No one could blame coach Erik Spoelstra if he channeled Pat Riley, angrily entering the locker room, then sparking a dart. And if he followed suit with homage to the Godfather’s epic, off-color tirade by getting in the players’ faces with a death stare, calling them gutless, perhaps it would be inspirational. Opponents don’t see the Heat on the schedule but rather a fresh meat cut.

His ancient point guard, Kyle Lowry, is unplayable because of his freelancing on defense and inability to pressure the rim. And the playmaking project, Nikola Jović, was useless against the bulk of the ascending Orlando Magic.

Allegedly, management likes its team.

In the first quarter, no Heatle registered more than a field goal as the unit scored 19 on five of 20 attempts. Open trays were missed, bad shots attempted and not enough force was put on the paint.

Orlando’s Paolo Banchero beat Jimmy Butler from the wing to the cup for a layup, canned a baseline jumper behind a pindown and swished a fader over Haywood Highsmith. The rest of the Magic made seven of 18 buckets, but it held a three-point advantage heading into the next frame.

In the second quarter, Bam Adebayo scored off pick and pop, a putback and a 10-foot fall-away jumper over Wendell Carter Jr.. Tyler Herro splashed two consecutive triples on each wing. And Caleb Martin dunked on the break and pierced the lane for a buzzer-beating layup.

At halftime, the Heat was down 46-48. Seven offensive rebounds for the Magic led to 11 second-chance points. The visitors had only three on its ledger for extra tries and were behind 6-14 in points via turnovers. And Adebayo was high Heatle with a dozen on the scorecard on 50% shooting with six boards.

The third quarter featured too much ball-watching and indecisiveness. As a result, the squad made one of seven triples against solid defense after Butler made two and was overwhelmed for two shot clock violations out of its five turnovers.

On the other side, Franz Wagner hooked over Adebayo in transition, hit a seven-foot floater and made a left-wing trifecta in Jović’s face following his overhelp on a lane drive. Carter rolled to the rim for two dunks. And Suggs produced seven more points.

In the fourth quarter, the mystical ones devoured the Heat like the “Prince of Pizza” (Charles Barkley) inhaling some pies.

Carter hounded Adebayo, forcing him into a miserable mid-range step-back shot and two more difficult jumpers. Markelle Fultz was on Herro’s hip when he entered the lane, causing a turnover and Suggs locked and trailed him perfectly, influencing a miss after the catch at close range.

On defense, Lowry, Martin and Herro were dusted for inside finishes. The baseline was conceded when blitzing Fultz up top, which burned the Heat for an underneath layup by F. Wagner. And Carter added five extra points.

The Heat lost its third game in a row, 87-105, getting beat on the boards by seven and scoring just 36 paint points, seven on the break, 10 on second chances and 15 via turnovers. Adebayo had 22 on his score sheet, with 11 rebounds and seven assists.

The Magic logged 54 in the interior, 12 on the break, 23 from additional opportunities and 29 after turnovers. Banchero had 20 points and 10 rebounds.

At the postgame presser, Spoelstra said, “[The Orlando Magic] were very physical tonight. They took us out of a lot of our normal relief actions and kind of blew up our movement, and we didn’t react with force and detail… missed shots, turnovers, that’s kind of what you are looking at.”

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Since ESPN’s fraudulent Emmy scheme was uncovered, the former “worldwide leader” has tried to bob and weave its way out of accountability.

The Athletic’s Katie Strang broke the story that ESPN abused the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences’ (NATAS) rules so that on-air talent could have an ineligible prize. NATAS has since banned Craig Lazarus- VP and exec producer of content, and Lee Fitting- senior VP of production (who left ESPN in August). Yet ESPN hasn’t confirmed who concocted the scheme, how it will keep public trust, or if the wronged will be compensated.

The lack of transparency is a massive middle finger to its audience, who deserves to know what people there can’t be trusted. ESPN should expose these cretins to save its reputation or industry standards, but it won’t. Keeping an in-house disaster that the public knows about quiet is the priority. But keep calm. Those perps were disciplined, ESPN assured in its press release.

