After opening up their regular season schedule against the Miami Heat four of the last seven years, it’s surprising that the Orlando Magic have yet to have a showdown with their Sunshine State rivals.
In fact, Miami is the only team in the NBA that Orlando has yet to play.
That all changes on Friday night as the Magic (19-29) get set to visit the Heat (27-22), who’ve won nine of their last 13 games, at 8 p.m. ET.
Orlando is coming off an impressive stretch of its own. The Magic notched two straight quality home victories – and have now won nine of their last 12 contests at Amway Center overall – where they remained true to their core tenets, using stifling defense to knock off the Boston Celtics and tremendous ball movement to defeat the Indiana Pacers.
In their win over the Pacers, the Magic dished out a season-high 34 assists. In lockstep with their by-committee approach, all five starters scored in double figures led by Paolo Banchero’s 23-point effort and Gary Harris’ season-best 22-point night.
“I thought it was great. I thought they did a good job of trying to share the basketball,” said Magic Head Coach Jamahl Mosley. “We might have overshared it a few times having seventeen turnovers for twenty-eight points. But their ability to try and find the pass, that was big for our guys.”
Ball security will once again be paramount against a Miami team that thrives off of generating turnovers. The Heat come up with the second-most steals (8.5) per game in the NBA and convert those into scoring opportunities, notching 18.6 points off turnovers per contest – seventh-most in the league. As expected with an Erik Spoelstra-coached squad, they’re defensively sound, posting the fourth-best rating on that end of the floor (110.8) in the entire association.
Offensively, Miami has three players averaging over 20 points per game: Bam Adebayo (21.6), Jimmy Butler (21.6) and Tyler Herro (20.5).
QUOTE TO NOTE: “You know, (the) coaches say that to us every day, ‘by committee.’ Any night, it could be anybody’s night. But once we get stops defensively and share the ball, we can be a very good team. We just have to stay locked in and continue to hang our hats on the defensive end so that we can get stops and run. That’s when the ball flows.” – Harris
IN AND OUT: R.J. Hampton (G League – On Assignment), Kevon Harris (G League – Two-Way), Caleb Houstan (G League – On Assignment), Jonathan Isaac (left knee injury management) and Chuma Okeke (left knee surgery) will be unavailable for the Magic.
For Miami, Haywood Highsmith (left shin contusion), Caleb Martin (left quadriceps strain), and Max Strus (right shoulder irritation) are probable, while Nikola Jovic (lower back; stress reaction), Duncan Robinson (finger surgery), and Omer Yurtseven (left ankle surgery) are out.
KEY STAT: Since Dec. 1, the Magic are the only team in the NBA that has a top five offensive rating and top five defensive rating in the fourth quarter. Over those 26 games, their offensive rating is 121.1, which ranks third, and their defensive rating is 107.9, tied for fourth. Read more about Orlando’s success in the final frame here.
HOW TO WATCH: Watch the game on Bally Sports Florida or tune in on radio via FM 96.9 The Game.