1. It’s been a long, long while since anyone has witnessed a Miami versus Orlando matchup that could be described as anything in the vicinity of the beautiful game, and we sure weren’t going to start seeing it tonight.
Great defensive energy from Miami to open as they jumped out to an early 16-4 lead in the first six minutes, a new starting lineup with Caleb Martin in place of Haywood Highsmith generating turnovers and scoring off them as is intended. To say Orlando’s half-court offense, with very little going downhill outside of slow, methodical, back-down attacks from Paolo Banchero, Markelle Fultz and Franz Wagner, was struggling would have been an understatement. By the time Miami had stretched their lead out to 20 after a series of Orlando drives into a packed paint followed by HEAT threes on the runout, it was clear the issue was one of geometry – a spacing-induced hindrance – and not just of the make-or-miss variety.
And yet as soon as the lead reached its peak, Orlando settled in. With Miami sticking in zone for a bit, the Magic worked the middle of that zone with a number of short push shots and inside-out playmaking. Very little shooting from either side, but the Magic found a way to put the right players in the right players to give their best players room to drive and get to the line. By halftime, the lead was down to just seven, both teams essentially tied in half-court efficiency with Miami holding the edge on the break.
Right as Orlando appeared ready to eat into the deficit even more in the third, Miami got a few shots to fall and the Magic offense unraveled from there. It wasn’t quite a snap of the fingers, but in just a few minutes what appeared to be headed toward a tense, nail-biting affair became something of a feel-good evening, Miami’s energy levels as high as they’ve been all season with Orlando rotating to empty spaces as the ball went right past them. The HEAT by 21 after three.
A bit of drama in the fourth as Orlando got back within 10 again, only for Jimmy Butler to hit back-to-back threes, one of them a fadeaway in the corner against the shot clock, to extend the stiff arm. Crisis avoided, having Jimmy Butler (23 points on 6-of-9 shooting) on your team much better than not having Jimmy Butler on your team. Miami takes the first leg of the back-to-back, 121-95, behind a 65-46 second half.
2. There wasn’t any single dominant performance tonight – Butler’s ridiculous efficiency aside – with all nine of the nine players in the main rotation tonight scoring at least seven points, but the move of the game was the insertion of Caleb Martin (11 points on 5-of-9 shooting) into the starting group to effectively replicate the starters that played together for much of last season, only with Terry Rozier in place of Kyle Lowry. Tough for anyone to argue with the results, with Miami jumping out to that 16-4 lead in the first and holding off Orlando’s best shot to open the third.
Like Josh Richardson, when the HEAT were mired in their seven-game losing streak early last week Martin had the accountability to take a look at his own game film, noting that he simply hadn’t been playing to his own standards especially on the defensive end. Since then, Martin has anchored a press-zone that outright won games against Sacramento and Washington and tonight he helped set the tone with a pace and speed that Orlando never caught up to. Spoelstra eventually went away from that starting group last season even as Martin played well, and there’s certainly been little lineup stability this season, so only time will tell how long this move lasts – Highsmith had been playing well in his role, too, especially defensively – but for tonight it was the right move at the right time.
3. With Orlando being a step behind Miami for much of the game more precise execution may not have mattered, but for those of you who go back and watch for a second time this was one of the better examples of the season for how much having the right offensive players standing in the correct spaces can make a world of difference.
No, Orlando (18 turnovers) didn’t shoot well enough to beat Miami on an average night, making just 10-of-35 from deep, but where other teams can miss shots but still find a modicum of efficiency because their attempts are at least opening up the floor, Orlando’s situation was quite the opposite, their stable of mechanically slower, spot-up shooters giving Miami every reason to cheat further and further into driving lanes. In other words, Miami was able to play their scheme to the maximum, both Banchero (7-of-16 shooting) and Wagner (5-of-15, seven turnovers) forced to weave their way through three defenders just to get a tough floater off in the paint, their skip passes finding shooters that couldn’t get the proper shots off in time with Miami’s closeouts on point. Orlando finished with an Offensive Rating of 97.9 not just because they missed shots or because Miami defended well – that can be a chicken or the egg relationship at times, even on your best defensive nights – but because they simply weren’t operating in an ecosystem that contained the proper counters for how Miami puts their pieces on the board. If you subscribe to the theory of styles make fights, the HEAT weren’t hard up for style point in this one.