The Heat Won. So?

Erik Spoelstra (finally) inserted Michael Beasley into the starting lineup and the Heat (finally) got its first win of the season against the Memphis Grizzlies. Beasley got into early foul trouble in the first half, but was a key contributor in the fourth quarter, scoring nine points in the final stanza of play to put the Grizzlies away.

The idea of a three-forward lineup was the right move by Spoelstra. Marc Gasol is not his brother and Darko Milicic isn't an imposing presence to have a big advantage over Haslem. Gasol might have grabbed 10 rebounds, but Haslem got 13. Milicic may have shot five-for-nine from the field for 12 points, but Haslem shot 6-of-11 for 14. This was a match-up in which going small was getting better.

Dwyane Wade played like himself again. In 35 minutes (I thought Spoelstra was trying to keep Wade's minutes low), Wade scored 25 points on 9-of-19 shooting, dished out six assists and blocked two shots. Despite logging heavy minutes, Wade seems to continue to be the energetic player he was in the Olympics. In the fourth quarter, Spoelstra even went as small as having Wade as the small forward next to Mario Chalmers and Marcus Banks. Again, going small can be advantageous in certain situations. Pat Riley used a three-guard lineup of Jason Williams, Gary Payton, and Dwyane Wade during his championship run in 2006 and it did work well.

Miami played very well on Tuesday. The Heat shot nearly 53% from the field and five players scored double-figure points. Chalmers had his best preseason game of the season by far. He had seven points, six rebounds and nine assists in 29 minutes. The foul trouble is a concern, but the positives greatly outnumbered the negatives in this performance. Banks scored 11 points and had six assists. Even Shawn Marion didn't look lost in Miami's offense.

But this win should be taken with a grain of salt. One game does not tell you much. Despite the efficient play of Chalmers, it does not suggest he is the point guard of the future. Despite the pass-first play of Banks, it does not mean he is ready to start for the Heat. And despite Haslem fitting in nicely in the middle, it does not mean he will do well in future contests.

I once argued that Chris Quinn should start for the Heat. After two games of starting, Quinn has offered less than inspiring basketball. His above-average shooting is a constant, but he does not do anything great. Banks made three of his four attempts from beyond the arc and Chalmers had nine assists in under 30 minutes, looking like a true point guard. As I said before, no one should take too much out of this one game, but I would experiment a little bit with Chalmers starting in the final three games of exhibition play. With Shaun Livingston progressing with his knee rehab, he can also be an option for Spoelstra.

In one of the rare poor performances from Tuesday night, backup swingman Yakhouba Diawara played 16 minutes off the bench and shot zero-for-four from the field. Meanwhile, Daequan Cook did not even get off the bench. The Heat connected on six triples against Memphis, and Banks had half of those. But now that James Jones will be out for the next three months, the three-point shooting is even more important for Spoelstra. I would have given Cook minutes off of the bench. Spoelstra is going to need his shooting in the future and he cannot afford to have his lethal shooter off the bench to have a cold night in a close game. No one can develop from the bench. Just ask Dorell Wright.

Another player who did not get off the bench was Joel Anthony. I know that Mark Blount scored a respectable eight points on the night, but if Spoelstra really wants Anthony to develop offensively, he would give him minutes. As I said, no one can develop from the bench. And considering we are still in the preseason, it gives Spoelstra more liberty to experiment with more lineups. One of the problems last season was the lack of definitive lineups to be used in certain situations. Erik Spoelstra should know which lineup to go when they need offense, defense, a half-court style or a full-court style. And he should know that better than most.