Miami Heat bullied by Orlando

The two cornerstones of the team scored 12 points tonight. 12 points. I understand being unselfish and getting the most defensive attention. But, 12 points total sucks. Look at the game charts here on NBA.com. The Magic bullied the Heat on the glass, 57 to 43. They housed Miami on offensive rebounds and second chance points 26 to 8. Oh, I’m sorry, 26 to 9.

Jimmy Butler is a basketball player, not a scorer. Neither is Bam Adebayo a scorer first. They wait for moments when they are needed to score. That moment came and went but wasn’t seized by any of the two. Well, it is the first game of the season.

Orlando played well

At the start of the third quarter, Orlando went up by 10. The moment when any fan knew the game was over was on successive plays when Franz Wagner got open underneath the basket and dunked. The Heat defenders were caught off guard. Then, Paolo Banchero had a nasty behind the back assist to Wagner for an uncontested dunk. The Magic were up by 14 and that was it. It got as high as 32 (Bahamas training camp hangover.)

As per Heat color analyst, John Crotty, the Magic were using their length and being physical on defense against Miami. The Heat were only down by 4 at the half. Rozier and Adebayo were drawing fouls. After a first half where Miami got to the line 13 times, the Magic only fouled three times in the third quarter (8 in the second half.) The Sunsentinel post game article here has a perfect quote from Spo — “They absolutely overwhelmed us off our misses, and then they were running it down our gut.”