Green, Ennis lead Heat to preseason win over Atlanta

The Heat had planned on using Whiteside for both ends of their back-to-back set, but because he was unable to escape Saturday’s contest with his health fully in tact, he’ll be a spectator Sunday. Miami has no one that matches his physique, a reminder of how vital he is to this operation, and he looked like someone who will be ready for the season opener. “Then every ounce of energy and focus was about trying to do whatever we had to do to build this team up and have an opportunity to do something special”. Josh McRoberts is back after missing most of last season because of knee surgery, as is Chris Andersen. “I’m really excited I got to practice”. “Now it’s about finding a way and finding that way together”.

Fansided also pointed out that aside from the improvement of the Heat, the Cavs are not as comfortable as one might think.

“We have expectations for a reason”, Spoelstra said. Odds are, he’ll be in the top 50 before long. From numbers one through five, all of them have the ability to score around 12-22 points per game and that’s not a sentence many teams in the National Basketball Association can say.

Before Dragic could play any of those 26 games, the Heat lost Chris Bosh for the rest of the season.

After going from the Kings to the D-League to multiple overseas stints in Lebanon and China, Whiteside wound up averaging 11.8 points and 10 rebounds in 48 games while giving the Heat the kind of inside physical presence they otherwise lacked. Dragic was No. 2 on that list at almost 68 percent, and he was helped by exactly zero dunks. Whiteside is the backbone of this team’s defense, and that specific edge just hasn’t been there for the Heat while Whiteside has been out. It’s unclear if the price Riley paid for acquiring him – two future first-round picks – will come back to haunt the Heat, but there’s little doubt it makes them significantly better today. He opted to share it with James and Bosh, but even with two other perennial All-Stars on the roster (whose stats typically bested his own), Wade remained the heart and soul of the team year after year. Ennis had 13 of his 19 points in the third quarter to help Miami flip the game, as well as Mario Chalmers, Tyler Johnson and Josh Richardson, who also contributed to the turnaround and led the giant 31-16 swing.