Winderman’s view: An opening night to forget for the Heat, Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo

MIAMI – Observations and other notes of interest from Wednesday night’s 116-97 loss to the Orlando Magic:

– Forget all the bells and whistles.

– The preseason talk of pace and space and 3-pointers.

– For the Miami Heat to be the best version of the Miami Heat, it has to start with Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo.

– That made this one particularly disconcerting.

– For much of the night, it was as if they weren’t there.

– At halftime the two were a combined 1 of 10 from the field.

– With Tyler Herro the Heat’s best player to that point.

– Nikola Jovic, at least on offense, second best.

– With Terry Rozier also providing energy.

– Which is all well and good.

– But those four preseason appearances by Butler did not lead to a player ready from the outset of the season.

– And while Adebayo got to the foul line, there has to be more there, too.

– The pace and space and threes certainly can fuel the Heat’s greater good.

– But is it a style in the best interest of Adebayo and Butler?

– Because if not, then there just is not much there there.

– As was previewed during the preseason, the Heat opened with a lineup of Adebayo, Jovic, Butler, Herro and Rozier.

– Josh Christopher and Keshad Johnson were inactive on their Heat two-way contracts, with Dru Smith active.

– But with coach Erik Spoelstra electing to go without a true backup point guard.

– Then, shortly before tipoff, the Heat announced that Kevin Love would not be available due to personal reasons.

– Although sidelined by a heel issue and not in uniform, Josh Richardson was technically active for the game.

– Duncan Robinson addressed the crowd pregame, ending with “Let’s have a great year. Go Heat.”

– The Magic opened with a lineup of Jalen Suggs, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Franz Wagner, Paolo Banchero and Wendell Carter Jr.

– The Heat opened with Adebayo defensively on Banchero.

– With Jovic on Carter.

–  Jaime Jaquez Jr. played as the Heat’s first substitute, entering midway through the opening period for Butler.

– Haywood Highsmith and Thomas Bryant then followed, Bryant getting the opportunity with Love not available.

– With Robinson making it nine deep.

– Bryant’s first free-throw attempt was the 500th of his career.

– It was the 31st consecutive game scoring in double figures for Herro, seven games from the longest such streak of his six seasons.

– Herro converted a 3-pointer for the 40th consecutive game. His longest career streak is 53 consecutive such games.

– Of the Heat’s new look from a playing-style perspective, Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said pregame, “Obviously noticing on film throughout the preseason they’re playing faster. And, so, their ability to run, push the pace.”

– Mosley also spoke of Adebayo shooting 3-pointers during the preseason.

– “It changes a lot,” Mosley said. “His ability to stretch the floor is something we have to be alert for. So there’s a five-out system that we have to make sure we’re focusing on.”

– Only it was not a factor in this one.

– Spoelstra arrived to his pregame media session with a bit of extra pep in his step.

– “Like I said the last couple of days, it was just a really good training camp, preseason, everything we needed to do to get to this point,” Spoelstra said. “Now it’s Wednesday Night Lights.”

– Or not.

– Of the Magic, Spoelstra said pregame, “They were one of the top defensive teams last year. It wasn’t by accident. They have great length, but they also work at it, they make it tough on you.”

– That they did.

– Spoelstra added, “The young players just continue to grow, so you don’t know the growth from one year to the next. But the playoff experience I’m sure helped them.”

– Banchero looked particularly solid.

– Of the Heat honoring Pat Riley at halftime with the naming of the Kaseya Center court, Spoelstra said, “Outside my family, he’s the greatest mentor I’ve ever had.”

– The game was listed by the Heat as their 600th consecutive sellout, not counting the pandemic seasons.

– The game marked the ninth time in their 37 seasons the Heat opened against the Magic, the first time since 2002.

– The Heat entered 20-16 all-time in openers, with victories in nine of their previous 13.

– The game was the first of 16 Wednesday games for the Heat, the day of the week with the most Heat games this season.