Miami Heat’s Bam Adebayo Offers Open Comment Following Season Opening Loss

The Miami Heat declined to discuss their season-opening loss to the Orlando Magic.

“We played poorly. “It actually had nothing to do with it,” Adebayo said. “I mean, it’s as simple as I can do it. It’s a shame, especially on a night like this for Godfather Riley.”

There was great excitement in the Heat the night the field at Kaseya Center was named after team president Pat Riley. The organization held a ceremony at halftime. Many former players returned to the event, including Udonis Haslem, Dwyane Wade and Alonzo Mourning.

After trailing by four points at halftime, they took a 39-18 lead in the third quarter before a 19-point loss.

“For us, it’s short-term memory,” Adebayo said. “I know it’s the beginning of the season, but we don’t want to make it like a ‘get used to it’ thing. For us, it’s win or misery.”

The good news is that this is only the first of 82 matches. The Heat have plenty of time to get things together.

“I thought the first half wasn’t perfect,” Heat guard Tyler Herro said. “The ball was moving. Our bodies were moving. I thought it was hard to defend. The result never tells the story. We felt like we did the right thing in the first half, we weren’t quite sure what was going to happen in the second half.”

The Heat will play again at the Charlotte Hornets on Saturday.

Ryan Diamond contributes to Miami Heat On SI. He can be reached at [email protected] and @RyanDiam15 on X.