Heat fall to 0-3 as Spoelstra’s bench unit, not Giannis, nearly erases a 23-point deficit in Charlotte

The Miami Heat came within three points of erasing a 23-point fourth-quarter deficit in Charlotte on Saturday, October 24, and they did most of it with Giannis Antetokounmpo on the bench. The 115-110 loss to the Charlotte Hornets drops Miami to 0-3, its first such start since 2007-08 and the first of Antetokounmpo’s career, and it leaves Erik Spoelstra with a rotation question after three games.

Before the game, Spoelstra framed the slow start as an effort problem rather than a tactical one. “It’s not about schemes right now,” he said, according to the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “We have to look like a Miami defense.”

The group that nearly saved it

For three quarters, the defense he asked for did not show up. Charlotte scored 35 points in the second quarter and 30 in the third, and led 96-75 going into the fourth, on the second night of a back-to-back that began with a 47-point home loss to Atlanta.

The answer came from the second unit. With Antetokounmpo in foul trouble, a lineup of Bam Adebayo, Davion Mitchell, Pelle Larsson, Bobby Portis and Tim Hardaway Jr. opened the fourth on a 27-4 run and took a 102-100 lead, Miami’s first since early in the game. The Heat won the quarter 35-19. Antetokounmpo came back in for Portis with the score tied 102-102 and about five minutes left, was called for an offensive foul at 4:05, and fouled out with 1:57 to play. Grayson Allen’s four-point play in between put Charlotte back ahead for good.

The minutes tell the story of where Spoelstra found his answers. Larsson, the first reserve off the bench after Andrew Wiggins picked up two early fouls, played 36 minutes, more than any starter except Adebayo and Mitchell, and finished with 15 points, 7 rebounds and a plus-7. Portis (13 points, 8 rebounds) and Hardaway (plus-11) were also on the right side of the ledger. Three starters were not: Antetokounmpo was a minus-20 in 24:44 with 14 points on 4-of-11 shooting, Wiggins a minus-18 in 18:24, and Klay Thompson a minus-16 despite four three-pointers. Nikola Jović, part of the same nine-man rotation in the first two games, played just 6:20.

What Spoelstra has to sort out

Miami used the same starting five for the third straight game: Adebayo, Antetokounmpo, Mitchell, Wiggins and Thompson. Mitchell (22 points, 10 assists) and Adebayo (20 points, 8 rebounds) gave the Heat their best nights from that group, and Spoelstra had said before the game that Adebayo would find his footing once the offense ran the way it should. The harder question is the fit around Antetokounmpo, whose early fouls kept him to 24 minutes, and whether the bench group that won the fourth quarter earns a longer look.

What comes next

The Heat host the Dallas Mavericks on Monday, October 26, at 7:30 p.m. ET at Kaseya Center (Game Center). Dallas is expected to be without Cooper Flagg and Kyrie Irving. Miami then plays six of its next seven games on the road, starting Wednesday in Atlanta. Full numbers from Saturday are in the Heat-Hornets Game Center.