MIAMI — Finally, about two months late, basketball was back inside AmericanAirlines Arena.

The result, unlike the last time we saw the Heat play on this court, was meaningless. The action was ragged.

But the excitement bouncing off the backboards, the rafters, the players and the fans in their red and orange seats tasted like a gulp of oxygen.

Just to hear the sound of ball swishing through net put a smile on everybody’s face.

’Tis the season to see Dwyane Wade gliding through the air. We missed him.

Instead of losing to the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals, Heat players were competing against each other in Thursday’s Red-White scrimmage for season-ticket holders.

After a lockout-prolonged offseason, LeBron James, Wade and just about everybody else was dunking like they hadn’t missed a beat.

James’ beard has grown Abraham Lincoln-like, Udonis Haslem has shed the cornrows, Chris Bosh has added upper body bulk. There were new faces among the reserves, including the very promising Norris Cole. The Heat will sport a new all-black uniform in its wardrobe.

But otherwise, there was a reassuring familiarity about the scene. The Heat is back to take care of unfinished business, having learned valuable lessons during the first crazy season of the Big 3 alliance. The pressure to win a title will be more intense, but the Heat should be more adept at coping with it, perhaps even thriving off it.

In this abbreviated 66-game season, the Heat’s continuity should serve it well. While other contenders scramble to fill roles and deal with trade permutations, the Heat’s core is intact and the bench has been enhanced with the addition of Shane Battier (who didn’t play because of a quadriceps strain).

During the Heat’s eighth workout of the week, there were already signs of an improved team.

The Heat wants to play faster. Cole, the rookie from Cleveland State, not only pushed the pace during the scrimmage but he is pushing starting point guard Mario Chalmers in practice.

“I don’t want him ever to take the pedal off the metal,” coach Erik Spoelstra said of Cole, who scored 21 points. “He’s got young legs, quick legs. When we watched film of him he bounced off the screen with his speed and coast-to-coast ability.”

The rookie was asked what it was like guarding James and he responded with a smile and said, “Help defense.”

Big Dexter Pittman was all over the glass, grabbing eight rebounds and indicating he could be the space-eater the Heat needs.

“He’s been grinding away all week,” Spoelstra said. “He has been working to be an effort player.”

Dwight Howard is divorcing Orlando.

Chris Paul is contemplating litigation to get out of New Orleans.

The defending NBA champion Dallas Mavericks have been forced to make major changes to their starting lineup.

The Los Angeles Lakers’ initial attempt at a free-agency overhaul was thwarted by NBA commissioner David Stern.

All around the league, rosters are in flux, new faces are being introduced and new chemistry is being established with less than two weeks before the start of the season. The NBA’s lockout and truncated preseason, which coincides with a shortened period for free agency, has turned the league into a tempest of discord. While chaos swirls elsewhere, all is calm on the shores of Miami.

“Give it time,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said on Sunday. “I’m sure there will be something right around the corner.”

Spoelstra’s wry comment came as an answer to a question about the Heat’s relative calm amid the dizzying swap meet taking place throughout the league before the season begins.

Perhaps superstition prompted the Heat’s young coach to sidestep the question. Why jinx it?

Unless something drastic upsets the Heat’s training camp, the team and its ultra-talented roster will coast to Christmas Day while other teams arrive there in fits and starts.

“Time is of the essence and we do have the core of our guys back and it helps,” Spoelstra said.

House in order

The Heat endured its growing pains last season, which now, in hindsight, is playing out like a bit of managerial genius.

The Heat’s house is in order while other major contenders have been dealt a house of cards by the lockout.

Consider: With only two weeks to prepare for a hectic, 66-game season, the Heat’s biggest free-agent move was bringing in a player (Shane Battier) considered one of the league’s most valued “glue guys.”

“We’re going to go much quicker in camp,” Spoelstra said. “A little bit less teaching of some of the minutiae that we had to do last year because we had so many new players.”

Unprecedented for training camps of the past, the Heat held a five-on-five scrimmage on its first full day of practice. Meanwhile, several coaches around the league still don’t know exactly who will be on their rosters when the season begins Dec. 25. Under the circumstances, a veteran team returning mostly intact is priceless.

Instead of wasting valuable time teaching Chris Bosh the Heat’s sophisticated defense, Bosh arrived to training camp bulked up and ready to play center in a pinch.

Team chemistry

Instead of waiting for the on-court chemistry to click between LeBron James and Udonis Haslem, the two already have learned each others’ tendencies.

“OK, so we’ve had almost six months off, but that experience is invaluable and oftentimes experience is what it is — it takes time to fast track it and we went through a lot of those growing pains last year and really made tremendous strides,” Spoelstra said. “We’re hoping that we what learned we’ll be able to recognize much quicker here and I anticipate that.”

On Saturday, Spoelstra reviewed “big-picture” concepts that the Heat used during the NBA Finals.

On Sunday, the Heat held two practices — a light session in the morning and a more strenuous workout in the afternoon.

Big advantage

Meanwhile, the Dallas Mavericks, the Heat’s opponent on Christmas Day, are waiting for disgruntled ex-Laker Lamar Odom to report to camp while offensive sparkplug J.J. Barea is likely headed out of town.

Advantage, Heat.

Just because the Miami Heat can’t hold official team practices these days, doesn’t mean the squad’s biggest stars can’t work out together. The Sun-Sentinel looks into week-long workouts between LeBron, DWade, Chris Bosh and Udonis Haslem: “Tuesday, Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Udonis Haslem completed a week of workouts at Nike’s Beaverton, Ore., campus. The four are expected to also participate at each of the four stops on the upcoming ‘Homecoming Tour’ of NBA lockout charity games that begins with an event hosted by James Dec. 1 at the University of Akron. The workouts came in the wake of James spending time in London, where he granted an interview with The Guardian that included his views on where he and the Miami Heat are headed after coming up two victories shy of a championship in last season’s NBA Finals against the Dallas Mavericks. ‘I’ve got years left in my career to build, I guess, my individual legacy, if that’s what they want to call it,’ James, 26, said in the interview. ‘But, right now, it’s all about building my team’s legacy. How can we continue to get better and to approach the game in the right way during a championship playoff. One year in, we gave ourselves a chance and we’re looking forward to the next one. For me, I just want to give myself the best opportunity to win games.’”