Orlando Magic: 3 takeaways from 2018-19 season opener

3. Defense looks great

Holding an NBA team to 101 points is impressive. Yes, the Heat were missing two key rotation players in Justise Winslow and James Johnson. Yes, the Heat shot the ball horrendously. However, this was the Magic’s doing more than Miami’s shooting woes. Orlando was getting out to shooters, forcing extra sloppy passes, disrupting passing lanes and making the Heat take contested shots.

For the game, the Heat shot 39.2 percent from the field and 27.3 percent from 3. The only Heat player to shoot above 50 percent was Goran Dragic. The Magic defense collected seven steals, forced 16 turnovers, had seven blocks and harassed Hassan Whiteside down low.

A lot of this was due to the bench play of Simmons, Ross and Bamba, who brought a great amount of energy and frazzled the Heat’s second unit.

Vucevic and Evan Fournier struggled defensively as a lack of effort continues to be an issue with them. It was clear when they were in the game that interior defense was weaker and guards were able to make get to the rim better. Outside of these two though, the defense was great and if the Magic can continue to keep teams around 100, more wins should come of it.