weren’t great. We didn’t pay the price for those things in the first half. He was able to get through the gaps and also make the right plays. But I do think that will have to improve as well.”

He wants more from the floor game too. Miami had 20 fast-break points to Brooklyn’s six, but Spoelstra said the Heat still have “too many people in the backcourt, not enough guys running the court and sacrificing.” The habit of playing fast is “at a good start right now,” he said, and it will have to hold up “as teams try to scheme against it and have different things to try to take us out of that speed game.”

‘I’m not stressed out about the rotation’

Miami played without Bam Adebayo (right groin tightness), Dru Smith (right calf strain) and Pelle Larsson. Fourteen players still got into the game, and the bench had a big say: Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 14, and Ryan Conwell was plus-23 in 24 minutes. Asked how close he is to settling on a rotation for opening night, Spoelstra said he was not worried about it.

“I’m going to communicate what we’re going to do for game one. I’m not stressed out about the rotation for game one,” he said. “Our depth is going to be a factor all year long. We have positional depth, we have depth in our roster, and we’re going to use our depth. That’s the point I’ll make to our guys, is it won’t all just be about game one.” He said the Heat will have to pick a group for the opener, “knowing that everybody will be needed as this 82-game season starts.”

Nick Richards got the start at center with Adebayo out and had 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting and five rebounds in 16 minutes. Spoelstra liked how simple Richards has kept it. “Oftentimes in this league, you have to simplify your role and just do what you do,” he said. “He rebounds the ball really well, he plugs the paint, and if he’s not blocking shots, he just has size and verticality where you feel his presence in the paint. That’s all we’ve wanted him to do, is just to be himself and play to his strengths. He’s really embraced that. He’s in very good shape.” Richards is on a non-guaranteed deal, so how he plays this month matters.

Davion Mitchell needed six stitches above his right eye during the game and insisted on going back in. Spoelstra said the guard told him it was “just going to be a handful of stitches” and that he wanted his minutes, and he still wanted to play in the fourth quarter. “He loves the game. He loves competing,” Spoelstra said. “He wants to get out there and compete in the games, not just the practices.”

Portis, the corners and the cuts

Bobby Portis scored 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting, 2-of-3 from three, in 24 minutes off the bench. Spoelstra said a big who can stretch the floor changes the math for any defense. “Typically you want your fives plugging the paint, and when you have really good spacing fives that can make you pay, that makes every defensive team have to reconfigure whatever the schematic may be,” he said.

Portis and Antetokounmpo have years of practice at it, especially, Spoelstra said, “that right corner when he’s on that left side.” But he does not want Portis parked out there. “He’s also a good cutter, and I think he’s underrated in that area,” Spoelstra said. “We don’t want guys just standing on the perimeter all the time, even though they’re really good at that. We just need to find this balance. I’m not losing sleep over it. I understand that it’s going to be a process.”

Miami (3-1) closes the preseason Friday at Orlando at 7 p.m. ET. The regular season opens Wednesday, Oct. 21, against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Kaseya Center.