Employees such as Kirk Herbstreit, Lee Corso, Chris Fowler, Desmond Howard and Samantha Ponder, were involuntarily involved in this through the deception of the higher-ups. Imagine the disappointment of waking up to a call from your boss or someone else of authority saying your skills didn’t bring home that award. And to put it in a nice box. That’s what happened to this crop of talent and others.

No doubt, it was a huge confidence boost to some (maybe all) of the people who were misled, and there was even one who gifted her prize to a friend. Putting her in a position to ask for it back is greasy and tough to forgive.

ESPN should offer those wronged restitution for this disrespect. The deceived talent wouldn’t spend too much time on the market if they were available.

While not the exact action, this theft should be demonized as seriously as plagiarism. When any media member steals another’s work and is caught, they are not protected by their employer but rather excommunicated. Not offering specifics on the punishment of the culprits is a mistake because ESPN is considered an example by various university professors lecturing their students around the country.

Future orations in academia should include a disclaimer, “Don’t worry, if you get powerful enough, you can wild out as much as you want without serious repercussions.”

Worldwide suckers.

On Dwyane Wade’s Hall of Fame night at Kaseya Center, Jimmy Butler’s understudy- Jaime Jaquez Jr.- oppressed the inferior Charlotte Hornets early, and Bam Adebayo took charge in the second half. The former scored 15 of the hosts’ first 22 points, finishing on the break, isolating PJ Washington for a layup and hooking in the lane over the mismatch. It was the highest-scoring quarter of his rookie season. (Butler was absent for the Heat (toe injury). The Hornets were missing Gordon Hayward (hurt calf) and Mark Williams (back).

Herro was off-target, producing just three points, but picked up four rebounds. And Adebayo hit a fade away in the lane and rolled for a lob after the handoff with Duncan Robinson.

For Charlotte, the high Hornet early was plea-copper Miles Bridges with eight on his scorecard. The rest of the group made two of 18 field goals as the Heat held the visitors to 16-first quarter points.

In the second frame, Ball failed to score against the Heat’s backline and was baited into deep jumpers. Heat play-by-play broadcaster Eric Reid said he was playing “unhinged.” Before the period was up, he committed two turnovers- pushing off Josh Richardson’s face and tossing the rock out of bounds instead of to Bryce McGowens- plus failing on a miserable pull-up 24-footer that his team couldn’t rebound.

Additionally, all eight 3-point attempts the Hornets hoisted were contested and it converted a sparse 33% of tries in the restricted area.

For the Heat, Duncan Robinson stripped Cody Martin and raced down the court, hitting a floater between two defenders, connected on another fastbreak layup fed by Nikola Jović and splashed a left-wing trifecta when left unchaperoned. He also had three assists, working the give-and-go action with Adebayo and finding Jović and Herro with space behind the arc in transition.

JJJ played just four minutes in the second quarter because he injured his left groin and missed the rest of the match.

At halftime, the Heat held a 52-31 advantage with 14 fastbreak points and 13 via turnovers. During the break, Wade was honored at center court as the greatest Heatle in the organization’s history by Pat Riley, who revealed his eight-foot statue is coming in the fall.

In the third quarter, the Heat saw a different Ball. He dropped 14 points ruthlessly attacking the interior and made a pair of triples. Bridges complimented him with a layup after getting loose behind a flare screen and two jumpers on the left side.

Yet on offense, Herro swished a transition 3-pointer, invaded the paint when the Hornets broke down and beat Washington + Ball going downhill.

The only thing that threatened the hosts was picking up six turnovers in the third because of poor passing and an illegal screen by Jović.

The fourth began with the Heatles above 16 points. Charlotte’s Terry Rozier emptied the tank, adding 11 to his scoring log. Ball contributed five more, and Bridges was held to zero field goals late.

On the other side, Adebayo, Robinson and Richardson combined for nine of 15 baskets- at close and long range-powering the club to victory.

The Heat won 104-87, never allowing the Hornets to take the lead. The Miami squad registered 58 paint points, 25 on the break and 17 off turnovers. On top of that, the Heat added 8.4 points per 100 transition plays, good enough for the 90th percentile of all games this season, per Cleaning the Glass.

