An analysis of Wednesday night’s Miami Heat-Brooklyn Nets

Observations and other notes of interest from Wednesday night’s 109-105 loss to the Brooklyn Nets:

– Kyle Lowry wouldn’t comply.

– So only four Heat starters wore white headbands.

– But it wasn’t fashion statements that coach Erik Spoelstra was looking for.

– It was an added degree of toughness after a rocky first week of the season.

– And you hardly can count this debacle as a step forward.

– Going in, Spoelstra said of the shorthanded Nets, “They’re playing fast. That goes without saying. And you see it just from their numbers.”

– He added, “More than anything, we have to make this team feel us.”

– He continued, “It’s time to start changing that kind of disposition.”

– Didn’t happen.

– That was followed up by a question of the league, as a whole, playing at a faster pace at the start of the season.

– “I don’t know. It might be early to say that,” Spoelstra said. “I think everybody goes into training camp trying to leverage a little bit more pace and space. I think more teams have been able to do that early on.”

– He then turned it more toward his team, “At some point, some teams are going to say enough of this and let’s start committing to a defense that can slow teams down. And there will be some. And that’s our objective. We want to be one of those teams. Right now, we’re not. But I don’t see a lot of teams that are doing that right now.”

– And still not.

– Perhaps Friday against the Wizards.

– But it has to be soon enough.

– With Kevin Love out with a shoulder injury, the Heat opened with Bam Adebayo, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Jimmy Butler, Tyler Herro and Lowry.

– Adebayo closed with his 150th career double-double. The only players with more are Rony Seikaly (221), Alonzo Mourning (205) and Hassan Whiteside (185).

– It was Jaquez’s second NBA start, with the 2023 first-round pick out of UCLA also having started Saturday in Minnesota, when Love and Butler were out.

– On this night, the shot simply wasn’t there for Jaquez.

– The Heat were able to go small with the Nets without injured center Nic Claxton.

– The Nets opened with Royce O’Neale, Mikal Bridges, Dorian Finney-Smith, Ben Simmons and Cam Thomas.

– Josh Richardson entered as the Heat’s first reserve, followed by the season debut of Haywood Highsmith, then Duncan Robinson and Thomas Bryant.

– With Nikola Jokic out of the mix.

– Spoelstra made clear pregame he is over injury updates.

– “I’m not going to talk about anybody’s injuries anymore,” he said. “If anybody’s hurt, if they’re not available, all they have to do is focus on being available. That’s it. And I’m not talking about any injuries, or who’s in, who’s out. I know who’s playing tonight. And that’s all I’m focused on.”

– Of Highsmith being back in the mix, Spoelstra said, “He’s improved so much in the last two years and he just continues to improve with his work ethic. And he worked to get himself in this position to be available.”

– Highsmith then came up with a dramatic second-quarter blocked shot that was ruled a foul. Spoelstra challenged and the foul was rescinded.

– Wednesday was Spoelstra’s 53rd birthday, entering 5-2 on his birthday, including 4-0 at home and with victories on last four birthdays.

– The previous time the Heat played on Spoelstra’s birthday was 2017.

– He was asked pregame about his personal evolution.

– “I’m constantly working on stuff. I have a lot of weaknesses, as many can attest to,” he said with a smile. “But I’m working on things, for sure.”

– It was Spoelstra’s 1,2000th regular-season game as Heat coach. He along with Gregg Popovich (Spurs) and Al Attles (Warriors) stand as the only NBA coaches to work solely with one team and coach more than 1,000 games.