also were without Pelle Larsson<\/a> (illness) and Dru Smith (calf).<\/p>\nKeshad Johnson (hamstring) was available for the first time since his strain sustained during training camp, checking in midway through the fourth quarter and later throwing down a trademark windmill dunk. He went 7:33, with eight points and three rebounds.<\/p>\n
2. And a scare: Twenty-six seconds into the third period, Heat starting point guard Davion Mitchell was forced to the locker room with a laceration above his right eye, after a foul from the Nets\u2019 Keon Ellis.<\/p>\n
Because he was awarded free throws, Mitchell had to shoot them to remain in the game. So after a Heat timeout, Mitchell made the two free throws, committed an intentional foul to stop the game, then was replaced by Ryan Conwell.<\/p>\n
After receiving six stitches, Mitchell returned later in the third period, closing with 13 points, four assists and four rebounds in 24 minutes.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was going off,\u201d Spoelstra said, \u201che was like, \u2018This is just going to be a handful of stitches, I want to play. I want to get my minutes like everybody else was able to do\u2019 and we allowed him to do that. He still wanted to play in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe loves the game. He loves competing. He wants to get out there and compete in the games, not just the practices. So I get it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mitchell said there never was thought of calling it a night.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just love the game,\u201d Mitchell said. \u201cAnd I just wanted to play. I just wanted to be out there. You kind of don\u2019t take these moments for granted. And I know if I can play, I\u2019m gonna go out there and play.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo it wasn\u2019t really a hard decision for me. After they told me I got to shoot the free throws to stay in the game, I just ran out there and shot them.\u201d<\/p>\n
3. For starters: With Adebayo out, the Heat opened with primary starters Antetokounmpo, Mitchell, Wiggins and Thompson, with Richards stepping in for Adebayo.<\/p>\n
First off the Heat bench then were Nikola Jovic and Bobby Portis, as Spoelstra swapped out his starting power rotation midway through the opening period. Tim Hardaway Jr. followed next. With Larsson out, it also opened early minutes for Conwell. Simone Fontecchio also saw action in the first half.<\/p>\n
The Heat\u2019s starters then played into the second half for the first time this preseason.<\/p>\n
Hardaway added 14 points, Conwell 13, Portis 12, with Jovic contributing eight assists, five rebounds and five points.<\/p>\n
4: Richards time: Richards, whose contract does not become guaranteed until opening night, was called for two fouls in the opening 64 seconds.<\/p>\n
He had five points and three rebounds in his opening six-minute stint, closing with 11 points and five rebounds in 16 minutes.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s been giving us very good minutes in practice and in the games doing what he does,\u201d Spoelstra said. \u201cHe\u2019s a very good rebounder. He\u2019s a big big. His pick-and-roll coverage is something a little bit different than the other guys, and I think that helps our defense having somebody that can stay close to the basket.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just like his approach. He\u2019s in great shape. He looks different physically than he did last year, and it shows he\u2019s making more plays, more efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n
5. Up next: Up next for the Heat is Friday night\u2019s preseason finale against the Orlando Magic at Kia Center.<\/p>\n
Then, Saturday, the Heat will have to cut to no more than 15 players under standard contract and three under two-way contract. The Heat currently are carrying the NBA offseason maximum of 21 players.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MIAMI \u2014 As he barreled through the paint in transition in the first quarter, paying no heed to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":428252,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[114,123,125,2490,124,2295,110],"class_list":["post-428251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-latest-headlines","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-heat","tag-miami-news","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=428251"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428251\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/428252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=428251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=428251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=428251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}