Not all centrifugal pumps will be damaged by deadheading. I have one on a heating system that spends a lot of time deadheaded. And I found one running at a house that had been running against a closed valve for over five years.
If you must restrict one side or the other, restrict the output side to prevent cavitation and keep the prseeure up. The output of a centrifugal pump is always restricted to a certain extent. Building head pressure in a diaphragm tank or pumping through a long piping system, etc. The output volume always depends on the piping restriction, or the head pressure, with a centrifugal setup. That's what pump chart performance curves tell you. Look at a well pump, for example. In my case the water is at 190 feet down and equals an 83 PSI restriction just to get started. That centrifugal pump works fine and would also work with water at ground level.
Higher horsepower pumps can make a lot of heat and even be dangerous. It just depends on the particular one. If it's getting enough flow to keep itself within temperature limits, it's fine.