Orlando @ Miami preview
Kaseya Center
Last Meeting ( Feb 6, 2024 ) Orlando 95, Miami 121
Despite making the NBA Finals two seasons ago, the Miami Heat are expected by some to have a down year in 2024-25. ESPN, for example, ranked Miami 18th out of 30 teams in its season preview on Monday.
The Heat will aim to invalidate those dull expectations this season, which begins on Wednesday against the visiting Orlando Magic.
This season marks the 35-year anniversary of the first game between the two Florida rivals. Orlando won the first all-time meeting in November 1989, but Miami leads the all-time series 82-61. The Heat won three of four meetings last season.
Miami may not be viewed as favorably entering the season because of the team's lack of major offseason acquisitions following its first-round exit in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
The Heat lost forward Caleb Martin in free agency, signed reserve guard Alec Burks and drafted center Kel'el Ware in the first round.
However, Miami did retain star center Bam Adebayo via a three-year extension and welcomed back veteran forward Kevin Love on a two-year deal.
The Heat also have a two-time champion coach in Erik Spoelstra and a trio of stars in Adebayo, forward Jimmy Butler and guard Tyler Herro.
Butler and Herro are aiming to rebound from injury-shortened campaigns, while Adebayo is presumably entering the prime of his career at age 27.
Love and veteran guard Terry Rozier are the other possible starters. Miami will also rely on 3-point threat Duncan Robinson, defensive specialist Haywood Highsmith and blossoming second-year guard Jaime Jaquez Jr.
With a solid cast of contributors, many of whom were on the 2023 Finals squad, Heat president Pat Riley expects urgency from his players this season.
"They should know that this is a crucial year for them," Riley said.
There seems to be less pressure on Orlando, which is coming off a 47-win campaign, its best mark since winning 52 games in 2010-11.
Jamahl Mosley enters his fourth season as coach, having guided the Magic to a higher win total in each of his first three years.
Orlando went 21-51 in the abbreviated 2020-21 season before stringing together 22 wins in Mosley's rookie campaign, then posted 34 victories in 2022-23 before last year's 47-win finish.
The Magic are equipped with a stirring duo of young forwards: Paolo Banchero, 21, who was a first-time All-Star last season, and 23-year-old Franz Wagner.
Orlando's youth extends to the backcourt. Jalen Suggs, 23, averaged 12.6 points last season and made the NBA's All-Defensive Second Team.
Banchero (22.6 points per game), Wagner (19.7 points) and Suggs were the Magic's top three scorers last season and were the team's only three players with at least 72 starts.
Orlando addressed a critical weakness in the offseason. The Magic were tied for the fewest made 3-pointers per game (11.0) and finished tied for the eight-lowest shooting percentage from distance (35.2 percent) a year ago.
Magic president Jeff Weltman signed veteran shooting guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, a career 36.9 percent 3-point shooter who hit 40.6 percent of his shots from deep last season. Caldwell-Pope, 31 also won an NBA title with Denver in 2023.
"He brings a championship pedigree," Weltman said of Caldwell-Pope, who signed a three-year, $66-million contract in July. "He provides a lot of the things we need."
Besides Pope, the Magic have extended the contracts of several of their standouts: Wagner (five years, $224 million); Suggs (five years, $150.5 million); forward Jonathan Isaac (five years, $84 million); and center Wendell Carter Jr. (three years, $59 million).
--Field Level Media