![\"Miami](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/2026-10-24T234903Z_1450182962_MT1USATODAY30178458_RTRMADP_3_NBA-MIAMI-HEAT-AT-CHARLOTTE-HORNETS.JPG\" "\\"Miami")
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra looks on from the sideline during the third quarter against the Charlotte Hornets at Spectrum Center.<\/p>\n
Brian Westerholt<\/p>\n
IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n
The Miami Heat\u2019s Giannis Antetokounmpo era is off to a historically bad start.<\/p>\n
After Saturday night\u2019s 115-110 loss to the Charlotte Hornets at Spectrum Center, the Heat is 0-3 to start a season for the first time since the 2007-08 schedule. Miami dropped its first five games of the 2007-08 season and finished with a dismal 15-67 record before taking Michael Beasley with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2008 draft.<\/p>\n
In fact, this is just the fifth time in franchise history that the Heat has started a season with an 0-3 record. Miami has qualified for the playoffs after beginning 0-3 just once before, when it made it to the second round of the 2004 playoffs during Dwyane Wade\u2019s rookie season.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just got to keep fighting, keep pushing,\u201d Heat starting guard Davion Mitchell said following Saturday\u2019s loss in Charlotte. \u201cIt\u2019s a new team, we\u2019re kind of learning each other\u2019s personalities, learning each other\u2019s games still. I mean, this is Game 3. We\u2019re not in panic mode. We\u2019re going to figure it out.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the new-look Heat has a lot to figure out, as it entered Sunday with the NBA\u2019s 25th-ranked offensive rating and 28th-ranked defensive rating for the season.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s early in the season, it\u2019s October,\u201d Heat veteran center Bobby Portis Jr. said. \u201cWe\u2019re still getting to know each other. When you put a team together, all the pieces have to come together. And it\u2019s obviously not the start that we wanted, but there\u2019s so much good that we can take from it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Just about anything good that the Heat can take away from Saturday\u2019s defeat came in the fourth quarter. With a lineup of Mitchell, Tim Hardaway Jr., Pelle Larsson, Portis and Bam Adebayo, Miami opened the fourth quarter on a 25-4 run to erase a 21-point deficit and tie the game at 100 with 5:42 to play before Charlotte hung on for the victory.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was inspiring, and ultimately what I told our team right now is we need inspiration,\u201d Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said, with the next opportunity for Miami to get its first win of the season coming on Monday against the Dallas Mavericks at Kaseya Center (7:30 p.m., WPLG Local 10 and NBA TV). \u201cThose five guys inspired our team for 10 minutes of the game, and we need a lot more inspiration throughout the course of 48 minutes. It\u2019s a powerful thing when you can inspire your teammate to make an extraordinary effort, and we will. We\u2019ll get there.\u201d<\/p>\n
To get there, the Heat needs to get its starting lineup to produce positive results.<\/p>\n
The Heat\u2019s starting group of Mitchell, Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins, Antetokounmpo and Adebayo has been outscored by an eye-opening 47.1 points per 100 possessions in 31 minutes together through the first three games of the season. Among the eight lineups around the NBA that entered Sunday with at least 30 minutes played together this season, this Heat starting unit has the worst net rating.<\/p>\n
The Heat also needs to find a way to win in the margins, as it has been outscored 165-108 from three-point range and 58-37 in second-chance points through the first three games of the season.<\/p>\n
The Heat has even struggled with Antetokounmpo on the court so far. Miami has been outscored by 28.6 points per 100 possessions in the 88 minutes that Antetokounmpo has played this season.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think this is a great opportunity. We\u2019re getting to know each other now,\u201d Spoelstra said amid the Heat\u2019s rough start to the season. \u201cEverything was great in September, barbecues and all this stuff. You get to know each other for real when you feel a little bit of adversity, how all of us respond.\u201d<\/p>\n
There\u2019s still a long season ahead, but history says the Heat faces an uphill battle in accomplishing its ultimate goal. The 1990-91 Chicago Bulls are the only team in NBA history to begin 0-3 and win a championship that same season.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the motto of our group is pain, and we\u2019re going through pain,\u201d Mitchell said. \u201cAnd we love that because you learn so much from it. Even the preseason, we were all up and up. And winning games, obviously, it\u2019s the preseason. And then now we\u2019re losing games, and now we learn from each other. Learning from mistakes is always just like a learning curve, so that\u2019s the positive.\u201d<\/p>\n
With 79 games left to play this regular season, all the Heat can do is push forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s every other day from here on out, for real,\u201d Portis said after Saturday\u2019s loss in Charlotte. \u201cSo just getting our rest tomorrow, coming back Monday, being better than we were today, and then just keep trending. This is my 12th year at this, so you never get too high or too low throughout the NBA season. You stay even-keeled, and you just do your routine every day. Eventually, it\u2019ll come together, and we\u2019ll peak at the right time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Related Stories from Miami Herald<\/p>\n
![\"Profile](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1792951691_641_AnthonyChiang-Profile.jpg\")