Things to watch for in Magic-Heat game

Dwyane Wade (left) and Dwight Howard face off tonight in Miami. (NBAE via Getty Images)

The Magic-Heat would-be rivalry game headlines tonight’s 12-game schedule. This should be a great rivalry given their geographic proximity, but it has never taken off, partly because the teams haven’t been elite at the same time. Now? They’re two of the four best teams in the league, and the summer was filled with back-and-forth sniping between Stan Van Gundy/Otis Smith and Pat Riley. Tonight we finally get to see the on-court battle. Here’s what I’ll be watching for:

• Guarding Dwight Howard.

Heat worrywarts have fixated on this matchup since Miami signed two star wing players and a power forward with a distaste for playing center — and then filled the roster with Udonis Haslem and a bunch of journeyman bigs. How can this team defend the monstrous Howard?

The Heat will almost certainly have to help center Joel Anthony, who is listed as 20 pounds lighter than Howard but is probably giving up more weight than that. Orlando loves to play an inside-out game and allow its elite three-point shooting to burn opponents that double-team Howard. But if there are two defenders capable of helping on Howard without sacrificing too much team defensive integrity, Dwyane Wade and LeBron James fit that description. They are long, quick and athletic enough to create some chaos without yielding clean passing lanes and uncontested shots.

As I’ve said before, I expect Miami to take a page from the U.S.’ gold-medal winning World Championship team when facing an elite back-to-the-basket big man. That is: Have your most athletic players fly around the court to create confusion and force turnovers. It worked for the United States in Turkey, but it never faced anyone like Howard or a three-point shooting army as accurate as Orlando’s.

Of course, Miami could choose to stay at home and let Howard go to work on its big men. We’ll see.

• Rashard Lewis at small forward.

TNT’s Steve Kerr had a nice description during last night’s Magic-Wizards game of the way Orlando is approaching the regular season. He called the first 82 games “a big-picture regular season” for the Magic, and he’s right. Van Gundy is using the regular season to try new things, some of which will work and make the Magic more unpredictable in the postseason.

The main new tweak: Playing Lewis, the team’s starting power forward, at small forward alongside Brandon Bass or Ryan Anderson. Van Gundy has talked about it in the past but appears serious about trying it for extended stretches this season.

Van Gundy’s concern has always been Lewis’ ability to guard the league’s quickest small forwards. None are quicker than James. LeBron is also strong enough to defend Lewis on the block, where the Magic look to use Lewis on offense against small forwards who are usually at a height or strength disadvantage.

Will Van Gundy dare to use Lewis at small forward against the Heat’s core lineup? Or only when James is on the bench?

• Enter Big Z?

The Heat’s current starting lineup includes two guys to whom the opposing defense has to pay minimal attention — Anthony and point guard Carlos Arroyo. (Note: That sentence actually slights Arroyo, who hit 48 percent of his long two-point jumpers last season — an elite mark. His three-point shooting is a different story, though.) With Anthony in the lineup, Howard will have more freedom than usual to help on drives.

Teams often like to use a jump-shooting center to drag Howard away from the basket. Zydrunas Ilgauskas fits the bill, and he’s been running pick-and-pops with James for years. But is Ilgauskas ready to give Miami major minutes (he played 11 minutes against Boston and nine against Philadelphia)?

• Who does Jameer Nelson guard?

If the Heat go to their point guard-less lineup — James, Wade, James Jones, Chris Bosh and a big man — where does that leave Orlando point guard Nelson? This lineup doesn’t figure to see a ton of floor time, but the Heat have used it already and view it as a crunch time option. The Magic can likely get away with hiding him on the jump-shooting Jones if they want to keep Nelson on the floor against this group, and Nelson will have no trouble guarding Arroyo and Eddie House in other situations.

• The trappin’ Magic

Another small bit of Van Gundy’s preseason evolution that carried over into last night’s regular-season opener: Orlando has been occasionally trapping opponents in the corners when they dribble there or catch a pass. Howard has often been the trapper, and his presence makes a skip pass a dicey thing. Let’s see if Orlando is comfortable trying this out against a team that will often have three stars on the floor.

• Chris Bosh, your time to post up is now

Bosh is a better post-up player than a lot of folks realize, and if the Heat should ever lean on him in the post, it’s when they’re facing an opponent that plays a hybrid guy at the power forward spot. Lewis will start the game guarding Bosh. Let’s see if Bosh can take advantage.