MIAMI — Maybe it’s as simple as just having starting point guard Kyle Lowry on the court.
Lowry returned from a one-game absence and the Heat (2-1) bounced back from Saturday’s overtime loss to the Indiana Pacers with a 107-90 victory over the Orlando Magic (1-3) on Monday night at FTX Arena.
Lowry, who sat out Saturday’s defeat because of a sprained left ankle, finished with nine points on 4-of-11 shooting from the field, 1-of-6 shooting on threes, eight assists and one steal in 31 minutes on Monday. The Heat has outscored its opponent by a combined margin of 59 points in the two games that Lowry has played in this season.
But while Lowry’s return helped get the offense in order, Heat star Jimmy Butler was the catalyst with 36 points on 15-of-21 shooting from the field and 6-of-6 shooting from the foul line, three rebounds, two assists and five steals. It’s the third-most points he has ever scored in a regular-season game with Miami.
The Heat led by as many as 19 points in the first half, but the overmatched Magic rallied to cut the deficit to six in the third quarter.
Miami eventually shut the door on Orlando with a 17-9 run to begin the fourth quarter that extended the lead to 19 points. The Heat led by as many as 22 points in the final period.
Center Bam Adebayo finished with 16 points and 13 rebounds in 29 minutes.
Veteran forward Markieff Morris contributed 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting off the bench.
The Heat scored 20 points off of 18 Magic turnovers, 50 paint points and shot 19 of 19 from the free-throw line. That helped negate Miami’s subpar 6-of-27 performance from three-point range.
After its quick one-game stay at home, the Heat now hits the road again for a Wednesday night matchup against the Brooklyn Nets.
Here are five takeaways from the Heat’s win over the Magic:
The Lowry effect was felt immediately.
Lowry scored only two points in the first quarter, but he assisted on four of the Heat’s first five baskets and finished the period with five assists. He ended the night with eight assists and three turnovers.
As a unit, the Heat’s offense looked much, much better Monday than it did in Saturday’s loss to the Pacers with Lowry.
Against the Magic, the Heat scored 107 points on 47.1 percent shooting and dished out 28 assists to just 11 turnovers.
That’s a drastic improvement from Saturday, when the Lowry-less Heat totaled just 91 points while shooting just 38.5 percent from the field and 9 of 33 (27.3 percent) on threes. Miami also committed 22 turnovers to just 18 assists and posted its worst single-game offensive rating in the regular season since January 2019 in the loss.
Lowry’s return certainly helped the Heat’s offense, but it didn’t hurt that its opponent was the Magic.
Orlando, a team rebuilding around a young and inexperienced core, entered with the NBA’s worst defensive rating (allowing 117.2 points per 100 possessions) through the first week of the season. The Magic’s offense hasn’t been much better, as it entered with the league’s seventh-worst offensive rating (scoring 102.7 points per 100 possessions.
Before defeating the New York Knicks on Sunday at Madison Square Garden for its first win of the season, Orlando lost its first two games by a combined margin of 51 points.
If the Heat needed even more of an edge, it got it with the the Magic playing on the second night of a back-to-back after winning in New York on Sunday.
Miami entered as a 13.5-point favorite.
The expectation was a Heat blowout and that’s exactly what the result was.
Butler said following Saturday’s loss that he has “to be better overall.” He was the Heat’s best player on Monday.
Butler scored an ultra-efficient 24 points on 11-of-13 shooting while recording four steals in the first half against the Magic.
Those 24 points are tied for the fourth-most he has ever scored in a first half and the 11 made shots are a career-high for a first half. He also became just the ninth player since the 1996-97 season to record at least 24 points and four steals in a first half
Butler did it by generating shot attempts around the basket, as he scored 18 of his 24 first-half points in the paint on 9-of-11 shooting.
For the game, 20 of Butler’s 36 points came in the paint. He shot 10 of 13 from that area of the court.
Monday’s performance was basically the opposite of what Butler did in Saturday’s loss to the Pacers, when he shot 6 of 15 in the paint.
Adebayo’s rebounding continues to stand out.
The Heat’s starting center grabbed 13 rebounds on Monday, and he has recorded a double-double in each of the Heat’s first three games.
After averaging nine rebounds last season, Adebayo has grabbed 14 rebounds per game to open the season.
Spoelstra is familiar with first-year Magic head coach Jamahl Mosley because of their time together with Team USA.
Spoelstra served as the head coach of the Team USA select team in Las Vegas this past summer, and Mosley was one of his assistants along with Gonzaga coach Mark Few. The select team is a group of players take part in the national team’s training camp to practice and scrimmage against the Olympic roster.
“With Spo and the Team USA select team, it was great just because there were so many little nuggets that I got from him about just the demeanor, working with guys, the preparation, the attention to detail,” Mosley said. “He’s just such a great coach and he’s just willing to share information about how to grow and get better. He’s very transparent in that regard of just how to help younger coaches get better.”
Mosley is also familiar with Heat sixth man Tyler Herro, who was a member of this year’s select team.
“Having Tyler in the USA Select Team, I understand he has a level of confidence,” Mosley said before Monday’s game. “His level to score at a high clip. He is someone we are definitely going to focus on making sure we know where he is on the floor. We know how capable he is of scoring, but also his ability to make some plays. We will be attentive, and our weak side has got to be alert and ready to help.”
