Friday Night the HEAT played the Magic in Orlando in their last game of a short 2 game road trip. Both teams play each other next tuesday in single elimination NBA Cup game. This rivalry featured 2 very competitive & physical upcoming teams. The Magic have won 6 of last 8 & the HEAT won 7 of their last 9 games. Tyler Herro sat out with an injured toe.
Your Friday night 5 💪Bam Adebayo came out focused on offense to start the first quarter.
It was a frantic & fierce pace from the very start for both teams.
The Magic went on a run while the HEATwent cold with no FGs in 4 mins. Then the HEAT went on a little run of their own, showing they won’t back down.
Both teams really turned up the intensity & are flying around on both ends of the court.
Miami shot 58% in the first quarter as the Magic led 30 to 28 .
It was HEAT 60, Magic 57 at half. Bam Adebayo had 16, Norm Powell had 15 for the HEAT. Thru 2 quarters it was a pretty even game outside of Miami being 8-of-12 in the upper paint while Orlando was 3-of-10 in the same zone. Miami was 10-of-32 from that range against Dallas on Wednesday.
The Magic come out pacing the 3Q & staying ahead of the HEAT as Miami came out sluggish. HEAT turnovers & free throws are killing them.
Bam was very active on both ends of the court.
Orlando made the HEAT pay, turning defense into offense as Miami was outscored 30-18 in 3Q. The score was Magic 87, Heat 79 going into the fourth.
In the 4Q both teams picked up the intensity again, flying around. The Magic were simply making more shots. Every time the HEAT would get it to a 2 or 4 point lead the Magic would push it to 7 or 8.
The HEAT are resilient & showed toughness grinding back in it to make it a 5 point game under 5 minutes left making it another clutch HEAT game. They kept coming even playing from behind.
The reality was that the HEAT couldnt get a stop or rebound when they needed to. Orlando brought more physicality rebounding & creating second chance points.
Miami showed their grit to make it a 1 point game with 50 seconds left in 4Q. They got the ball with around 20 seconds left in the game & went to a Norm Powell corner jumpshot that somehow ricocheted off a Magic defender & went out of bounds so the HEAT got another look. Miami called their last timeout & inbounded it to Bam & Orlando quickly fouled in a non shooting situation. After that play the HEAT had to inbound with no timeout with 5.7 seconds left & Miami had a chance for sudden victory with the ball under the basket. The inbound pass went to Adebayo & he fired a heavily contested 3 that missed badly making them look un organized for the last shot. The HEAT lost at the buzzer but they can blame it on Free throws, turnovers & a poor 3Q.
FINAL: HEAT 105, Magic 106
Powell: 28pts, 4asts
Adebayo: 24pts, 15rebs, 2stls, 2blks
Jaquez Jr.: 16pts
Wiggins: 13pts, 5rebs, 3blks
The Heat and Magic are forever intertwined in an eternal battle to see who can win by one with an Offensive Rating below 110. This was no different.
But the matchup is important beyond the result as we learn the intricacies of a new offense.
Coup’s Takeaways:
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