Hassan Whiteside’s 20/20 not enough to down the Magic
If there was a rebound to be had, Hassan Whiteside probably snagged it out of the air with his massive telephone pole sized wingspan. The Miami Heat center posted 26 points and 22 rebounds in his regular season debut, an opening night stat line that was last achieved by Boston Celtic Kevin Garnett a decade ago.
Although the big man went beast mode and filled up the boxscore, his phenomenal numbers weren’t quite enough to carry the Heat as they dropped the game 116-109 to their fellow Florida rival the Orlando Magic. While Whiteside was as hot as a grease fire from the field, the rest of his team shot a wintry 39 percent on combined 84 attempts.
Cold shooting nights like this aren’t uncommon for teams on their opening night. Players are still adjusting to their new roles and shaking off the rust from a lengthy offseason. That being said, Miami can’t afford subpar performances from the rest of their core pieces if they wish to make a deep playoff run for the first time since LeBron left town for his highly publicized Cleveland homecoming.
It’s just one game, and I get that. Last year, the Heat started their season 11-30 only to flip their win loss record on the back of an unprecedented midseason turnaround and finish the regular season campaign with a 41-41 record. However, if they once again come out of the gates with a sluggish start, it’d be foolish to believe in a repeat of last season’s good fortune.
Miami has a deep pool of talented NBA players as well as a few cemented franchise cornerstones. With some tinkering to their lineups and rearranging of minutes, South Beach has reasonable expectations to secure a middling playoff seed, especially in the barren Eastern Conference.
