The inaugural In-Season Tournament commenced for East Group B with the Miami Heat earning its second win of the year. Debuting its City Edition jerseys on a loud red court, featuring a large trophy at the center, in Haywood Highsmith’s first start of the season, the hosts burned the Wizards at the stake.

Group Play was all gas, no brakes in the first quarter as the visiting Wizards cast a spell on the Heat, preventing it from containing a cascade of bombs and inside blows. The defense was sagging off and unable to stop dribble penetration. Yet, Tyler Herro, Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo were in command of the offense, retaliating with four of nine 3-point makes and six buckets in the restricted area.

Butler scored 11 early points, posting up, running the break, firing from distance and at the line with two steals. For Washington, Kyle Kuzma and Jordan Poole shot over openings on the perimeter and raced down the floor for quick scores, totaling 17 points on nine attempts. At the end of the first, the game was tied at 34, yet Miami put opposing center Daniel Gafford in foul trouble with two penalties and tried four additional free throws.

In the second quarter, Washington’s pick-and-roll defense was powerless against Herro driving to the cup or feeding his big man when doubled. In a 90-second span midway through the frame, he was the architect of a 9-0 run, scoring or assisting on four straight baskets. Duncan Robinson recorded nine points, cutting to the hoop and connecting on a corner banger on his second attempt.

Defensively, Miami held Washington to 40.9% shooting and didn’t allow any of their starters multiple field goals in interval two.

In the last 35 seconds of the first half, Highsmith’s knee collided with Washington’s Deni Avdija, covering a dribble drive. Next, coach Erik Spoelstra subbed in Josh Richardson and got Highsmith checked out in the locker room. Fortunately for Miami, he was able to play almost 10 minutes in the following quarter.

At halftime, the Heat was up 60-54 with eight points scored off turnovers and seven on second opportunities. Herro was more than halfway to a triple-double, accumulating 12 on his scorecard, eight rebounds and seven helpings.

In the third period, Miami logged 41 points for the second time this season in a 12-minute span, on this occasion mainly behind Adebayo finishing on jump shots and at close range. Butler made all three of his attempts on cuts and a pick-6. Herro contributed two trays as well.

Entering the final quarter, the Heat was ahead 101-81, but the Wizards deployed full-court press, trapped Herro at midcourt, plus forced seven turnovers to cut Miami’s lead to 10 with four minutes left. It was as if the Wizards heard Miami’s play-by-play broadcaster Eric Reid say during the third quarter, “Some empathy for Wizard’s head coach Wes Unseld Jr. It looks like they have a long year ahead of them in the nation’s capital…”

Washington beat Miami in transition, delivered the entry pass to the middle and burned the perimeter protection, outproducing the hosts 33-20. Yet, Herro put them down, sizing up rookie Bilal Coulibaly and hitting a baseline jumper over him. He finished an assist shy of a triple-double with 24 points.

The Heat won 121-114 and had a seven point advantage in the rebounding department.

At the postgame presser, Spoelstra said he hated changing the starting rotation after losing four in a row because outsiders look at it as an indictment of a member. “This is just a move for now. [Kevin] Love is going to have a role with us. Everything that we wanted last year, I just feel like we are going to need that kind of decorated veteran experience…”

The win was Miami’s second of the year. The regular season record is 1-4 and its mark in Tournament competition is 1-0.

The Heat will not practice on Saturday.

Tyler Herro’s homecoming soured despite his efforts to prove a point after breaking his hand at Fiserv Forum 19 minutes into the Playoffs. This time, the Heat got Bucked, with Damian Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo leading the stampede. Bam Adebayo was absent with a hip injury and unable to shield the paint plus switch outside. Haywood Highsmith was still out with a left knee sprain. For three quarters, Orlando Robinson auditioned for a new squad – the Beijing Royal Fighters. And still, the Heat clawed back to within six points during the last 30 seconds.

Even with the missing contributors, Herro was the singular Heatle who came prepared until his colleagues picked it up late. A night earlier, the Atlanta Hawks thumped the Bucks by 17 points and, at one moment, had them down 31. Monday, there was no chance of that, given how Miami pantsed Milwaukee in the Postseason and was hurt going in. Cream City’s unit was sloppy in the first half but still in control.

In the opening quarter, the Heat used the 2-2-1 press to slow the Bucks, not allowing any fastbreak buckets. Herro exploited Milwaukee’s drop coverage, hitting consecutive high-difficulty floaters over Bobby Portis. Thomas Bryant scored eight points by cutting and posting. Jimmy Butler recorded nine early points before taking his foot off the gas.

