Giannis Posterizes Yves Missi on His First Night as a Miami Heat

24 hours ago

4 min read

By Taki Panos

The public address announcer at Kaseya Center went to him first. On Thursday night, before a preseason game against New Orleans that nobody will remember by March, the first Heat starter called out to the Miami crowd was a 6-foot-11 kid from Sepolia wearing No. 7. Thirteen years of hearing that name followed by "Milwaukee," and my ears still did a little double take.

Then the ball went up, and the double take moved to the floor. Miami played at the fastest pace in the league last season, and on Thursday it somehow played faster, with Davion Mitchell pushing off every miss and every turnover and Giannis loping down the middle like a man who has just been told the speed limit is a suggestion. By halftime, according to the Heat's own takeaways on NBA.com, Miami was on pace for 116 possessions. Most preseason games feel like a jog around the block. This one felt like a pickup run where somebody's cousin keeps yelling "go, go, go."

The play everyone kept, though, was a left-handed one. Giannis put his head down, drove, and jammed it over Yves Missi, the Pelicans' young center, a dunk the NBA's own account was quick to call a poster (NBC Sports has the clip). Missi did nothing wrong. He was standing in the right spot. Sometimes the right spot is simply where the cameras are pointing.

By the break Giannis had 18 points on 8-of-13 shooting, per the Miami Herald, and that was the end of his evening. Miami sat its starters for the whole second half, the same plan it used in the preseason opener in Toronto. So the line is a half-line, and it should be read like one. Preseason numbers are the menu, not the meal.

What the half showed was more interesting than the total. Giannis driving early, drawing two defenders and kicking it out to Mitchell for an open three. Mitchell racing up the wing and finding Klay Thompson for a quick-trigger three. Zion Williamson trying to score in the paint and finding himself sandwiched between Giannis and Bam Adebayo, which is not a place anyone volunteers to be twice. The Heat put up 73 points in the half and, per the Herald, won the fast-break battle 23-4 before intermission. New Orleans helped with 14 first-half turnovers. You don't get that many gifts at a Greek name day.

Giannis was the first to say he isn't settled. In Toronto he had played mostly as a passer, enough for Erik Spoelstra to bring up Magic Johnson afterward. On Thursday, with fewer Pelicans throwing bodies at him, he hunted his own shot. Asked about the adjustment, he said he felt a little more comfortable "but I'm not there yet," and reminded everyone that he has played more than 900 games for the Bucks and two for the Heat (Miami Herald). Fair math. Nobody learns a new kitchen in two dinners.

The Greeks watching are not there yet either. In my corner of the diaspora, a Giannis highlight came wrapped in Bucks green for 13 years, and Milwaukee quietly became an honorary Greek town for people who could not have found Wisconsin on a map. I grew up between Boston and New York, which means I was raised to distrust anything from Miami on principle. Giannis has forced me to renegotiate. When the Heat introduced him in July he chose No. 7 and said he hopes to make it as legendary as 34 (Greek Reporter). Smart. The 34 can stay in Milwaukee with the 2021 banner, and the 7 gets a clean page.

The second half was a different game with different people. With the starters done, New Orleans made a push, and the back end of Miami's preseason roster had to hold the fort. Rookie Ryan Conwell soaked up extra minutes, Myron Gardner brought energy, Tre Donaldson made some shots, and Miami held on, 128-118, to go 2-0 in exhibitions. Nobody frames that part of the box score. But a 14th man protecting a lead in October is how a roster spot survives into November.

There are honest questions, and Thursday raised a couple. Giannis went 2-of-5 at the free-throw line, a number that followed him around Milwaukee and has apparently packed a bag. Spacing is the other one. With Giannis and Adebayo sharing the frontcourt, WSVN noted the questions about a roster with few proven three-point shooters beyond Thompson, even though Miami hit 38 percent from deep on Thursday. Adebayo isn't losing sleep. He told The Athletic that the Heat led the league in 140-point games last season without Giannis, which NBC Sports passed along with the laugh that came with it.

Here is my bar-stool read, and it is worth exactly what you paid for it. This team looks built to make opponents miserable for 48 minutes: run off every mistake, park two long defenders near the rim, and let Giannis get to the basket before the defense finishes its sentence. If he stays healthy, that is a team still playing when the weather in Miami turns unbearable. The playoffs slow everything down, though, and a half-court possession in May is where this experiment actually gets graded. October only grades on effort.

The games that count begin October 21 against Minnesota (WCCPress). Before that, the Timberwolves visit Kaseya Center for another exhibition on Saturday, with Brooklyn coming in next week. The minutes will stretch, and the second halves will stop being somebody else's problem.

For those of us following from Astoria, Tarpon Springs or a kafeneio in Athens, where a 7:30 Miami tip-off lands at 2:30 in the morning, the routine is changing too. If you want to know where the Greek-American crowds might show up when the Heat hit the road, start with our map of the biggest Greek communities in America. For how he got to Miami, our June story on the trade covers the deal, and the rise of Giannis Antetokounmpo covers everything before it. Our Giannis profile has the rest.

No. 7 still looks a little strange on him. Give it a winter. Ask Yves Missi; he has already seen it from closer than any of us.

Sources: Miami Herald (postgame), Miami Herald (takeaways), NBA.com Heat takeaways, NBC Sports, WSVN, WCCPress, Greek Reporter.