Interested: Heat defeated Magic with a new starting lineup and strong defense.

Heat defeated Magic with a new starting lineup and strong defense.

Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 121-95 blowout win over the Orlando Magic (27-24) on

Tuesday night at Kaseya Center to improve to 1-1 on its four-game homestand. The Heat (27-24)

is right back at it on Wednesday, continuing the homestand against the San Antonio Spurs (7:30

p.m., Bally Sports Sun) on the second night of the back-to-back set: Heat coach Erik Spoelstra

has made it clear that defense needs to be the identity of this team. The Heat played to its

identity on Tuesday. The Heat’s defense was suffocating on Tuesday, limiting the Magic to 95

points on 43.8 percent shooting from the field and 10-of-35 (28.6 percent) shooting from three-

point range. Orlando doesn’t feature the best offense in the NBA, entering with the league’s

24th-ranked offensive rating this season. But the Heat’s defensive performance was still

impressive, as it held an opponent under 100 points for the first time since Jan. 15. The result

was the Heat’s first double-digit win since defeating the Charlotte Hornets 104-87 on Jan. 14.

The Heat’s defense was dominant from the start on Tuesday, as the Magic had just 33 points

with 3:45 left in the first half. That allowed the Heat to open a 20-point lead late in the second

quarter, but the Magic closed the first half on a 16-3 run to cut the deficit to seven entering

halftime. The Magic went on to pull within five points early in the third quarter. That’s when the

Heat went on a big 34-15 run to regain control and take a 24-point lead late in the third quarter.

The Magic made one last push, cutting the deficit to 10 with 7:47 left in the fourth quarter.

Jimmy Butler made sure the Magic’s run ended there, hitting back-to-back threes and then

making a short jumper to go on his own personal 8-0 run. Butler’s stretch pushed the Heat’s

lead back up to 18 points with 6:18 to play and put the Magic away. The Heat’s offense also won

the battle against the Magic’s top-five defense, scoring 121 points on 54 percent shooting from

the field and 13-of-36 (36.1 percent) shooting on threes. Seven Heat players scored double-digit

points. Butler led the way with a team-high 23 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the field, 2-of-4

shooting on thees and 9-of-12 shooting from the foul line, eight rebounds, eight assists and three

steals. Terry Rozier turned in his best game since being traded to the Heat, recording 18 points

on 7-of-12 shooting from the field and 2-of-4 shooting on threes, six rebounds and seven assists.

The Heat made another change to its starting lineup, using its 27th different starting unit in the

51st game of the season. The Heat moved Haywood Highsmith to the bench and started Caleb

Martin at forward in his place on Tuesday against the Magic. It marked Martin’s 13th start of the

season. Martin opened the game alongside the Heat’s other four regular starters — Terry Rozier,

Tyler Herro, Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo. Before starting Tuesday’s contest, this lineup had

played just 11 minutes together since the Heat acquired Rozier in a trade on Jan. 23. Their first time starting together went well for the Heat. This group began Tuesday’s game by building a

16-4 lead before the Heat made its first substitution of the night. Martin finished the win with 11

points, three rebounds, one assist and one steal in 25 minutes. The Heat continues to rotate

through different frontcourt options to play with Adebayo. Nikola Jovic started 10 straight

games alongside Adebayo in the frontcourt in January and Highsmith started seven straight

games in the frontcourt next to Adebayo before Martin was moving