Davion Mitchell needed stitches near his eye in Miami's preseason game and stayed in. He shot his free throws, then got stitched: "this is just going to be a handful of stitches. I want to play." Erik Spoelstra said he still wanted the fourth quarter, and they let him.
Nick Richards has been playing with Miami's starters, and Erik Spoelstra likes it: "I've been encouraged by his minutes in all the games that he's played." He cited Richards' rebounding, paint presence and conditioning. On the opening-night rotation: "I'm not stressed out."
Bobby Portis is still learning the Heat's system, Giannis Antetokounmpo said, and "when he has that down, he's going to be... big threat for our team." Teams leaving Portis open for corner threes, he added, have to pick their poison.
"I definitely need one, one more game for sure." Giannis Antetokounmpo wants to play the Heat's final preseason game rather than sit it out, chasing as many reps as he can. Teammates and coaches want him to be aggressive and make plays, and he says he'll keep at it.
"When Ryan comes into the game and when Davion is out, like, our pace kind of slows down." Giannis Antetokounmpo says the Heat lose speed when rookie Ryan Conwell replaces Davion Mitchell, whose pace he called "dangerous" and said he never wanted to face as an opponent.