Anthony Edwards wasted no time turning the Heat’s season opener into his stage, and a little chatter from the Miami bench only poured gasoline on the fire.
The Minnesota Timberwolves star erupted for 45 points and 10 rebounds in Wednesday’s 131-106 blowout win at Kaseya Center, then made it clear afterward that he had heard plenty during the game. In the postgame interview session, Edwards said he was fired up by trash talk coming from a Miami reserve player.
That player turned out to be the Heat’s Myron Gardner.
The situation escalated enough that Miami did not make Gardner available at Thursday’s practice, and coach Erik Spoelstra said he was not a fan of Gardner jawing with a player of Edwards’ talent.
Gardner played only three minutes, which made the exchange look even worse for the Heat. If anything, it became a lesson in picking the wrong fight. Edwards, meanwhile, answered the noise with a performance that took over the game once Miami trimmed the deficit to eight points.
That stretch flipped the night. Edwards ramped things up, and the Timberwolves pulled away to spoil the Heat’s debut in their revamped lineup.
Miami had spent the offseason making major moves, adding Giannis Antetokounmpo, Klay Thompson, Bobby Portis Jr. and Tim Hardaway Jr. Those additions led plenty of people to label the Heat immediate contenders, and that kind of buzz also made them a target. Edwards was already motivated by all of that hype, but the trash talk from a role player seemed to push him even further.
The Heat’s night was rough across the board, and the loss stings even more because of what they gave up to reshape the roster. In the Antetokounmpo trade, Miami sent out Tyler Herro, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Kel'el Ware and Kasparas Jakucionis. The organization was clearly comfortable keeping Jovic and Larsson, but the opener did not look like the payoff they hoped for.
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That matters even more with the Heat adjusting to life in the first year with Giannis Antetokounmpo, when every minute around the stars has to be earned. Miami is still sorting out which combinations actually help, and Jovic is one of the players under the microscope as the staff weighs whether there is a better option for those minutes. The opener was only one game, but it did little to ease the sense that the Heat still have a rotation issue to solve. [Read more 🡒]
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Giannis Antetokounmpo wasted no time making an impression in a Miami uniform, delivering 35 points and six rebounds in his Heat debut while setting a new franchise record for the most points by a player in his first game with the team. It was the kind of entrance that instantly changes the conversation around a roster, and it even nudged past LeBron James previous debut standard of 31.
Still, the scoreline told a harsher story for Miami, which fell 131-106 to the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Heats issues were hard to miss in the areas that usually travel well in November and beyond, with rebounding and three-point shooting both turning into immediate concerns even as Antetokounmpo supplied the headline performance. [Read more 🡒]
Heat Just Got A Harsh Look At Minnesotas New Problem
Anthony Edwards and LaMelo Ball did not need much time to make the Heat feel the full weight of Minnesotas newest look. In their first game as teammates, the two helped power a 131-106 Timberwolves win, with Edwards pouring in 45 points and Ball adding the kind of playmaking and perimeter shooting that immediately made the offense harder to contain. Minnesotas ball movement and shot-making were sharp from the start, and coach Chris Finch was able to manage their minutes while still getting real production from the pairing.
For Miami, the bigger takeaway was how quickly the Wolves found a rhythm even with the new backcourt on a limited workload together. Edwards scoring burst was the headline, but Balls presence changed the geometry of the game and gave Minnesota another creator to lean on. The Heat got a clear first look at what this tandem can do, and the early answer was plenty troubling for anyone hoping the fit would take time to develop. [Read more 🡒]