Three Keys for the Miami Heat's Final Preseason Game

When discussing a potential dress rehearsal, more importantly than just getting the main guys out there and moving around, it's a game where you get the offensive and defensive systems in regular season mode. But even deeper than that, it's a time to prepare for certain lineups that'll be seen often in the regular season. The main one I've honed in on is Norman Powell next to Nikola Jovic and Kel'el Ware. There's a natural chemistry there, even before we've ever seen this trio share the floor together. The shooting of Powell, vision of Jovic, and rolling gravity of Ware sets up for something to see more of. Aside from that, keep an eye on a certain starting lineup trend: the point guard spot. Does Davion Mitchell return to the first unit? Does Dru Smith become the placeholder? We should get that answer 30 minutes before tip-off tonight.

2. Three-point shooting: when do we see a bump?

Looking at a Heat team that is 0-5 in preseason isn't as big of a deal as some may think. But looking at a Heat team that is 33rd in three-point attempts and 26th in three point efficiency draws understandable concern. The general rotation doesn't overwhelm any defensive team with outside shooting aside from Norman Powell and the streaky aggressiveness from Andrew Wiggins and Nikola Jovic. But before you can worry about the efficiency, the attempts need to be made a priority first. As Erik Spoelstra always says, he wants his ball club to shoot for 40 attempts from deep, while the Heat have been struggling to reach the 30 marker. This pretty much solidifies Miami expanding to a 10 man rotation many nights with the hope of Simone Fontecchio to catch fire in a new role. In this dress rehearsal environment tonight, you can only hope the team trends closer to the regular season product from beyond the arc.

3. The Terry Rozier debut?

After discussing this Heat roster as close to injury free, Terry Rozier finds himself in that bunch. With Herro being out of the mix and the need for scoring on this roster, it felt like pre-season would've been a good opportunity for Rozier to try and see where he measures up with his offensive game at the moment. Now with one preseason game to go, he finds himself available, which leaves the question if we see him make his season debut against Memphis. It does seem like Coach Spo has pretty much moved past the whole Terry experiment after last year, but there's no doubt that in a perfect world this team would like to see some version of Rozier that they hoped they got in return from Charlotte. Just let him go out there in the second half with that young, and defensive heavy, unit to try and provide some scoring upside.