Orlando Magic Grades: Miami Heat 107, Orlando Magic 98

The Orlando Magic were more encouraged by their play and the return of two key injured players. But turnovers again made it difficult to find a win.

Late in the third quarter, the physical play that is natural with two defensive teams boiled over.

The bravado and swagger that a shooter like Tyler Herro has was getting on Michael Carter-Williams‘ nerves. And Tyler Herro was having enough of Michael Carter-Williams’ veteran tricks.

Carter-Williams started with a pump fake that sent Herro flying head over heels as Carter-Williams drove past for a floater. The two began jawing at each other to pick up the rare preseason technical foul.

Herro smoothly drained a 3-pointer on the next possession. Then he got himself tied up with Carter-Williams after an Orlando Magic miss. Carter-Williams appeared to pull on his arm. The officials initially called a double technical foul but rescinded the one on Herro.

As the referees sorted things out, Jimmy Butler egged on a group of Miami Heat fans sitting behind the basket to keep chanting his name.

By that time, the Heat had asserted their dominance. Miami outscored Orlando 33-26 in the third quarter, forcing turnovers and racing out in transition to stake a lead. The Heat took care of the Magic 107-98 as both teams closed their preseason slate at Amway Center on Thursday.

Orlando struggled with turnovers, especially in the third quarter, allowing Miami to stake a lead. The Magic committed 22 total turnovers, leading to 23 Heat points. They had seven turnovers in the third quarter alone.

They all seemed to come right in a row and build upon themselves as Orlando struggled to get its offense going. The funny thing is, the Magic still shot 47.4 percent in the quarter. They just could not get stops.

At least for that stretch. After two games where the team’s purpose of play was not strong enough, the team had a renewed spirit. It played with a ton more energy.

The first half, especially, saw the team playing the kind of defense it will need to play when the games start to count. They had a ton of deflections and forced 15 first-half turnovers. The Magic were stifling except for giving up turnovers on their end.

Orlando left the game feeling disappointed with their turnovers, but confident they could regain their rhythm through a few more days of difficult practice.

The Magic were happy to see they could regain their spirit and a bit of their push. But there is still plenty of work to do.

The Orlando Magic will star their regular season Wednesday against the Cleveland Cavaliers at the Amway Center.