The Heat was tied at 28 after a quarter, but the Bucks charged to a 7-0 run before coach Erik Spoelstra called timeout. He’d seen enough after Herro was blitzed and ripped on two possessions by Portis, and Butler looked disinterested not playing with Lillard. Rookie Jamie Jaquez Jr. then missed four shots in a row before the close of the half.

O. Robinson was BBQ and picked up two fouls in three minutes. One of his penalties was so obvious that when Spo instinctually cried flop on Cameron Payne, referee Tony Brothers walked past him, rolling his eyes. Josh Richardson left 3-point shooters open, but Herro kept the group on life support with the squad’s three final baskets of the quarter, pushing his output to 18 points.

At intermission, the Heat was down 52-62 following a last-second top of the key trifecta, swished by Jae Crowder when Herro over-helped on the wing. The Bucks scored 28 points in the paint and 11 were off Miami’s turnovers. Antetokounmpo and Portis repeatedly mauled the backline.

Next came the infamous turd quarter as the Bucks went on an 11-4 run before Spo called another break that failed to stop the bleeding. For the period, Herro was the team’s offense, but the Heat conceded 14 of 22 baskets to eight different Bucks, digging a 25-point ditch.

Milwaukee then committed the cardinal sin of not extinguishing the Heat’s embers. In the fourth, Spoelstra benched Butler, and the visitors chopped away with a bevy of 3-pointers and paint attacks. O. Robinson nailed a bomb from the corner, beat Portis off the dribble from the top to the cup, scored at close range off a roll, and had five rebounds and five assists. Duncan Robinson canned three triples.

With under two minutes left, D. Robinson cut the deficit to six as he maneuvered to the square for a transition floater. His leaning 3-pointer in front of two defenders on the right wing was the last retaliatory blow the Heat landed.

Milwaukee won 122-114.

After his third match with the Bucks, Lillard said as the team goes on, it will continue to get better. “We [have] a great starting group, but I think one of our greatest strengths is our bench, our depth. When we [have] guys coming in, moving the ball, playing with energy, getting deflections… we’ll be a hard team to beat.”

At the postgame presser for the losing side, Spoelstra said his group earned its 25-point deficit, but then the young crew battled back. “I’m sure Milwaukee was just trying to play it out, hoping we were going to go away, but our guys did some good things out there…we just need to move the needle this week.”

The Heat’s record is now 1-3.

Three games into the season, the Miami Heat are already below .500 after losing its first road back-to-back set to the Boston Celtics and Minnesota Timberwolves. In both defeats, the Heat let go of the rope late.

Saturday, Jimmy Butler was the only NBA player to rest for a game, per the NBA injury report. Meanwhile, Kevin Love has a shoulder contusion, Haywood Highsmith has a left knee sprain, Caleb Martin has left knee tendinosis and Josh Richardson has right heel inflammation. The Heat is lucky trainer Jay Sabol and Co. worked around the clock to straighten out Jamie Jaquez Jr.’s left groin strain and Duncan Robinson’s left foot sprain.

The Heat were in it for three quarters, but through the game…

The Timberwolves got into the paint at will

Against man-to-man coverage and some 2-3 zone, Minnesota invaded Miami’s interior for 58 points, easily entering via handoffs, pick and roll, dribble breakdowns and crashing the offensive glass. Last season, the Heat had the strictest paint protection in the league, only permitting 46.2 points in the square. Rudy Gobert, Naz Reid, Kyle Anderson and Mike Conley were the main culprits. In total, the Timberwolves made 29 of 46 paint tries.

This is where it would have been nice to have Butler. He could have helped stop the ball outside, contest in the paint, or intercept a pass in the lane.

The Heat played faster than usual in the first half

Thirteen of 22 fastbreak points were scored in the first half. Steals and quick outlet passes pushed the pace like Love was on the court. This gave the Heat a boost because, for the game, it was only dropping 76.3 points per 100 half-court plays, per Cleaning the Glass. The second half was much slower, flowing at a pace rating of 95.0. The league average last season was 99.2.

The Heat couldn’t hit from deep or get to the line

The Timberwolves contested well against many of the Heat’s 3-point attempts after the catch and in drop coverage. Robinson found someone attached to his hip most of the night, causing him to miss eight tries. Kyle Lowry bricked over the length of Conley, Anderson and Towns. Jamal Cain couldn’t splash one either when the defense abandoned him, too. The only Heatle to shoot well beyond the arc was Herro.

