MIAMI — Observations and other notes of interest from Saturday night’s 127-111 loss to the Sacramento Kings:

– There are many ways to address what the Heat power rotation is and what it isn’t.

– Two came at Saturday night’s intermission.

– First, there was Sacramento’s Precious Achiuwa closing the first half with seven rebounds in his 11 minutes over the opening two periods, while Heat center Kel’el Ware had two over his 13 first-half minutes.

– Second, was Erik Spoelstra then opting to open the second half with Ware on the bench, with Jaime Jaquez Jr. in his place.

– As Spoelstra noted after Friday night’s loss in Orlando, the opening lineups with Ware and Bam Adebayo have not been working, especially on the defensive end.

– Such again was the case at Saturday’s outset.

– The problem is the options in the power rotation, since Achiuwa was waived by the Heat at the end of the preseason, are limited.

– Because until being forced back into action Saturday by injuries elsewhere, Nikola Jovic played himself out of the rotation.

– Hardly an answer to the power mix.

– This doesn’t mean it doesn’t work with Adebayo.

– And it doesn’t mean it doesn’t work with Ware.

– But it hasn’t been working with the two in tandem.

– Not that Spoelstra has many other options in his power rotation (with all due respect to undersized Keshad Johnson).

– In less than a week, the Heat will have the option of adding another player to the standard roster while still remaining below the luxury tax.

– The fact that the power rotation still needs to be addressed makes it all the more confounding that it wasn’t addressed already.

– And in this case, with even Jovic inserted in the second half before Ware.

– Big things clearly at play.

– Big things clearly needing to be addressed.

– With Tyler Herro, Davion Mitchell and Pelle Larsson out, the Heat opened with a lineup of Ware, Adebayo, Andrew Wiggins, Norman Powell and Dru Smith.

–It was the Heat’s 10th lineup in their 24 games.

– And the third career start for Smith, who started one game for the Heat in 2022-23 and one last season.

–  It was the first absence of the season for Mitchell.

– With depth limited, Jovic, after being held out of two of the previous three games, entered first off the bench along with Jaime Jaquez Jr.

– Simone Fontecchio followed.

– And then Jahmir Young with his first rotation minutes of the season.

– Little of it worked.

– The bench overly decimated by injuries.

– Spoelstra said the expectation was still of quality play at point guard even without Mitchell.

– “And that’s not to take away from anything that he’s done,” Spoelstra said. “He’s been playing great basketball at both ends of the court. We still want to get to our identity, regardless.”

– Didn’t happen.

– Spoelstra said the team’s supporting players have been working to be ready for such moments.

– “The guys work extremely hard behind the scenes,” he said. “They prepare for these kind of moments. And we try to give them an environment where they can grow and surprise us and continue to get better as the season goes on.”

– He added, “It’s exciting. You don’t want guys to get hurt, but it’s exciting when guys get opportunities.”

– Or, in this case, not.

– As for Herro, Saturday’s MRI showed nothing more than a contusion of his right big toe.

– Herro is listed as day to day.

– So a sigh of relief?

– “I just was going to wait until we found out what the deal was,” Spoelstra said. “I try not to stress out about things you don’t know about or can’t control.”