Chapter 111: They Don’t Love Me No More.
After the pre-season came to an end, Marc Stein released the second edition of the power rankings based on each team's pre-season performance.
The Lakers remained at the top, while the Heat dropped to fourth due to their poor pre-season showing.
Interestingly, the Grizzlies climbed four spots to 16th place after beating the Mavericks.
This, of course, sparked some controversy.
Some fans thought Stein had no professionalism, using pre-season performance to gauge a team's strength—it was laughable.
However, this time Stein didn't offer any explanation, as the regular-season game between the Heat and Grizzlies was about to kick off, which would speak for itself.
The league had been promoting the season opener on a massive scale.
The Heat's official promotion even used a comedic title 'Heat Burns the Bear' to hype up the game.
Regardless of playing style or strategy, the Heat were a championship contender, while the Grizzlies weren't even a playoff team; the gap in strength was obvious.
The day before the game, the Grizzlies flew to Miami.
Han Sen sat near the front of the plane, with Conley beside him.