Did Miami Heat's Myron Gardner Make Huge Mistake In Season Opener?

Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards had a big performance in Wednesday's victory against the Miami Heat in the season opener. 

He finished with 45 points and 10 rebounds in the blowout 131-106 victory at Kaseya Center. Apparently, Edwards had some motivation. 

In the post-game interview session, Edwards hinted he was fired up by some chatter coming from the Heat bench. He said he was hearing some trash talk from a Miami reserve player. 

Turns out, it was the Heat's Myron Gardner. 

It reached a point of the Heat not making Gardner available at Thursday's practice. Even Miami coach Erik Spoelstra addressed the issue by saying he wasn't a fan of Gardner jawing with a player of Edwards' talent. 

If anything, it's a lesson for Gardner, who only played three minutes. It makes no sense for a player with almost zero relevance in the game to have words with a player of Edwards' caliber. 

In the end, it hurt the Heat. 

At one point, they closed the gap of Wednesday's big defeat to eight points. That was when it appeared Edwards took it to another level. He became the player many feel could become the face of the NBA one day. 

The new-look Timberwolves spoiled the debut for the Heat, who acquired several players in the offseason including Giannis Antetokounmpo, Klay Thompson, Bobby Portis Jr., and Tim Hardaway Jr.

When those moves happened, many immediately viewed the Heat as instant contenders. Naturally, it led to the opposition considering them a target because of the fan and media hype. That was enough to give Edwards motivation but it was heightened when he started hearing trash talk from a role player. 

The fact Spoelstra even addressed it means it really was a problem. 

HEAT YOUNG PLAYERS STRUGGLE 

Outside of Antetokounmpo, nobody on the roster played particularly great or had a standout performance, including Nikola Jovic and Pelle Larsson, two players the Heat are tied to for the foreseeable future.

Both of them struggled in the loss. This hurts the Heat especially because they gave away so much young talent while deciding to keep them. In the Antetokounmpo trade, they parted ways with Tyler Herro, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Kel'el Ware and Kasparas Jakuncionis. So this means the Heat brass was content with keeping Jovic and Larsson. 

If Jovic and Larsson don't see improvement, this could look like the Heat made the wrong decision regarding the players they decided to move.