The Heat’s rough start got even rougher Monday, but Giannis Antetokounmpo isn’t backing off his belief that Miami can still turn this into a real season.
After the Lakers handed the Heat a blowout loss to open a five-game road trip, Antetokounmpo told Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald that he still sees a team with enough in place to matter.
“Do I think we have the pieces? Yeah,” he said.
“Do I think we got a lot of things to figure out? We have a lot.
But I know what the Miami Heat culture is about. I know what the players in this locker room are about.
I know what I’m about. And I know that once we get on the right track, we can make some noise.”
Bobby Portis, who has spent years alongside Giannis, sounded just as patient about the slow start.
“Obviously, it started off slow, but it will peak at the right time throughout the season,” he said. “I just think it’s a process, an everyday process.
Guys are just drilling things, getting familiar with how guys play. It’s a group.
We’ve got six or seven new guys on the team. So we’re all just trying to figure it out at once.”
Elsewhere in the Southeast Division, Erik Spoelstra is giving Ryan Conwell a longer runway with the Heat’s second unit, Chiang reports. Conwell was the first guard off the bench against the Lakers, a notable shift for a rookie who hadn’t played in the first half of Miami’s first six games before checking in midway through the first quarter Monday. Spoelstra went with Dru Smith in the second half, though.
“The second half, we went to the zone and Dru is one of our best guys in the zone,” Spoelstra said “ But I thought Ryan gave us some good things in the first half.”
Conwell, an early second-round pick, is on a three-year deal with a team option.
In Charlotte, it looks like Kon Knueppel is on track to make his season debut Wednesday against Brooklyn. The Hornets list him as probable after a left hamstring strain kept him out. Knueppel hurt the hamstring in an offseason workout and has been progressing steadily in recent weeks.
And in Orlando, the Magic are heading into a four-game road trip at 2-5, still without Jalen Suggs. He remains out with a right knee bone bruise and, according to Jason Beede of the Orlando Sentinel, he’s not even sure whether he’ll travel.
“Obviously, there’s a little frustration,” Suggs said. “I’d love to be playing but I’m not complaining about (anything).”
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