Whiteside, Heat beat Magic 108-97

By Neal Nachman
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Updated: March 25, 2016

The game served as a staging area for the Hassan Whiteside sideshow.

Maybe Orlando Magic officials will be reviewing the tape this summer.

Whiteside, who can become a free agent, scored 26 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and had five blocks to pace the Miami Heat to a 108-97 victory against the Magic on Friday night at AmericanAirlines Arena.

The 7-foot center who leads the NBA in blocked shots was unstoppable when he had the ball. He made 10-of 15 shots — most coming on dunks — and did a good imitation of a former Magic big man: Dwight Howard.

The late-blooming Whiteside, 26, dominated in the first half with 18 points on alley-oop lobs. He then highlighted a Heat surge in the third period with seven points on 3-of-3 shooting.

He led the Heat’s 62-point performance in the paint and took full advantage of the absence of Magic center and Miami-killer Nikola Vucevic. Vucevic missed his 12th consecutive game with a groin injury.

“We did a better job on him in the second half. It was just too little too late,” forward Jason Smith said of Whiteside. “They got some momentum going. That’s what kept them in the game in the first half — his lobs.

“If you take him 10 feet away from the basket, it’s tough for him to score. But if he’s 10 feet in, it’s tough for him to miss.”

The Magic were seriously undermanned as they were also missing shooting guard Victor Oladipo (sprained wrist) and power forward Ersan IIyasova (sprained shoulder).

They led 57-54 at halftime but missed 19 of 24 shots in the tell-tale third quarter while Miami made 13-of-22 in the period.

“Had a cap on the room. Couldn’t get a shot to go down. They hit a spurt and we couldn’t recover,” said Smith, who was 3-of-10. “We got to have people step up and knock shots down, me included.”

The Magic (29-43) lost their sixth consecutive game, having dropped all four on this road trip to Toronto, Boston, Detroit and Miami.

Orlando hosts the Chicago Bulls on Saturday night at Amway Center.

The disparity in experience between the Heat and the Magic was glaring.

The starters for the Heat were Joe Johnson (15th year), Amare Stoudemire (14th), Dwyane Wade (13th), Luol Deng (12th) and Goran Dragic (eighth); the Magic had rookie Mario Hezonja, Elfrid Payton (2nd year), Aaron Gordon (2nd), Evan Fournier (4th) and journeyman Dewayne Dedmon (3rd).

Dragic had 22 points and Stoudemire added 13, off-setting Wade’s struggles (2-of-9, 11 points).

Fournier had 20 points on a wobbly 6-of-17 shooting. Andrew Nicholson added 19 points and Payton finished with 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting plus seven assists and seven rebounds.

Oddly enough, Whiteside doesn’t start because coach Erik Spoelstra prefers to bring him in as a reserve behind a veteran unit.

Spoelstra was worried about his team letting down, knowing that Vucevic — who has had some of the biggest games of his career against Miami — was sidelined. But early on, the Heat rode Whiteside, who had 18 points in 11 minutes against the Magic and four blocks in no time.

Despite Whiteside’s effort, the Magic led by three points at halftime, thanks to 14 points from Fournier and eight from Smith.

Without Oladipo, they needed production and received it from two unlikely sources, getting 10 points from NichoIson and nine from Dedmon. Payton returned to the starting lineup after coming off the bench three games and also hit shots — not his strength. He made 4-of-5 in the opening half to go with five assists.

With no salary-cap room, the Heat are struggling to find a way to pay Whiteside. Somebody likely will offer him a huge contract.

The Magic not only have a lot of money, but they came away with a first-hand free-agent scouting report on him Friday night.