A trusted full-back Tyler Herro dressed as a hero with the basket that gave the Heat the triumph on an 18-foot suspension shot to a second from the end, thus rescuing a big victory that looked like it was slipping away when the Magic went up with an offensive rebound with 4.2 seconds on the clock.
It was the best example of the resistance offered by the Miami team, which came from behind on Thursday 89-88 to the Orlando quintet in a very defensive game with a highly contested finish that could very well fall from either side.
It was certainly a good vendetta for the Heat who again faced the Magic at the Kia Center in Orlando where both teams had their two best men, Jimmy Butler and Paolo Banchero, respectively.
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They fell in the previous match on this same stage last Saturday, after the local team traced a 22-point deficit in the last quarter and achieved a miraculous 121-114 victory.
The key to the victory now was that Miami, after three quarters without going past 22 points, emerged supergressive in the partial final (28-17) where it prevailed with authority and took its great defense to walk back the scoreboard and get out angry.
Positive mention for his long-range offensive, he scored 15 triples in 30 attempts, and the ball-loss war (21-20) proved negative.
In this way, the Heat (15-13) held firm in the 6th place in the East, while the Magic (19-13), despite the defeat, remained in the 4th place in the same conference.
Herro, with three triples, finished with 20 points, including the final seven that gave the Capital of the Suns the quintet victory.
Jaime Jaquez Jr. was the man in the third quarter where he came out very plugged and finished with 15 units.
Alec Burks coming from the bench was the spark plug of the last partial and in addition to his decisive 17 cartons, plus 6 rebounds, he showed that he has basketball to eat and give away.
His 17th in the differential attests to him. Terry Rozier also showed his quality with a good 14 points. For Orlando, Jalen Suggs with 29 units, Tristan Da Silva with 18, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope with 11, and Goga Bitadze with 10, including the two who almost gave his team the win
The Magic took the first 31-22, after an impressive 14-0 start that caused 6 losses to the Miami ball, which scored its first basket with 7:06 per Rozier’s play.
Suggs with nine points stretched Orlando’s lead to 17, though then the Heat’s second drive reduced it to 9.
Again Orlando started better (7-2), but in the middle of the second half everything was the same and within 3:47 Miami got to only four.
But that was it because the Magic put things in place with 18 of Suggs and 12 from Da Silva, taking the fourth 21-19 to increase their lead to the break 52-41.
Only Herro with 10 units pulled his face for the headlines, the other four openers added some embarrassing 10 points.
Luckily Jovic and Rozier with eight and seven cards respectively not only led the second unit but claimed their place in the opening five.
The Heat came out aggressive in the third and driven by Jaquez (12 points) approached five units, but only with 4 from Adebayo and none of Duncan Robinson could not go very far.
Although Miami won the fourth 20-19, the Magic matched the partial and retained the lead 71-61.
With six points to Burks’s thread, the quintet of the Capital of the Sun was placed on only 4 cartons at the beginning of the last partial, and with 8:32 a triple of Jaquez, after two good recoveries, brought his team closer to a single point and then a basket of Burks, with 7:42 on the clock, put Miami in front for the first time in the night. Halfway through the slate, the slate showed a hug at 80.
Then, a triple and a basket from Herro gave the Heat five points a lead, but a free throw and a Caldwell-Pope triple brought Orlando, who went up after two costly ball losses, with 4.2 seconds left with an offensive rebound from Bitadze. Luckily Herro appeared to score the win basket in the last second and give the Heat the win.