After the game, Wade shared a moment with Butler and Adebayo on the court.

Adebayo handled the on-court interview, expressing pride for being a part of the later part of Wade’s career. On the topic of the statue, he said, “You can’t do anything but soak in knowledge from a guy like that… [The] best thing is for me to pay attention.”

At the postgame presser, coach Erik Spoelstra claimed he was surprised by Riley’s announcement. “[Riley] dropped the mic on that one. He shocked all of us…”

The blossoming Orlando Magic’s defensive pressure put the Heat’s attack in the mud early and kept the game close the whole way. After Duncan Robinson seemingly unbuttoned the offense with consecutive triples against the drop and the Magic overhelping on Bam Adebayo in the post, the hosts endured five minutes recording just two field goals. But then Robinson set Adebayo up with a pick-and-pop jumper at the nail, and Josh Richardson scored the last two baskets of the first.

On the other side, Paolo Banchero rattled off seven points, Chuma Okeke stung from the corner, and Jalen Suggs ruined the Heat’s offense with help defense and three blocks on Robinson.

In the second quarter, Adebayo continued feeding cutters, and Jaime Jaquez Jr. abused each Magic defender in his path. The rook looked like a mini Kevin McHale, pivoting past them for a layup on the baseline, then breaking down Banchero from the top to the cup and finishing three baskets on the break with no misses in six tries.

Defensively, the Heat struggled to contain Moritz Wagner’s mobility (at 6-foot-11) after the switch, conceding the baseline, a rim roll and a putback. Additionally, Caleb Houstan poured in three triples- Jaquez couldn’t shade and recover on time after the screen and no one tagged him in transition after Nikola Jovic’s turnover. The one in between was nailed with Jović practically breathing on him.

At halftime, the hosts led 56-50, up on the glass by two, with 28 paint points, 12 on the break, eight off turnovers and five via second chances. Robinson had 14 on his scorecard on five of 11 attempts. Jaquez logged 15 on 70% shooting.

In the third quarter, both units upped their defensive pressure. The Heat quickly recovered onto Banchero on the wing to successfully contest his wing jumper, Jaquez forced him into an 11-foot miss on the baseline, and Adebayo, coming in as the helper, spiked his layup away. And the Magic permitted the Heat only six of 20 shots to fall. Adebayo registered three, attacking Goga Bitadze twice in the lane and cleaning up JJJ’s miss for a putback.

Next, coach Erik Spoelstra stashed Jović for Caleb Martin and Richardson. The Heat binged on baskets inside the arc (eight of 13), mainly behind the work of Adebayo schooling Wagner and Robinson getting into the lane with the help of the screen. But the squad committed four turnovers trying to pull off dangerous passes and losing it on the wing, blessing the Magic with extra possessions.

Wagner produced eight points on a rim roll, back door cut and pump-faking Adebayo at the top of the key to get inside for a layup.

Banchero scored 10 points on three of 10 tries late. With 39 seconds left, he dribbled to the right baseline, covered by Jaquez and hit a 15-footer to give the Magic a one-point advantage.

Following the Heat’s timeout, the Magic had one plan: get it to Banchero. The difference at the end was JJJ, Adebayo and Highsmith guarding his jumper and influencing misses on his last three attempts. And, at 18 seconds left, Adebayo caught the inbound and pulled up at the nail in front of Wagner to take the lead.

The Heat won 99-96, with an edge on the boards by three and taking one more field goal. Adebayo supplied 21 points with 11 rebounds and seven dimes. Robinson scored 23, making four of 10 trifectas. And JJJ had 19 points with seven rebounds.

At the on-court interview, Robinson said the games had a “grind it out” finish. “No matter if it’s pretty ugly or somewhere in between…[We] had some real stretches where we showed resolve and found a way to get out a win.”

At the postgame presser, when asked about Adebayo, Spoelstra said, “He had his fingerprints all over this game. Defensively, he was anchoring everything. We had him, sometimes on the five (center), sometimes on the perimeter. If he was on the perimeter, he was there to plug everything up…”

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