Coming off first-round playoff exits, the Orlando Magic host the rival Miami Heat in Wednesday’s season opener.
Last season, the Boston Celtics eliminated the seventh-seeded Magic in five games. The Heat won twice in the play-in tournament to become the first No. 10 seed in NBA history to advance, but the Cleveland Cavaliers swept them in the first round, punctuating the result with a 55-point blowout in Game 4.
The Magic are considered a team on the rise in the Eastern Conference. They finished 41-41 and won a second straight Southeast Division title despite injuries to young stars Paolo Banchero, Jalen Suggs and brothers Franz and Moritz Wagner.
Moritz Wagner is still out after tearing his ACL last December, but the rest of the Magic make a formidable nucleus. Orlando picked up new starting guard Desmond Bane in an offseason trade with the Memphis Grizzlies.
“Our strength is our depth,” Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said. “Our guys are going to play to the level of fatigue and then we have the next group coming in ready to go. I think that’s what we hang our hats on — along with the defense, our depth will be a major strength for us.”
Orlando had the best scoring defense in the NBA last season, conceding only 105.5 points per game, but struggled mightily from the perimeter. That’s where Bane comes in. He has been a 41% career shooter from beyond the arc with Memphis and averaged 19.2 points last season, as well as 6.1 rebounds and 5.3 assists.
Miami will be without star guard Tyler Herro, who had foot surgery in mid-September, for an unspecified amount of time. The Heat brought in former Clippers guard Norman Powell to join the established core of Herro, Bam Adebayo and Andrew Wiggins.
“Norman has played a lot of different roles with the teams he has played on and has always been efficient,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “But it always comes down to the right type of fit. You have to be like-minded in your approach in how you view the game and how you compete. He’s won a championship before (with the 2019 Toronto Raptors). He takes it very seriously and he has an edge to him, which we like.”
One area Miami must focus on is holding onto leads. Last season’s Heat managed to lose 22 games after leading by double digits, including when they coughed up a 25-point lead to Orlando last December.
That comeback matched the largest in Magic franchise history. Meanwhile, the Heat’s 37-45 final record tied for the worst mark of Spoelstra’s 17-year coaching tenure.
The Heat and Magic are meeting to open a second straight season. Miami dropped last year’s opener by 19 points but rebounded to split the four-game season series.
Miami is 20-17 all-time in season openers, while Orlando is 21-15.