The Heat was misfiring so badly that even Adebayo hoisted one up when the defense didn’t bother to leave the paint. But worse yet, the Heat couldn’t get to the line often to get the hosts in foul trouble and cut the flow of the game, giving themselves a breather. At the charity line, Miami made eight of 14 freebies.

Results of Adebayo and Herro leading in usage

Adebayo and Herro conducted 59.1% of Miami’s offensive plays and made 15 of 37 field goal attempts. In the first half, they were powering the Heat with a combined 25 points on 50% shooting.

In the second half, Herro was shut down on drives by Gobert and KAT at the rim. Conley and Nickeil Alexander-Walker forced him into tough jumpers, finishing the second half, making three of 12 field goals.

Adebayo was more of an offensive lineman than a scorer in the last 24 minutes, only taking five shots and making two. Before the game got out of reach, his last two dimes were feeds to Herro at the top of the key.

Collapse in the fourth quarter

The Heat entered the fourth quarter down seven points and proceeded to convert six of 25 field goals. In a six-minute stretch, the visitors missed 11 shots in a row. The offense was predictable, with minimal movement on the perimeter by off-ball players, allowing the Timberwolves to sag off, clogging the lane. Bad shots were taken early in the shot clock that prevented the Heat any chance at an offensive rebound.

Defensively in the last interval, Miami gave up four above-the-break triples and one in the corner because of unnecessary overhelp. Reid and Anthony Edwards took over, totaling 19 points on 88% shooting.

For the Miami Heat’s 36th season debut, 19,695 spectators filled the Kaseya Center as it hosted Detroit’s young Pistons. Early, the reigning East champs allowed its guests to record 11 of 19 first-quarter field goals, including five triples. Yet, despite shooting 25.8% higher from the field in the first quarter, coach Monty Williams’ squad only held a three-point lead because of eight turnovers, five of which were Miami steals.

Offensively, Tyler Herro was shooting blanks, missing seven of his first eight tries, but Bam Adebayo opened with seven points. Jimmy Butler dropped four baskets in a row after missing two. For the Pistons, third-year point guard Cade Cunningham maneuvered to the midrange and cup, shooting over Kyle Lowry, Caleb Martin and Herro. Rookie guard Ausar Thompson swatted three Heat shots, defending the ball handler and swarming Butler twice after he caught a backdoor pass under the rim.

In the second quarter, Miami permitted just 31.8% of Detroit’s attempts to fall, held Thompson to a make out of seven and logged four additional steals. But Cunningham still beat drop coverage and switches easily, raising his output to 18 points on eight of 11 shots with two assists in the first half.

Of Miami’s six assists in the second interval, Duncan Robinson was involved in four as a passer or scorer. Rookie Jaime Jaquez and Butler set up the other two. Kevin Love’s outlet passing didn’t translate to dimes, but it put the Heat in the fast lane in transition.

At halftime, the Heat was up 58-47 but behind on the glass by six. Detroit’s Isaiah Stewart, Jalen Duren and Thompson, combined for 19 of its 27 boards, seven being offensive, turning into eight second-chance points. Miami wasn’t protecting the arc well either. However, it forced 12 misses in the paint, allowing Detroit only a dozen points in the square.

In the second half, Miami’s offense dropped off significantly because Detroit pressured the ball and sagged off Lowry to bother paint penetration or a nearby shooter. Yet, the hosts hammered the offensive glass, recovering eight boards and earned a handful of more trips to the line.

With over nine minutes left, the Heatles were up 19 points. That lead was reduced to one as Miami’s staunch paint protection disappeared, conceding the restricted area for six buckets and the perimeter for two triples. Adebayo switched onto Cunningham on five possessions, pressuring three misses on drives and a midrange jumper.

Cunningham’s 3-pointer with fewer than two minutes left, inching Detroit closer by a point, was his team’s last basket. He attempted three more but was contested by Lowry at the wing, rejected by Adebayo at the cylinder, and bothered by Butler at the top of the key on the last hoist of the night that clanked the side of the rim.

The Heat held off the Pistons in its season opener, 103-102, and finished with 19 second-chance points.

Adebayo, who finished with 22 points and eight rebounds, was then interviewed on the court about how the Heat made the stops to come up with a win. He said, “We did blow a lead, but as long as we [won] by half a point, we got stops down the stretch. That’s all that matters.”