Winderman’s view: Heat take bite out of NBA dog days with win over Orlando

MIAMI — Observations and other notes of interest from Friday night’s 99-96 victory over the Orlando Magic:

– How do you define the NBA doldrums, the period between Christmas and the All-Star break?

– You define them as nights such as Friday at Kaseya Center.

– When you wind up with nothing like you would see in April, May or beyond.

– For the Heat, that meant no Jimmy Butler, Tyler Herro or Kyle Lowry.

– For the Magic, no Franz Wagner or Wendell Carter Jr.

– As players bide their time across the league.

– So Nikola Jovic starting for the Heat.

– Caleb Houstan, Chuma Okeke and Goga Bitadze for the Magic.

– Want star power?

– Well, there was Matthew McConaughey in the stands.

– Want a read on where the Heat stand as they approach next week’s midpoint of the season?

– Not even sure Erik Spoelstra can offer that at this stage.

– So you take the win.

– And move on.

– Barely.

– Butler, Herro and Bam Adebayo have played eight games together so far this season.

– And finished only six together, with injuries knocking Herro out of one, Butler out of another.

– While Friday was a start in trying to get the defense back to speed, with the return of Caleb Martin, you still need Butler for a truer read.

– So, yes, you get to learn about the depth of the roster.

– While also recognizing that many on display these days won’t be part of that depth come the playoffs.

– So doldrums? Dog days? These are them.

– With Butler, Herro and Lowry out, the Heat opened with their 21st lineup in their 38 games.

– This time it was Adebayo, Haywood Highsmith, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Jovic and Duncan Robinson.

– It was Jovic’s fifth consecutive start, after starting only once previously this season.

– Kevin Love and Josh Richardson entered together in the Heat’s first substitution.

– Caleb Martin followed with 3:26 left in the opening period, his first action in eight games, after sitting with a sprained right ankle.

– With Spoelstra trying to make due with those eight.

– With the Heat and Magic in a tight pack of teams in the middle of the Eastern Conference playoff race, Orlando coach Jamahl Mosley said it stood as a game with meaning.

– “You take it one game at a time, but you know that you’re always going to be battling Miami, no matter what,” he said pregame. “So I think you look at that as a little bit of heightened focus.”

– He added, “You look up at the standings and there is that group of teams that is bunched so closely together.”

– Mosley said he felt he arrived a week too early, with the Heat to retire Udonis Haslem’s No. 40 next Friday.

– “I was like, ‘Gosh, I wish I could be here for that.’ Because it’s something special,” Mosley said, “and what he has meant to this organization and this group of people, the way he’s brought a toughness to the team and it represented everything they are, and that’s who he is.”