The New Orleans Pelicans were able to win their first game of the preseason against the Oklahoma City Thunder bench, but it took a 24-point comeback. Now they'll face a much tougher squad in the Miami Heat on Thursday night.

While it's still the preseason, this will be the first time that megastar Giannis Antetokounmpo suits up for the Heat at home. Miami's starting unit played for about 13 minutes in the first game, so expect to see them for a little bit.

Given that they aren't the deepest team (because of how talented their starting unit is), this could be another game where the Pelicans' bench unit runs the show.

Here is a quick rundown of important information to know before the game tips off:

Date: Thursday, October 8, 2026
Time: 6:30 PM CT
Location: Kaseya Center (Miami, FL)

Streaming: Pelicans+
TV Channel: Gulf Coast Sports & Entertainment Network
Local Radio: WWL 870 AM

Moneyline: MIA -298
Spread: MIA -6.5
Over/Under: 235.5

Pelicans: G Dejounte Murray, G Herb Jones, F Trey Murphy III, F Zion Williamson, C Yves Missi

Heat: Davion Mitchell, Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bam Adebayo

Starting lineup needs to show more fight.

New Orleans' entire starting lineup finished at least -20 in the preseason opener. They were giving up a ton of threes and were dysfunctional on offense. It was the first game in this new system, but now it's game two. They'll need to show a little bit more fight this time around; things should look at least slightly better. Another ugly performance like the one from Tuesday, and people will begin to worry. Not saying that's fair, but it will be the case.

Hit shots earlier.

Despite the victory, the Pelicans posted 40/36/72 team shooting splits. Once shots started falling, the team was able to claw back. It just took two and a half quarters for those shots to hit. Seeing players like Zion Williamson and Derik Queen take threes is great, but everyone needs to hit their shots for the spacing to actually improve. They also did a great job of getting to the free-throw line often, 47 attempts, but shooting 72% from there will never make a staff happy.

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