Commentary: Miami Heat-Orlando Magic rivalry reaches a new level, starting Friday night

Pat Williams, co-founder and senior vice president of the Orlando Magic, reminds callers of a famous quote by repeating it with proper attribution on his cellphone message:

"Judgment gets impaired by arrogance." - Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.)

Williams promises it is not meant as a reference to the Miami Heat.

"I've known Pat Riley for more than 40 years," he said. "I have the greatest respect for him. He should never be underestimated. What he has done is quite remarkable."

Every NBA fan knows the quite remarkable thing Riley has done.

In his role as Heat god - president, officially - Riley orchestrated a summertime free-agent coup that kept Dwyane Wade in Miami and enticed LeBron James and Chris Bosh to join him there. Thus was Thrillogy formed.

There were many congratulations but also many criticisms citing a certain, well, arrogance. The criticisms were fueled by James' televised announcement of his decision and the Heat's celebratory dance party at AmericanAirlines Arena.

Much of the negative reaction came from Orlando, where ex-Heat and current Magic coach Stan Van Gundy called Bosh a "lap dog" for tagging along with Wade.

Otis Smith, the Magic's president of basketball operations, said he thought James was "more of a competitor" than to leave his leading-man role in Cleveland to join an ensemble act.

And there was this from Magic owner Rich DeVos during a speaking engagement Thursday in West Palm Beach: "This is our year. We have a team. We don't have two or three stars; we have a team."

That brings us to Friday night, when these teams meet in Miami's home opener.

Finally, it's a rivalry. A real one. Because for the first time, Miami and Orlando are expected to be really, really good simultaneously.

The cities were awarded franchises in 1987, but the Heat played the 1988-89 season while the Magic had to wait until 1989-90. And, yes, it stuck in Orlando's craw.

"I remember how great it was to get the news about being an NBA franchise," Williams said, "but I also remember thinking about how Miami got to debut the game in Florida."

Williams, though, forever has been a tireless promoter, so promote he did ... often using the Heat as a target.

"I came up with what I thought were pithy one-liners," Williams said. "One of them was: 'They say crime is down in Miami. Well, sure, it is. They've run out of victims.' "

Miami Herald humorist Dave Barry soon enough took up a defense.

"He called us Orlandoids," Williams said. "It damaged our psyche."

Barry recalled describing Orlandoids as "low forehead, nose-picking yahoos" as a recurring theme in a magazine article.

One thing led to another, and Barry and a group of Heat fans eventually were on hand in Orlando for the teams' first meeting Nov. 28, 1989.

"They roped off a section with police tape for us, because they said they thought we'd be comfortable at a crime scene," Barry said. "Pat came up with some ridiculous trophy. But both teams sucked (Orlando won, 104-99, by the way). About the only team either one could beat was the other one."

Indeed, both the Heat and Magic were 18-64 that season, although Miami beat Orlando three out of four.

Both are expected to be powerhouses this year - a first. Not once have Miami and Orlando both won 50 games during the same regular season. Only once have they been playoff opponents (Miami won a first-round series in 1997).

"It's true that when one of us has been at our best, the other one hasn't been in a position to issue a challenge," Williams said.

When the Magic, led by a young and powerful Shaquie O'Neal, made it to the NBA Finals in 1995, the Heat failed to qualify for the playoffs. O'Neal ditched Orlando soon thereafter for fame and championship glories with the Los Angeles Lakers, and Williams said the Magic "took a long time to shake the Shaq funk."

When the Heat won the NBA title in 2006 - with an aging but effective O'Neal playing a supporting role to Wade - the Magic missed the playos.

And when Orlando made it back to the NBA Finals in 2009, Miami was a first-round playoff loser.

But everything now seems set for Miami and Orlando to be part of the tangle for league supremacy. They're both almost always listed among the four or five favorites to win the champion's trophy.

"I like our depth," Williams said. "I consider that our strength. We don't have all our eggs in one basket, or even two. And our core goup has been together for a while. We think that will count for something."

Miami's strength is obvious with the Wade-James-Bosh alliance. The Magic's best x's-and-o's counter is its excellence at center with Dwight Howard, a monster who mans a position at which the Heat appears vulnerable. It is Howard who was quoted as saying during the pre-season that Orlando would be "trying to take their heads off" when playing the Heat.

Fifty wins apiece? Almost certainly.

Sixty? Could happen.

"Imagine that. A rivalry with something actually at stake," Barry said.

Orlandoids, though surely still insulted at the salutation, would be certain to agree.