The Orlando Magic will play host to the Miami Heat tomorrow night at Amway Arena.
Both teams are coming off of wins Sunday. The Magic came from 12 points down to defeat the host Toronto Raptors while the Heat held off the New Orleans Hornets after blowing a fourth quarter lead. They were led by Dwayne Wade’s 31 points.
Orlando will look to continue their dominance over their in-state rival. The Magic have won 12 of the last 13 games against the Heat and have won by an average of nearly 21 points per game in the last six games between the two teams in Orlando.
The Heat may be without starting Center Jermaine O’Neal. Miami’s second-leading scorer sat out Monday’s practice with a sore back. If he can’t go, Joel Anthony would most like start in his place.
Starting Forward Quentin Richardson did not participate in practice on Tuesday and has missed each of the last two games.
The game will be shown on FSN. If you don’t have FSN, this game will also be carried nationally by ESPN. As always, if you can’t watch the game, you can hear it locally on WDBO 580 AM and in Spanish on WONQ AM 1030. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 pm EST.
The Line: Orlando – 8.5
Starters
Orlando
Dwight Howard
Rashard Lewis
Mickael Pietrus
Vince Carter
Jason Williams
Miami
Jermaine O’Neal
Michael Beasley
James Jones
Dwayne Wade
Mario Chalmers
Last Meeting: The Magic defeated the Heat 101-95 on March 30, 2009 at American Airlines Arena. In the game, Dwight Howard scored 22 and grabbed 18 rebounds. He became the youngest player in NBA history to grab 5,000 rebounds. The Magic trailed in the fourth quarter but Rashard Lewis hit a 3-pointer with 1:32 to play to give Orlando the lead for good. Lewis scored 21 points. Dwayne Wade went off on the Magic like he usually does. This time, he scored 41 points. Mario Chalmers had 13 points and 7 assists for the Heat.
Season Series: Orlando won the season series 3-1 in 2008-09. In addition to their March 30 matchup, Orlando won on 86-76 in the team’s first meeting on January 6. Dwayne Wade scored 33 points while Rashard Lewis led the Magic with 17. Dwight Howard had 15 points and 15 rebounds.
The two teams also met January 24 in Miami. The Magic came back from15-point fourth quarter deficit but their rally wasn’t enough. After a Jameer Nelson three-pointer tied it with less than three minutes remaining, the Heat ended the game on a 9-4 run. Dwayne Wade scored 27 points while Mario Chalmers scored 20.
Dwight Howard led the Magic with 22 points and 10 rebounds. The win snapped a 10-game Magic winning streak in the series.
On February 22, Dwayne Wade went crazy on the Magic, scoring 50 points, but Magic still came away with a 23-point victory. Dwight Howard scored 32 points and 17 rebounds. Stan Van Gundy had a funny quote about the game.
"“My concern is when Dwyane goes into the Hall of Fame and they start putting off his top career games, it’s going to be like 50 versus Orlando,” Van Gundy joked. “We’re going to fill up the entire screen. So, I don’t know what to tell you. When I coached Dwyane I really liked him, but I’m not so sure anymore. Our relationship is strained.”"
About the Magic: Defense has been the story all season for the Magic. Through the first 10 games of the season, the Magic did not have much of it. Since the return of All-Star Power Forward Rashard Lewis from his suspension, Orlando has been playing much better defense. Orlando’s defense has been improving steadily since his return and is now the sixth most efficient defense in the league.
Orlando also has the seventh most efficient offense, which explains why Orlando has a league-best 11-3 record.
Jason Williams has been very good since taking over as the starting Point Guard for the injured Jameer Nelson. Williams is averaging 9 points per game, is dishing out 4.7 assists per game, and is making 2 steals per game. He has turned the ball over just three times and was without a turnover on Sunday.
Vince Carter has been attacking the basket much more often and although he has been unlucky when he has been at the hoop over the last two games, this will no doubt prove to be a very good thing for Carter and the Magic. Not only will he get easy baskets, but he will create good looks for his teammates.
About the Heat: The Heat, as usual, have been led by Dwayne Wade. He’s averaging 28.1 points per game, 5.2 assists per game and 4.9 rebounds per game while playing 38.7 minutes per game.
The Heat started the season off on a tear, winning six of their first seven games. They cooled off, losing four of their next five, but are coming off a one-point win over New Orleans. Miami’s offensive rating is 106, 16th in the league, while their defensive rating is 104.3, 12th in the league. In other words, the Heat seem to be a middle of the road team on both sides of the ball. Miami scores 96.8 points per game and gives up 95.2 points per game. These numbers show that their 6-1 start was due to their easy schedule. Outside of wins over Denver and Chicago (both in Miami), the Heat have had trouble against the league’s better ball clubs.
Miami is 6-3 at home and has played just 4 road games, splitting them 2-2.
Five Heat players average double figures in scoring for the Heat – Wade 28.1, O’Neal 14.3, Michael Beasley 14.2 Udonis Haslem 11.9, and Mario Chalmers 10.3.
Haslem provides the scoring off of the bench and also leads the team in rebounding at 9.4 rebounds per game.
Heat sharpshooter (and last year’s three-point shootout winner) Daequan Cook return from a shoulder injury four games ago.
Here’s a fun fact: Former Magic Point Guard Carlos Arroyo has appeared in all 13 games for the Heat and is scoring 5.2 points per game.
Dwight Howard needs to stay out of foul trouble and control the paint. He’s going to have a big size advantage against any of Miami’s big men, whether it’s O’Neal, Haslem or Joel Anthony. Howard has recorded a double-double in each of last 12 games against the Heat.
Dwayne Wade is going to get us. He has scored at least 40 points in each of his last two games against the Magic and averaged 37.75 points per game against Orlando last season. He’s averaging 30.7 points per game in his career against the Magic.
The Magic must contain the rest of the Heat offensively if Wade is going to score at will again. Michael Beasley has been playing much better as of late, averaging nearly 20 points per game and a double-double over the last three games.
If Orlando keeps up their recent play on defense in this game, they should be in good shape.
(Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger and a contributor at NFL Mocks Subscribe to his RSS feed and add him on Twitter to follow him daily.)