Heat coach Erik Spoelstra went back into the lab on Monday night, with big men Bam Adebayo and Kel’el Ware finally getting their first action together this preseason.
It proved to be a limited run.
Ultimately, the two were on the court together for only 8:03, with Adebayo leaving for good two minutes into the second half of the 119-118 overtime loss to the Atlanta Hawks at State Farm Arena due to a knee contusion.
The loss dropped the Heat to 0-5 in their six-game preseason schedule.
With Ware and Adebayo on the court together for the game’s first 6:03, their only time together in the first half, the Heat were outscored by three.
Adebayo then left in a game that was tied at the half when he departed, limping to the locker room, before returning to watch to the finish on the bench.
“He just landed awkwardly, but he says he feels fine,” Spoelstra said of Adebayo. “We’ll see when we get back to Miami. But as you saw, he was able to be out there the whole rest of the way (on the bench). I just wanted to make sure it didn’t go, any worse, so I just kind of sat him from there.”
Through the game’s first 26 minutes, Spoelstra mostly staggered the minutes of Adebayo and Ware, as the Heat played in the injury absence of Nikola Jovic, who had started the first three exhibitions alongside Adebayo.
Entering fourth in the NBA this preseason at 20.3 points per game and first in rebounding at 11.0, Ware scored only two points while on the court with Adebayo, with eight Heat shots going up before Ware got his first attempt. Ware closed with six points and 11 rebounds.
Adebayo, at only 4 of 18 from the field this preseason prior to Monday night, closed 4 of 11, with 13 points and nine rebounds in 19:28.
The Heat’s best efforts came from Norman Powell, Jaime Jaquez Jr. and tryout candidate Ethan Thompson, who each closed with 17 points. But it also was a night the Heat shot 5 of 34 on 3-pointers.
“It was just really unfortunate, really unfortunate that we didn’t walk out of here with a win,” Spoelstra said, now facing just the second winless preseason in the franchise’s 38 years.
Said Jaquez, “We got definitely a lot of things to work on. It’s unfortunate we didn’t get that win.”
Five Degrees of Heat from Monday night’s exhibition:
1. Still unclear: The Heat opened with a lineup of Adebayo, Ware, Powell, Andrew Wiggins, and Dru Smith.
That came with Jovic (back) and Tyler Herro (ankle) back rehabbing in Miami and with Davion Mitchell having made his preseason debut in Sunday’s loss in Orlando after being sidelined since camp with calf soreness.
With Spoelstra rarely playing his regulars in preseason finales, which for the Heat will be Friday against the Memphis Grizzlies, it likely will leave the opening-night lineup in doubt until that Oct. 22 opener in Orlando.
Mitchell this time played off the bench, entering in the first substitution along with Jaquez. Simone Fontecchio, who had missed three games due to a leg issue, followed, alongside Pelle Larsson, with the Heat going nine deep through three quarters.
“We’re just trying to learn the spacing, the cuts, the reads offensively and then defensively, really who we’re going to be?” Powell said.
2. Preseason indifference: Then again, getting any type of reads in exhibitions has become downright impossible.
Sunday night, the Magic, in defeating the Heat at Kia Center, sat out Paolo Banchero, Desmond Bane and Jalen Suggs, among others. This time among those held out by the Hawks included Trae Young, Kristaps Porzingis, Jalen Johnson, Dyson Daniels and Zaccharie Risacher.
Instead, the Hawks opened with the unlikely lineup of Jacob Toppin, Asa Newell, N’Faly Dante, Vit Krejci and Keaton Wallace.
Onyeka Okongwu and Nickeil Alexander-Walker also were not in uniform for the Hawks.
3. Sidelined again: After missing the first two exhibitions with a sprained left wrist, first-round pick Kasparas Jakucionis this time was sidelined by the hip soreness that took him out of Sunday’s game in Orlando in the first quarter.
“We don’t think this is a big thing right now,” Spoelstra said. “We’ll just get proactive about it when we get back to Miami and take those steps. This stuff has been minor, thankfully. But, also, we like how he’s been playing. So all things, too, can be fine in the big picture.”
4. Attack mode: Seemingly having given up on proving a 3-point stroke. Jaquez played almost solely in downhill attack mode, closing 7 of 14 from the field, 1 of 2 on 3-pointers.
“I’m feeling good, I’m really healthy,” Jaquez said. “I think all those things should contribute to how I feel right now.”
Jaquez’s regular-season role could come down to how Spoelstra views the hierarchy of Jaquez, Larsson and Fontecchio, with Fontecchio leaving in Monday night’s third quarter after taking a blow to the face.
5. Up next: The Heat next take the court Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. at Kaseya Center for their annual Red, White & Pink intrasquad scrimmage benefiting cancer research. Tickets for that event are $10.
The Heat then conclude their six-game preseason schedule Friday at 8 p.m. against the visiting Grizzlies, a team they then will face a week later on the road in their second game of the regular season.
The Heat open their regular season Oct. 22 in Orlando, with their home opener on Oct. 26 against the New York Knicks.
Originally Published: October 13, 2025 at 8:56 PM EDT