Memphis Grizzlies at Miami Heat

Butler misses Miami debut, Heat beat Grizzlies 120-101

They wound up being enthralled by rookies Kendrick Nunn and Chris Silva instead.

"Just the beginning," Nunn said.

His beginning had a heck of a finish.

A 24-1 run in the fourth turned everything around for Miami, which trailed 86-83 after Grayson Allen scored the opening basket of the final quarter for Memphis.

"Obviously a tough one," Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins said after his career debut. "The fourth quarter is not indicative of who we are and what we can be."

Ja Morant, the No. 2 pick in this year's draft, scored 14 points and had four assists for Memphis. Jaren Jackson Jr. led the Grizzlies with 17 points, and Tyus Jones added 15.

Morant got off to a fast start, making his first four shots and going 5 for 7 in the first half. He picked up his fourth foul 17 seconds into the second half, and finished 6 for 12 from the floor.

"I'm not focused on the positives," Morant said. "For me it's just the negative. I felt I could have been better in a lot of places, help my team out with turning up the pace to keep us going. They capitalized on a lot of our mistakes tonight."

Goran Dragic scored 19 points for Miami, while Bam Adebayo had 14 points and 11 rebounds. Butler was with the Heat for their morning shootaround practice, then told the team around mid-afternoon that he would not be able to play.

"Everything is fine," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.

Memphis hasn't won a season-opening game on the road since the franchise's inaugural game at Portland in 1995. The Grizzlies are 0-7 in openers away from home since.

TIP-INS

Heat: Having Herro and Nunn in the starting lineup marked the fourth time in franchise history that Miami had two rookies in the first five on opening night. They joined Kevin Edwards and Rony Seikaly (1988), Udonis Haslem and Dwyane Wade (2003) and Mario Chalmers and Michael Beasley (2008). ... Spoelstra is beginning his 25th season with the organization.

ALLEN RETURNS

YOUNG DEBUTS

UP NEXT

Grizzlies: Host Chicago on Friday.

Heat: Visit Milwaukee on Saturday.

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Regular Season Series

MIA leads series 1-0