Fresh from knocking off the defending champion Toronto Raptors, the boys from South Beach drive up to Orlando for a meeting with the Magic.

Bouncing back from an ugly loss

After inexplicably losing to the Washington Wizards’ B-team, the Miami Heat bounced back by defeating the Toronto Raptors on Friday, 84-76. Though the Raptors were also depleted, it at least showed that the Heat are back to being able to beat whoever they’re supposed to. With the victory, the Heat improved to 25-9.

Tomorrow will be the Heat’s first meeting with the Orlando Magic on the regular season. However, they handily won against them during a preseason game in mid-October, 108-97. Jimmy Butler led the way with 23 points, six rebounds, and six assists in just 28 minutes of play.

Butler will continue being the flag-bearer of what could possibly be the most balanced offensive attack in the league. The eight-year veteran paces the Heat scoring at 20.8 PPG but five other active players are averaging between 12 and 16 PPG, all of which have scored 25 or more points multiple times this season.

Miami is 10-8 on the road this season.

A terrible record with a playoff spot

The Orlando Magic head to tomorrow’s contest having lost eight of their last 12 games. They are on the heels of a 122-101 road win over the Washington Wizards, though, which at least brought them some momentum. Also, despite the awful stretch, the Magic have the third-best scoring defense in the league (104.6 PAPG), and their 15-19 record are still inside the East’s playoff cut.

Nikola Vucevic remains as a focal point of the offense. He’s averaging 20 points, 9.3 boards, and 3.1 assists per game since returning from an injury nine games back. Sweet-shooting swingman Evan Fournier, meanwhile, is right along the All-Star big man through career-bests 19.4 PPG on 47.9% shooting. The two were also the only starters to score in double-digits during the aforementioned Heat match-up back in preseason.

With Jonathan Isaac (knee) out indefinitely and Aaron Gordon (achilles) still questionable, Terrence Ross, Markelle Fultz, and veteran floor general DJ Augustin are all bound to have an uptick in their numbers. All three scored fairly well against the Wizards, especially Augustin, who tallied a season-high 25 points off-the-bench.

The Magic are 10-7 at home.

PREDICTION:

The Heat display their beautiful brand of offense and get the 108-102 win.