Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Makeshift is all right
A mix and match lineup handles miserable Magic
MIAMI — This was supposed to be the night the Miami Heat were going to celebrate being whole, with Hassan Whiteside finally back in the lineup.
Instead, there was an 11-point hole to dig out from against the Orlando Magic, with a roster that remains numbingly shorthanded.
Through it all, the Heat emerged with a 107-89 victory Tuesday night at American-Airlines Arena that pushed them to 18-16, matching their high-water mark above .500 this season.
With Whiteside limited to a supporting role in his first game back after missing the previous 13 with a bone bruise on his left knee, the remaining teammates in yet another revamped lineup ultimately carried the night.
With Dion Waiters, Justise Winslow still out, and now with James Johnson again joining them on the sidelines, the Heat instead relied on the likes of Goran Dragic, Josh Richardson, Kelly Olynyk, Tyler Johnson and Wayne Ellington to make it seven victories in their last 10 games.
It was ugly early, with Dragic still dealing with a sore left elbow and later Tyler Johnson twisting his left ankle, but through it all the Heat found a way to even their home record at 8-8.
Whiteside closed with seven points and eight rebounds in 18 minutes, with rookie Bam Adebayo in the middle amid the Heat’s decisive surge.
Richardson led the Heat with 20 points, supported by 18 points on six 3-pointers
Josh Richardson led the Heat with 20 points, supported by 18 points on six 3-pointers from Wayne Ellington.
from Ellington, 17 points from Tyler Johnson, 15 points and 11 rebounds from Olynyk, 14 points from Dragic and eight points and nine rebounds from Adebayo.
The Heat again found themselves mixing and matching lineups.
This time, with Whiteside back but Waiters out for a second consecutive game with a sprained left ankle, coach Erik Spoelstra opted to go big, opening with Whiteside at center, Olynyk at power forward, Richardson at small forward, Tyler Johnson at shooting guard and Dragic at point guard.
It was the first time Olynyk had started alongside Whiteside since the Heat’s season-opening loss in Orlando.
The Heat reserve rotation also remained jumbled, with Winslow missing his seventh consecutive game due to a strained left knee and with James Johnson unavailable due to the ankle bursitis that had him out for three games before Saturday’s aborted comeback attempt in the loss to the visiting New Orleans Pelicans.
The Magic were just as out of sorts with their lineup and rotation, with Aaron Gordon, Nikola Vucevic and Terrence Ross out. It appeared Orlando again would be without forward Evan Fournier, but after declaring Fournier out during his pregame media session, Magic coach Frank Vogel instead had him in his starting line up.
With Gordon, Vucevic and Ross out, the Magic instead started Mario Hezonja, Bismack Biyombo and Jonathon Simmons.
The Heat put it away in the fourth quarter with Richardson playing in attack mode and Ellington scoring from distance.
The Heat used a 19-4 third-quarter run to push to a 66-61 lead before the Magic responded with a 7-0 run, the teams eventually going into the fourth quarter tied 68-68.
The Magic committed 10 third-quarter turnovers to help fuel the Heat comeback.
The Heat had yet another injury scare when Tyler Johnson twisted his left ankle early in the third period, forcing the Heat to call time. Johnson re-laced his sneaker and remained in the game.
With the Magic putting together a 13-0 run that grew to 18-2, they moved to an 11-point second-quarter lead before the Heat closed back within 49-43 at halftime.
The numbers were not pretty for the Heat at the intermission, at .395 from the field, 3 of 16 on 3-pointers and with 10 turnovers in the first half.
No Heat player was in double figures at the break, at a stage when Fournier already had 12 points for the Magic and point guard Elfrid Payton had 10.
With both teams coming off two-day breaks, it was an uneven start, with the Heat moving to an early nine-point lead and then going into the second period up 21-18. The Heat shot 9 of 23 in the first quarter, with the Magic 6 of 23.
The game was the second of the four-game season series that continues Saturday at the Amway Center. The Magic won the first meeting, 116-109, Oct. 18 at the Amway Center in the season opener for both teams.