Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 118-98 the Washington Wizards (2-3) on Saturday night at Arena CDMX in the league’s annual Mexico City game. The Heat (3-2) now returns to Miami to take on the Sacramento Kings on Monday before hitting the road again:

—After a quiet start to the season, three-time All-Star center Bam Adebayo turned in a dominant performance to lead the Heat to Saturday’s blowout win.

With Adebayo averaging just 11 points on 9.5 field-goal attempts per game through the Heat’s first four games of the season, the talk leading up to Saturday’s contest centered around getting Adebayo more involved in the offense.

Mission accomplished, as Adebayo was aggressive and engaged from the start on the offensive end.

The tone was set on the Heat’s first possession, as Adebayo received the ball and went to work in the post to score the first points of the game on an eight-foot hook shot. After missing his first eight three-point attempts of the season, Adebayo then made his first three of the season a few possessions later for his second basket of the night.

From there, Adebayo totaled 20 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the field, 2-of-3 shooting from three-point range and 4-of-4 shooting from the foul line and six rebounds in Saturday’s first half. It went down as Adebayo’s highest-scoring first half since scoring 20 points in the first half of a Feb. 8, 2023 win over the Indiana Pacers.

Adebayo closed the Heat’s win over the Washington Wizards with a dominant stat line of 32 points on 12-of-24 shooting from the field, 3-of-5 shooting on threes and 5-of-6 from the foul line, 14 rebounds, two assists, one steal and one block. The 32 points, 14 rebounds, 12 field-goal makes and three three-point makes are new season-highs.

Behind Adebayo, the Heat never trailed on Saturday. Miami pulled ahead by as many as 24 points on its way to the 20-point win.

Along with Adebayo’s big night, the Heat outscored the Wizards 45-21 from three-point range. Miami also finished with a 21-7 edge in second-chance points with the help of a 21-7 advantage on the offensive glass.

The Wizards, which entered playing at the NBA’s second-fastest pace this season, did outscore the Heat 32-12 in fast-break points. But that wasn’t enough to overcome the Heat’s dominant effort in other areas of the game, as the Wizards finished just 7 of 35 (20 percent) from behind the arc.

Adebayo’s Heat co-star Jimmy Butler finished Saturday’s win with 18 points on 6-of-13 shooting from the field and 6-of-8 shooting from the foul line, eight rebounds and four assists.

Heat guard Tyler Herro recorded 15 points and six rebounds before fouling out with 6:20 left in the game.

Bilal Coulibaly led the Wizards with 22 points, eight rebounds and two assists.

—Heat second-year forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. was a fan favorite this weekend in Mexico City.

That’s because Jaquez, albeit early in his career, is on a track that could make him the best among the six players with Mexican citizenship to ever play in the NBA.

Jaquez, who is the first player with Mexican citizenship to be selected in the first round of the NBA Draft, was born in the Los Angeles area to a mother of Norwegian descent and a father with Mexican roots. His father’s family is from Guadalajara, which is about a seven-hour drive from Mexico City.

Every time Jaquez was subbed in and scored on Saturday, he received loud cheers from the crowd. He closed the win with eight points on 4-of-12 shooting from the field, 10 rebounds and one assist in 25 minutes off the bench.

“I do feel that different vibe in the arena here today with Jaime,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said during a news conference in Mexico City ahead of Saturday’s game. “I think it also helps he’s in, of all markets, Miami, that has a huge Spanish-speaking population there. In some cases more Spanish being spoken there than English. You feel it just in terms of walking around the community here and in the arena the number of jerseys you see represented of Jaime’s and from the Miami Heat.”

—Heat guard Josh Richardson made his season debut. In fact, Richardson logged his first game minutes since February.

Richardson missed the entire preseason as he worked his way back from surgery on a right shoulder injury he suffered during a Feb. 11 loss to the Boston Celtics. He then was held out of the first two games of the regular season with left heel enthesopathy and missed Wednesday’s loss to the Knicks with a strained left calf.

Before making his season debut on Saturday, the only time Richardson had been available and in uniform this season came in Monday’s win over the Detroit Pistons. But he did not play in the game.

Richardson finished his first appearance in nearly nine months with one rebound and one assist in 16 minutes off the Heat’s bench. He didn’t score, missing his four field-goal attempts.

It will be interesting to see whether Richardson remains in the Heat’s rotation when Duncan Robinson and Kevin Love return. Robinson and Love, who are both expected to be fixtures in the Heat’s rotation, both missed Saturday’s game because of personal reasons.

Love has missed the first five games of the season because of personal reasons. Robinson missed his first game of the season.

The only other Heat players unavailable for Saturday’s contest were Josh Christopher and Keshad Johnson, who are in the G League as part of their two-way contracts.

—The Heat’s rotation on Saturday also included rookie Pelle Larsson.

The Heat used Alec Burks, Thomas Bryant, Jaquez, Richardson and Burks to complete its 10-man rotation against the Wizards. The Heat has gone with a nine-man rotation in most games early this season, but went with 10 on Saturday perhaps to combat the high altitude of Mexico City.

That led Larsson to play his first meaningful NBA minutes, as his only appearance this season before Saturday came late in the Heat’s blowout loss to the Orlando Magic in the opener.

Larsson, who was selected by the Heat with the 44th overall pick in the second round of this year’s draft, closed the Heat’s victory with seven points on 3-of-4 shooting from the field and 1-of-2 shooting on threes, one rebound, two assists and one steal in 14 minutes.

Every available Heat player ended up playing in Saturday’s game, as Haywood Highsmith, Kel’el Ware and Dru Smith entered to play the final minutes of the lopsided win.

—Saturday marked the third time that the Heat has played in the league’s annual Mexico City game.

The Heat is 3-0 in those games, as it also won its first two games played in Mexico City — a 101-89 victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Dec. 9, 2017, and a 111-101 victory over the San Antonio Spurs on Dec. 18, 2022.

“I think these are great experiences. We enjoy it,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said before the game when asked about the opportunity to play in Mexico City. “We’ve been down here twice before, we’ve had two positive experiences. The city is amazing, the environment out in the arena is great, the fans are knowledgeable.

“We love seeing all the Miami Heat jerseys and hats when we walk around the city. And this trip is easy for us. It’s no different than going to San Antonio or Houston or something of that nature. It was a quick flight and that’s why we usually volunteer to come down here. We enjoy it.”

Saturday’s matchup marked the NBA’s 33rd game in Mexico since 1992 — more than any country outside of the United States and Canada — and coincided with the country’s traditional “Día de los Muertos” (Day of the Dead) celebrations, which began Friday and ended Saturday. The Mexican holiday allows for families to welcome back the souls of their deceased relatives for a brief reunion that includes food, drink and celebration.

©2024 Miami Herald. Visit at miamiherald.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.