Heat falls to Timberwolves for its first loss of preseason

Miami Heat small forward Nikola Jovic (5) drives on Minnesota Timberwolves shooting guard Jaylen Clark (7) during the first half at Kaseya Center.

Michael Laughlin

IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 125-124 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves in its third of five preseason games on Saturday night at Kaseya Center. The Heat fell to 2-1 this preseason:

The Heat and Timberwolves will open the regular season against each other in 11 days on Oct. 21 in Miami. But Saturday’s preseason game between the two teams didn’t serve as a preview of that matchup.

Both the Heat and Timberwolves sat most of their rotation regulars on Saturday.

After the Heat’s leading duo of Bam Adebayo and Giannis Antetokounmpo played in each of the first two preseason games, they were both held out on Saturday.

The Heat also rested starters Davion Michell, Andrew Wiggins and Klay Thompson. In addition, Miami sat out the 34-year-old Tim Hardaway Jr. and the 31-year-old Bobby Portis.

The Heat also remained without Keshad Johnson (right hamstring strain) and Dru Smith (right calf strain). Johnson and Smith have missed Miami’s first three preseason games.

“If they started the other night, they’re not starting tonight, they’re not playing,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said before Saturday’s exhibition. “And then if they’re over 30 years old, they played the other night, they’re not playing.

That left the Heat with 12 available players for Saturday’s exhibition: Ryan Conwell, Tre Donaldson, Simone Fontecchio, Myron Gardner, Vlad Goldin, Nikola Jovic, Kylor Kelley, Pelle Larsson, Gabe Madsen, Bez Mbeng, Nick Richards and Ian Schieffelin.

Meanwhile, the Timberwolves also held out most of their regulars. Among Minnesota’s players who were unavailable on Saturday were Anthony Edwards, LaMelo Ball, Jaden McDaniels, Rudy Gobert and Jonathan Kuminga.

When asked if the fact that the Heat and Timberwolves open the season against each other in less than two weeks factored into the decision to sit regulars for Saturday’s preseason game, Minnesota coach Chris Finch didn’t deny that could be part of the equation.

“I’m sure. Yeah, of course,” Finch said. “But neither of us are a finished product. We’re a week or so into camp. So there’s no way we could have gotten everything in that we need to get in. We haven’t really started talking about what opening night looks like in terms of game prep or anything like this. There are things that we still want to try to get. We came into camp this year being very slow, very intentional. Less is more. … I can’t speak for Spo. I’m sure he’s pacing his team appropriately and not really worried about us too much tonight either. But in ten days time it will be different.”

With so many regulars out, the Heat used a starting lineup and a bench rotation on Saturday that won’t be used to open a game this regular season unless there’s a rash of injuries. But Jovic and Conwell took advantage of the opportunity.

The Heat went with a starting lineup of Donaldson, Larsson, Fontecchio, Jovic and Richards for Saturday’s exhibition.

The Timberwolves opened the preseason game with a starting lineup of Bones Hyland, Terrence Shannon Jr., Jaylen Clark, Trey Lyles and Joan Beringer.

Jovic, who is working to earn a spot in Miami’s regular season rotation after a shaky year last season, stepped into a bigger role for the undermanned Heat and impressed on Saturday.

Jovic, 23, contributed 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field and 2-of-2 shooting from behind the arc, six rebounds, three assists and three steals in 25 minutes. But what impressed Spoelstra most on Saturday was when Jovic committed a turnover, he sprinted back to play defense instead of sulking.

“He has the skills. You can see that on display in all of the games right now,” Spoelstra said. “And he’ll just continue to get better. That happens to every single NBA player. When the game is not going the way you want it to go, you just figure out how you’re going to win that next possession.”

Larsson, who is already expected to be a consistent member of the Heat’s rotation this regular season, totaled 14 points on 4-of-15 shooting from the field, 0-of-2 shooting from three-point range and 6-of-7 shooting from the foul line, three rebounds and five assists in 24 minutes on Saturday before leaving the contest because of an ongoing illness. Larsson also missed practice time and the Heat’s second exhibition game earlier this week because he was sick.

“He’s a little bit out of rhythm right now,” Spoelstra said of Larsson. “He hasn’t really practiced this week. He doesn’t feel great right now, but it was good to get him some minutes and just get him out there. You can see how he can fill a lot of gaps in a rotation.”

Conwell, who was acquired by the Heat in the second round of this year’s draft, played off the bench on Saturday and flashed his potential after a quiet start to the preseason. The rookie guard recorded a team-high 22 points on 7-of-18 shooting from the field, 2-of-9 shooting on threes and 6-of-7 shooting from the foul line, five rebounds, nine assists and two steals in 32 minutes.

Prior to Saturday’s standout performance, Conwell had totaled just nine points on 3-of-12 shooting from the field and 0-of-6 shooting from three-point range, two rebounds and six assists through the Heat’s first two exhibitions.

“He made some big plays in the second half,” Spoelstra said of Conwell following Saturday’s exhibition. “As he got settled into the game, you could feel his competitive spirit on both ends of the court and he made some really nice plays. Obviously, he had a couple threes that were big, but he made some plays off the dribble. We were running some of the triggers in the fourth quarter for him to make the read, whether it was a shot or get us into something. He did a nice job of that.”

