As it turns out, it’s a good thing that the Magic continue to have players ready to go considering that they will almost certainly be shorthanded the rest of the regular season.
Already without forward Aaron Gordon because of a concussion, Orlando lost standout guard Victor Oladipo on Friday to a concussion and a laceration over his left eye.
The Magic were still able to beat the Heat 112-109 thanks in large part to the 29 points (and the game-winning dunk) from Nikola Vucevic and 28 points (and the game-winning assist) from Evan Fournier. Others such as Elfrid Payton (16 points and 10 assists) and reserves C.J. Watson (five of his seven points in the fourth quarter) and Devyn Marble (a steal with three seconds left) played big roles in the Magic’s first win against Miami at the Amway Center in more than four years.
``We definitely showed a lot of heart,’’ said Fournier, whose pass to Vucevic led to the tie-breaking dunk with 20 seconds remaining. ``Guys like Devyn Marble, who did not play much the whole game, coming in cold and diving for the ball for the game, that meant everything to us.’’