HEAT 96 - Magic 70 Recap

MIAMI, October 30 – Dwight Howard scored 19 points in the first half, neither LeBron James nor Chris Bosh scored more than 15 points, the Miami HEAT shot 40 percent and they still won by 26 points in their home opener against the Orlando Magic, 96-70.

How? Defense.

The HEAT ran off Orlando’s three-point shooters, holding them to 16.7 percent from downtown and 30.4 percent shooting overall. They rotated across the paint, keeping Dwight Howard shooting jumpers and holding Orlando to 18 points in the paint. While doing this, Miami used its speed and athleticism to disrupt the passing lanes, keeping the Magic to five assists on 21 made field goals.

All in all, it added up to the HEAT holding Orlando to an offensive efficiency of 77.8 points per 100 possessions. As a reference point, the best defensive efficiency mark of any team last season was 102.8.

The only downside is that Miami now has a lot to live up to.

“The guys can’t go back on this now,” Erik Spoelstra said. “I’m going to hold them to this effort.

In front of an AmericanAirlines Arena crowd that elevated the night’s atmosphere to playoff-level, minimum, the HEAT came out looking much more in sync offensively than they had in their previous two games. It wasn’t perfect – there were still some of the getting-to-know you miscues – but the ball was moving at times seamlessly between James (seven assists), Bosh (10 rebounds) and Dwyane Wade (26 points), including on one early fast break that resulting in a James-to-Wade alley oop.

For the first time this season, the HEAT seemingly had a team offensive identity rather than needing an individual player to control each possession. Contrast that with the other end of the floor, where Howard, looking more balanced and polished with the ball, was Orlando’s only source of offense, and more than half of his field goals were coming outside of the paint.

The HEAT could have adjusted to this, but they didn’t, nor did they want to, as Spoelstra said.

“If he wants to score outside the paint, that’s fine with us,” Bosh said.

And Howard, in foul trouble in the second half with the HEAT attacking him, didn’t score a point after halftime.

For a while, it looked like the Magic might not either, as the HEAT used a 14-0 run after the break to run off a 28-10 third quarter, the third time in three games a Miami opponent has failed to break 20 in the period.

“I don’t think it’s my halftime speeches,” Spoelstra said. “It’s all about effort. Coming out of halftimes, the guys have been very focused.”

“We come out of the locker room saying we wanted to make a statement,” Wade said.

Indeed they did, and now the 2-1 HEAT get ready to play the New Jersey Nets on Sunday, with a scary proposition to consider in the meantime.

“We’re still in the feeling out process,” James said.