Gardner added 12 points, seven rebounds, five assists and two steals in 27 minutes off the Heat’s bench.

The Heat played Conwell, Gardner, Goldin, Mbeng and Schieffelin off the bench on Saturday. Kelley and Madsen, who were both added to Exhibit 10 contracts on Thursday night, were the only two available Heat players who didn’t get into the game.

It was just a preseason game, but it was still a meaningful night for Richards.

That’s because Richards is still competing for a spot on the Heat’s opening night roster, as he signed a nonguaranteed one-year deal in late August to fill the 14th spot on Miami’s standard roster for this season. Richards’ $3.1 million salary for this upcoming season becomes fully guaranteed if he’s on the Heat’s roster on opening night.

With so many players out, Richards started Saturday’s exhibition after playing a total of just 25 minutes through the first two preseason games.

Richards finished the preseason loss with seven points on 2-of-2 shooting from the field and 3-of-4 shooting from the free-throw line, 10 rebounds, one steal and one block in 24 minutes.

Richards, 28, has totaled 12 points and 26 rebounds in 49 minutes this preseason. His rebounding has stood out.

It would make sense to keep Richards around for the start of the regular season since NBA teams basically need at least 14 players on standard contracts. NBA teams are allowed to go up to two weeks at a time with 13 players before they are forced to add another player to reach the league minimum of 14.

Waiving Richards would leave the Heat with only 13 players on standard deals unless it replaces him with another standard contract player.

Plus, Richards’ skill set is needed as a 6-foot-11 and 245-pound big man.

Richards brings much-needed frontcourt depth to the Heat’s roster, with Adebayo and Portis the only other players currently on Miami’s standard roster who have played extended minutes at center during their NBA careers. The only other center on Miami’s roster is Goldin, who is signed to a two-way deal that allows for him to be on the Heat’s active list for as many as 50 regular-season games with other game action having to come in the G League.

NBA teams have a 5 p.m. deadline on Monday, Oct. 19 to cut rosters to the regular-season maximum. But most of those moves actually need to be made by 5 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 17 because of the 48-hour waiver period.

The Heat’s roster is currently at the preseason maximum of 21 players (14 players on standard contracts, three players on two-way contracts and four players on Exhibit 10 contracts), and rosters must be cut to a maximum total of 18 players (15 on standard contracts and three on two-way contracts) by the start of the regular season.

As for Goldin, Saturday’s preseason game was important for him, too. He delivered.

Goldin, who went undrafted last year out of Michigan, played a total of just seven minutes through the Heat’s first preseason games. He played seven minutes in the preseason opener and didn’t play in the second exhibition despite being in uniform.

But with the Heat missing so many rotation regulars on Saturday, Goldin played extended minutes. He was solid, finishing with 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field, 1-of-2 shooting on threes and 3-of-3 shooting from the foul line, six rebounds and one block in 23 minutes.

The highlight of the night for Goldin came when he grabbed a timely offensive rebound and made a put-back layup while being fouled to tie the game at 123 with 14.8 seconds left in the fourth quarter. Goldin then made the free throw to complete the three-point play and put the Heat ahead by one point.

But the Timberwolves still won, as Antonio Reeves made a game-winning eight-foot floater with 2.3 seconds to play to send Minnesota to the one-point win.

The Heat had one final chance to come away with the victory, but Conwell air-balled a three-pointer as the final buzzer sounded.

“When he’s around the basket, he does good things,” Spoelstra said of Goldin. “He had some great finishes on broken plays. The offensive rebound, obviously. He’s got a really good touch there. It’s been a matter of him keeping up with the speed of the game. When it really gets quick and gets up and down, he’s really worked at it. His conditioning is great, but it’s a synapse change of getting into the next possession.”

Goldin spent last season on a two-way contract with the Heat and is again set to begin this season on a two-way deal with the Heat. But two-way deals can be swapped out at any time.

Goldin (7 feet and 255 pounds) spent most of his first season with the Heat in the G League, averaging 12.3 points, 7.6 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.9 blocks per game while shooting 59.2% from the field and 12 of 32 (37.5%) from three-point range for the Sioux Falls Skyforce last season.

Goldin, 25, logged only 24 minutes across nine games in the NBA with the Heat last season. Before closing his college career at Michigan, Goldin starred at Florida Atlantic for three seasons.

The Heat’s three two-way contract spots are currently filled with Donaldson, Goldin and Johnson.

While most of the Heat’s rotation regulars didn’t play on Saturday, there are still two other opportunities for them to play in a game this preseason.

First, the Heat will have some practice time with a three-day break before playing its fourth preseason game on Wednesday against the Brooklyn Nets at Kaseya Center.

The Heat then closes its five-game preseason schedule on Friday against the Magic in Orlando.

While it would be a surprise to see the Heat’s regulars play in each of the final two exhibitions, getting them some action in one of the preseason games isn’t out of the question.

This story was originally published October 10, 2026 at 10:42 PM.

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