Magic suffer playing deficit
Heat too tough for team depleted by injuries, COVID-19
MIAMI — Miami Heat forward Udonis Haslem is in his 19th NBA season.
In contrast, add up the entire Orlando Magic starting lineup on Sunday, and they are in their 16th year in the league.
That includes three Magic starters who combined don’t have enough games played to add up to a full year in the NBA: Admiral Schofield (38), Franz Wagner (34) and Hassani Gravett (five).
Given all of that — plus 13 Magic players out due to injuries or COVID protocol — it’s no surprise that the Magic lost to the host Heat 93-83 on Sunday afternoon.
The Magic, who have the secondworst record in the NBA at 7-27, played without leading scorer Cole Anthony, who was added to the injury list just prior to Sunday’s game due to a sprained ankle.
In fact, the biggest surprise on Sunday was that the Magic were ahead 19-12 in the first quarter and
didn’t give up their lead until the second period.
But once the Heat got on a 17-5 run in that second quarter, it was essentially over. The Heat led 42-39 at halftime and 72-60 after three quarters.
Orlando had a 16-6 rebounding edge in the first quarter. After that,
Miami won the rebounding battle, 45-27.
“[Miami] had 20 second-chance points,” Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said. “That was big time for them.
“We have to do a better job of keeping teams off the glass.”
Wendell Carter Jr. led the Magic with 14 rebounds, including three on offense. No other Magic player had more than six rebounds.
Carter, though, scored just eight points and had Orlando’s worst plus-minus rating at minus-15.
Perhaps the biggest bright spot for Orlando was the return of R.J. Hampton, who hadn’t played since Dec. 15 due to COVID protocol.
Hampton’s conditioning was a question mark, given the time off, but he played 32 minutes off the bench and scored 14 points on 6-for14 shooting. He also had a team-high five assists.
From his first shot of the day on a
successful drive, Hampton attacked the rim all game, and he also made 2-of-7 on 3-pointers.
Hampton, 20, also got into it with young Heat star Tyler Herro, 21. After a Herro foul, Hampton threw the ball at him. Herro tossed it back, and technical fouls were assessed to each player.
In the third quarter, when Herro said something to the referees following a foul call that went against Miami, he was hit with his second technical and an automatic ejection.
Chalk that up as a minor victory for Hampton and the Magic.
The Magic also got a gamehigh 20 points from Gary Harris, who was efficient, shooting 7-of-11 from the floor, including 2-of-5 on 3-pointers.
Wagner scored 13 points, extending his double-figure scoring streak to 16 games. It’s the second-longest such streak by an NBA rookie since 2000-2001.
Overall, Wagner has scored 20 or more points in five of his past eight games, falling short of that mark on Sunday when he made 4-of-11 shots on what for him was a quiet day.
Gravett, who led the Magic with a trio of 3-pointers on six tries, was a bit more noticeable, although he had fewer points (12).
The 25-year-old Gravett, who was the SEC’s Sixth Man of the Year while playing for South Carolina in 2019, was toiling for the Lakeland Magic of the G League until signing a 10-day contract with Orlando on Dec. 17.
“I was ready at any given point,” Gravett said of a potential call-up. “I knew with COVID what could happen this year.”
Asked to assess his performance on Sunday, Gravett gave a nuanced answer.
“I can improve my reads,” he said. “Sometimes I over help on defense.”
NOTES
Miami won its fifth straight game against its cross-state rival. The last Magic win over the Heat was on Dec. 23, 2020.
The Magic matched the Heat in made 3-pointers (10) and made free throws (11). Both teams shot less than 44 percent from the floor, but those rebounds and the turnover differential (minus-five for Orlando) helped Miami gain a 38-31 edge in made field goals.
Miami got Jimmy Butler back from a tailbone injury that had caused him to miss eight straight games, and he posted 17 points and 11 rebounds. Miami also got Caleb Martin from the COVID list, and he also had 17 points.
Heat third-string center Omer Yurtseven, making his first career start due to injuries to Bam Adebayo and Dewayne Dedmon, scored 16 points and grabbed a game-high 15 rebounds.
Miami point guard Kyle Lowry, who entered the game ranking fifth in the NBA in assists average (8.2), was placed on the COVID-protocol list just prior to the game.