Houston… – I mean Miami! – we have a problem. Although it is too early to make any judgement on how Giannis Antetokounmpo’s first season with the Miami Heat will turn out, the reality is that the painting is not looking good.
After suffering heavy defeats to the Minnesota Timberwolves and Detroit Pistons, the trip to the Charlotte Hornets seemed the perfect chance to claim the season’s first win. However, despite overturning a deficit of up to 22 points, they ended up losing again, much to the frustration of their Greek star, who was ejected for fouls.
Far from his notable performances in the first two games, The Greek Freak was on the court for just 25 minutes, finishing with 14 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists.
The truth is that Giannis’s presence on the court is not having the expected impact. His current form is rather similar to his recent past in Milwaukee, and the Heat have a -58 net rating with him on the floor at the start of the 2026-27 NBA season.
And what did the rest of the team do? They showed there is depth to spare. 22 points and 10 assists from Davion Mitchell, 20 from Bam Adebayo, or 15 off the bench from Pelle Larsson bear witness to that.
Without Giannis Antetokounmpo, but with hope
That is the positive reading Erik Spoelstra takes from what happened in Charlotte. Losing never feels good, but he left satisfied with the reaction of his players, who managed to take the game to a nail-biting finish thanks to the key contributions of bench players such as Pelle Larsson, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Bobby Portis Jr..
“Our system is our system. We can maintain that level of activity at any moment of the game. When we don’t, it’s because we decided not to, and we end up paying the consequences. But this has been inspiring; in fact, right now I told the team that we need that kind of inspiration,” he said about the 29-10 run in their favour without Giannis on the floor.
Brandon Miller lifts the Hornets
After signing a huge contract extension Brandon Miller now carries much of the weight for the Charlotte Hornets. The young forward is waiting for Kon Knueppel to join him in the fight, and last night, after two rather modest performances, he took an important step forward by going up to 34 points.
Miller was brilliant, as we said, but it was Grayson Allen who put the finishing touch on it. Not only did he finish with 20 points, but he sealed the game for his side with a tremendous 3+1 three minutes from the end. The North Carolina side moves to a positive 2-1 record after this victory.
(Photo by IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect)