Former Dubs Andre Iguodala makes his season debut with Miami Heat

Andre Iguodala returned to the Basketball court for the first time in eight months after making the season debut for Miami Heat, in a 115-109 defeat to Portland Trail Blazers at Moda Center.

Iguodala, who didn’t play since representing the Golden State Warriors in the 2018-19 NBA finals in June, clocked 23 minutes for the Heat, and scored 2 points, to go with six rebounds and 3 assists. He also made 1 block and had 1 steal in the match.

”It felt good tonight,” Iguodala was quoted as saying after the game at Portland.

”I wanted to get a feel for where I was at. Honestly, I haven’t even played a pickup game or anything since the finals. I was trying to get a feel for where my mind was. Overall, I felt really good out there.”

The 36-year-old 2015 NBA finals MVP, who arrived in Miami from Memphis Grizzlies on February 06 trade deadline day, came on the court in the first quarter, donning a No. 28 shirt. His first contribution was a block on Portland’s shooting guard Mario Hezonja.

Iguodala made a couple of significant plays in the fourth quarter. First, he set up his teammate Chris Silva for an alley-oop and followed it up with a steal that Duncan Robinson buried for a three-pointer, forcing the Blazers to opt for a timeout with just 11:01 left in the game.

https://twitter.com/MiamiHEAT/status/1226703322461007874

The last time Iguodala was on the court, he scored 22 points in Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals against the Toronto Raptors at Oracle Arena. He also mentioned that he didn’t seek to return to play for his former team.

”I’ve played a lot of basketball games in my career, so the emotional highs and lows, I don’t have anymore,” Iguodala said when asked whether he wanted to return to the Warriors.

”For this team, more importantly, we want to win. This road trip is tough with a lot of guys down. We’ve got new bodies and us getting a win is more important than how I feel.”

The result at Moda Center was the third straight defeat for Miami Heat. They are 0-3 on the current six-game road trip and will be facing Golden State Warriors at Chase Center in the next game.