ORLANDO, Fla. _ Thanks to Josh Richardson stepping out of bounds with two seconds left, the Steve Clifford era as Magic head coach opened with a win Wednesday night in the season opener.
With the Magic clinging to a one-point lead, the Miami Heat had a chance to take the lead, but Richardson's miscue helped the Magic to a 104-101 victory.
More important, however, Magic fans at Amway Center saw the future.
With time winding down in the third quarter, Magic rookie Mohamed Bamba _ the No. 6 pick in the June NBA draft _ took on a new persona.
Somewhat content to go through the motions early in his first NBA game, Bamba finally looked like he wanted the game to come to him, and his Orlando teammates obliged.
The rookie 7-footer spotted up at the 3-point line, teammate Jerian Grant found him with a kick-out pass and Bamba confidently drilled a long-distance bomb. The shot gave the Magic some critical fourth-quarter momentum, and even though Bamba left the game with about three minutes remaining, it was just enough energy for the Magic to ride to a victory.
The Amway Center crowd loved the confidence as he took charge on both sides of the floor. He swatted a Richardson shot into the crowd in the fourth quarter and got the fans even more riled up with a pair of offensive-rebound dunks.
The franchise player of the future was flourishing ahead of schedule.
Bamba's aggressiveness carried over to the rest of the team, which scrapped and battled on the boards _ especially in the final period with Aaron Gordon also crashing the boards hard. The Heat faced contested shots on numerous possessions, and it frustrated the Miami players' offensive efforts.
The Heat tried to keep pace and seemed to crawl back into the game when Bamba went to the bench with about three minutes left.
The Heat rallied from a 101-90 deficit by outscoring the Magic 11-1 in the final three minutes.
Goran Dragic hit a layup off a jump ball, and on the ensuing possession the Magic's Jonathon Simmons hit one of two free throws to give the Heat a last glimmer of hope. Out of the Heat timeout with 12 seconds left, Jonathan Isaac and Kelly Olynyk collided and Isaac was whistled for a foul. Olynyk hit both free throws to pull the Heat within one, but the Richardson miscue sealed the Magic win.
Gordon led Orlando with 26 points and tied a career high with 16 rebounds. Bamba had 13 points, seven rebounds and two blocked shots. All of his blocks came in the final quarter. Evan Fournier added 13 points, Nikola Vucevic had 12 points and eight rebounds, and Simmons also chipped in 12 points.
Clifford, who is in his first season leading the Magic, preached all preseason about how he wanted this team to begin establishing an identity from the 3-point line. Early on in the opener, however, those shots were limited. The Magic attempted just one 3-pointer, a Fournier miss, in the first five minutes of the game.
Of course, whether it was of the 3- or 2-point variety, the shots weren't falling early for the Magic. In the first nine minutes, the Magic hit just 6 of 19 shots from the field and only shot two 3-pointers, both misses.
The Heat weren't quite as cold, hitting 4 of 11 first-quarter 3-pointers and 13 of 31 overall. Miami bolted out to a 28-14 lead.
Gordon finally broke the ice from long range with a 3-pointer at the 37-second mark of the opening quarter. That trey came after a Gordon feed to Bamba for a monster dunk and the Magic faithful finally got riled up as Orlando whittled the early double-digit deficit to 31-25 after the first period.
Some substitutions sparked more offensive success in the second quarter, with Simmons scoring on a fast-break. He led another break off a feed from Terrence Ross, but he missed a dunk. Bamba, however, was there for the offensive rebound follow and Orlando pulled within two, trailing 33-31. It prompted Miami timeout just over two minutes into the second quarter.
Orlando took its first lead of the game on a Vucevic bucket at the midway point of the second quarter and the Magic were far more active, pushing up the tempo and eventually taking a 54-51 halftime lead.
The Magic, however, still did not take as many 3-pointers as Clifford preferred. They were 2 of 12 at the break.
The Magic averaged 25 3-point shots per game in the five preseason games and that, by Clifford's standards, was not enough.
The quick pace to end the half, however, was ideal. It led to some transition buckets before Bamba stepped up to ignite the Magic's competitive fire.
