Magic at Heat GameThread

Orlando’s preseason tour continues Monday night in South Florida against their Atlantic Division in-state foe, the Miami Heat.

The Magic are inching ever so close to opening night, which is now only ten days away. The Magic will be hosting the Heat in Orlando at the Amway Center.

Coach Steve Clifford’s team last played Friday night, defeating Brazil’s Flamengo 119-82. The Magic, who are now 1-1 through two preseason games, were up by as many as 43 points in the contest.

The Magic rolled out a lineup Friday night that at times featured both Orlando’s longest tenured player and its newest rookie, Nikola Vucevic and Mohamed Bamba. The results, although in a small sample size (and against inferior competition), were promising.

In his Amway debut, Bamba filled the stat sheet - finishing with 12 points, 9 rebounds, and 4 blocks (in 19 minutes). Bamba went 2-2 on his three-point attempts for the second consecutive game. Vucevic finished with 21 points and 7 rebounds in the game. The Magic were led in scoring by Aaron Gordon, who converted 10 of his 12 field goal attempts (29 points).

The Magic played without Jonathan Isaac, Terrence Ross, and Timofey Mozgov Friday night. The team has already announced that all three players will also be out Monday against the Heat. Neither Ross nor Isaac’s injuries are considered to be serious.

The Heat were also in action last Friday night. Miami dropped a contest in Washington to the Wizards 121-114 to drop to 0-3 in the preseason. Tonight will be Miami’s first preseason home game.

According to John Denton of OrlandoMagic.com, look tonight for Coach Clifford to extend his starter’s minutes in order to stretch them out in preparation for next week’s opener.

“We’re going to play our guys a little more,” Clifford said before Monday’s contest. “Whereas last week, (in the Philadelphia game) everybody played and our practices on Wednesday and Thursday were really demanding. This week, we’re going to use the three games to do more (and the two practices will be more teaching and introduction).”

Leave your pregame and in-game comments below. Feel free to follow us on Twitter at @OPPMagicBlog, and as always - enjoy!