How the Miami Heat can finally beat the Orlando Magic this season

The Miami Heat finally return home to play in front of their fans tonight at the Kaseya Center, as the Orlando Magic come to town.

The team comes off a 3-2 road trip, while three previous starters missed majority of that stretch, in Tyler Herro, Davion Mitchell, and Kel'el Ware.

Herro remains out again for this one, while Ware, Mitchell, and Norman Powell are currently listed as questionable, which will be further changed an hour and 45 minutes prior to tip-off.

The Magic are coming off four straight losses, so let's get into some Heat keys to making it five:

1. The Heat learning from their mistakes.

Dec 9, 2025; Orlando, Florida, USA; Orlando Magic guard Desmond Bane (3) defends Miami Heat forward Andrew Wiggins (22) during the first quarter at Kia Center. Mandatory Credit: Mike Watters-Imagn Images | Mike Watters-Imagn Images

The Miami Heat are 0-3 this season against this Magic team. They just haven't been able to fix their flaws of the prior match, which is why the biggest key is learning from those mistakes. When these two teams meet, I'm never going to expect a pretty three-point shooting game, as these games are almost always in the mud. Part of that is due to the Magic's size always giving Miami problems. The main thing to learn from those prior three games is trying to get out on the break more often, so they don't have to constantly face that giant front-line set-up in the half-court. Looking for mismatches would be the second element of half-court approach.

2. The bench battle.

Dec 9, 2025; Orlando, Florida, USA; Miami Heat forward Simone Fontecchio (0) drives around Orlando Magic forward Tristan da Silva (23) during the second quarter at Kia Center. Mandatory Credit: Mike Watters-Imagn Images | Mike Watters-Imagn Images

The Heat's second unit has shown some slight flashes of that early season production as of late. Jaime Jaquez Jr is coming off his best game since returning from injury, as he found his offensive rhythm. Simone Fontecchio's shooting has returned, which was a vital part of that second unit over the first few weeks. Nikola Jovic has stayed aggressive, and the combo of Dru Smith or Kasparas Jakucionis has been strong. I bring all this up to say this: the Magic are coming off a game where their bench scored 15 points total, while no individual scored more than five. The Heat's bench can easily win them this game.

3. Desmond Bane watch.

Dec 9, 2025; Orlando, Florida, USA; Orlando Magic guard Desmond Bane (3) shoots a three point basket against Miami Heat forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. (11) during the second half at Kia Center. Mandatory Credit: Mike Watters-Imagn Images | Mike Watters-Imagn Images

Looking at the last two match-ups, Desmond Bane was the fluctuating piece. He dropped 5 points on 2 of 16 shooting the one game, and 37 points the next time around. The main difference: Franz Wagner played in the first game. So as his shot attempts rose in that second match-up, he caught fire as Miami had no response. With Wagner out again for this game, the Heat must be ready for Bane's perimeter punch. They usually do a decent job on Paolo Banchero, as Bam Adebayo is usually deployed on him with limited help. So the perimeter defense and communication on switches will need to be perfect to deal with Orlando's back-court.