The fun part was watching American Airlines Arena come to life again. It's been a while. There was a moment late in the fourth quarter, when Kendrick Nunn cut the mighty Los Angeles Lakers lead to one point with nine seconds left, when the crowd chanted, "Lets go Heat!," that said something.
That moment, and the ones all around Friday night, said this start to the season was no lark. No joke. In the NBA, the old thought says, you never want to make much out of one night.
But it's OK to make something out of this 113-110 loss against the Lakers. And, again, that something is simply this that this fun and youth-filled start by the Heat carries some meaning.
Everyone kept waiting for the Heat bubble to burst somewhere along the way. Some thought the schedule was soft (true), the team too young (also true) and the competition too tough for a top-four finish in the East (maybe).
But they aren't going away. Friday said that much. They were playing the league-best Lakers. They were down two of their top eight players _ Justise Winslow and Goran Dragic.
And they went toe-to-toe, shot-to-shot, ebb-to-flow, right into the deepest parts of the fourth quarter and demanded two of the league's top five players play their best games.
LeBron looked winded there in the fourth quarter he was playing so hard. Anthony Davis, too, was dominating inside _ right to the offensive rebound that allowed the Lakers to have a four-point lead with less than a minute.
"We're going to have to fight for it to earn it," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra had said in the fourth quarter during a timeout like it was one of those Big Three games that mattered.
Frank Vogel had a line about that. He never got past the Heat and LeBron as the Indiana coach.
"Now I'm coming with LeBron," Vogel said.
And LeBron is back to LeBron this year. He had seven turnovers early _ when the Heat had two _ and as much as anything that explained the Heat's seven-point halftime lead.
But then James hit a 3-point shot. Davis followed with another. LeBron lobbed a perfect strike to JaVale McGee, who already had blocked Bam Adebayo twice in the third quarter. McGee caught it at the rim for a dunk. And was fouled.
Suddenly, a seven-point halftime lead by the Heat swung to a seven-point third-quarter lead by the Lakers. Then it stretched to 11.
It looked like James would bend the night, and break a young Heat team, in the way he has for years � the way he did for years with the Heat.
That's a question about the Heat, sure. They're beating bad teams. They're 4-0 in the mediocre Southeast Division after going 7-9 last year. Nine of their 10 home wins came against losing teams.
If that put some padding in their record, the next week will offer a different look with games against Dallas and Philadelphia. And this one against the Lakers.
After the Lakers run, Derrick Jones Jr. hit a 3-pointer to stop the bleeding. Duncan Robinson followed with another. And when Jimmy Butler muscled his way to cut the lead to five points.
It was on then, right to the finish. This is the sixth season since LeBron left the Heat, and the years have cooled any emotion. He was greeted with a mix of love and anger, all of it an undercurrent more than raw emotion.
He's used to all that after an offseason of criticism.
"It all depends on how you use that negative energy," James said. "I used it and continue to use it for the better. It motivates me. It challenges me. It locks me in even more."
He looked locked in Friday. He had 28 points. Davis had 33. The Heat got their best game. They gave their best, too. This start is no joke. They aren't going away.
