Miami Heat roll with mostly reserve players, lose in San Antonio

This is a recap done without actually seeing any of the game, just watching on gamecast, so bear with me.  Miami came into this game a bit shorthanded, though it is preseason.  Erik Spoelstra announced beforehand that the Heat would be without Mario Chalmers, Udonis Haslem, Mike Miller and Carlos Arroyo who were all getting a rest.  Also, LeBron James and Chris Bosh would only play the 1^st quarter. 

LeBron came out firing, hitting two early buckets.  Bosh on the other hand wasn't as productive, missing his first four shots and finishing the 1^st quarter just 1-for-6 with one rebound.  Juwan Howard saw his first action as a member of the Heat, coming into the game 4 minutes in. 

Miami trailed early but battled back to tie the game at 26 after 1.  LeBron did his thing, scoring 12 points (thanks to going 6-for-6 from the foul line) with 3 boards and 3 assists while playing the entire opening quarter.  Pat Beverly started at the point and seemed to be productive, hitting two of his three shots early on.

I would've loved to see how Juwan Howard looked because he seemed to be having a very good 1^st half.  He started out 3-of-4 from the field with 5 rebounds.  Also having a good half was Anthony Mason Jr.  He played 10 minutes, hitting 3-of-4 shots for 6 points and 3 rebounds.  Big Z also made some contributions, scoring 4 points with 2 boards, helping the Heat take a 46-42 lead into the half. 

The only starters out there for the beginning of the 2^nd half were Pat Beverly and James Jones.  Jammal Magloire started the half and scored quickly with a little 1-foot put back off an Antonio McDyess block of a Beverly layup.  It was the Big Cat's first action of the preseason.

As a team the Heat struggled out of the break, getting outscored 21-7 in the first 7+ minutes of the 3^rd quarter.  Can't say it was all that surprising as the Heat were going with a mostly reserve lineup (other then James Jones) of guys who all likely wont make the final roster. 

At this point even just watching the gamecast, it looked like there was some very sloppy basketball being played.  3 second violations, shot clock violations and a lot of missed shots.  It got worse for the Heat, who after scoring 17 points in the 3^rd quarter put up just 6 points in the first 10:45 of the 4^th quarter. 

Not that the results matter much, as this game was pretty much a throw away after the 1^st quarter.  It would've been nice to see how the ‘bubble' guys played, but statistically it was nothing special.  Whether or not anyone looked good defensively is yet to be seen but again, judging by the stats it doesn't look like it. 

GAME NOTES

• As previously mentioned, LeBron played the entire 1^st quarter, finishing with 12 points on 3-of-8 shooting with 3 boards and 3 assists.  He went a perfect 6-for-6 from the foul line. 
• Chris Bosh also played the whole opening quarter, but he struggled.  2 points on 1-of-6 with 1 rebounds and a block. 
• James Jones had a good shooting night, hitting 4-of-6 from the field and 2-of-3 from beyond the arc. 
• Patrick Beverly played almost the entire game (41 min).  He finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds, 7 of which came in the 1^st half. 
• Shavlik Randolph played 24 minutes and turned the ball over 5 times.
• Heat reserves turned the ball over 17 times. 
• Dexter Pittman came in at the end and played 12 minutes, scoring 4 points on 2-for-2 shooting with a pair of rebounds. 

The Heat's next game is Tuesday night at home against CSKA Moscow.  Tipoff is set for 7:30 and again that game will not be televised.