ORLANDO, FL – The Orlando Magic faced off against the Miami Heat on Saturday night at the Amway Center.
Orlando, coming off of an impressive win over the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday, face a team that they have a tough time beating, but tonight looked to prove different.
The Magic came out of the gate with confidence against the Heat, who are coming off of a 97-91 win over the Houston Rockets on Friday night.
At the 6:38 mark in the first quarter, Orlando Wass shooting 70% on 7-10 shooting early and managed to end the First quarter up 29-19.
The Heat focused on Paolo Banchero and and Franz Wagner, keeping them to 6 and 2 points respectively. Wagner was double teamed and played physically when on offense, forcing him to fight for every point. Wagner was held to 4 point sin the first half.
At the end of the first half, only jimmy Butler scored in Double figures for Miami, with 10 points. The Heat shot only 35% in the first half and had 10 turnovers, leading to 14 Orlando points.
The Heat also struggled form deep, shooting only 25% from 3-point range and going 8-20 from deep, however Miami stuck with it and it brought them closer to the Magic with a 54-46 score at the end of the first half.
Bam Adebayo proved to the the center for the Heat defense, causing problems for Orlando in the paint and making the Magic change many shots. Bam also lead both team s with 8 rebounds in the first half with 8.
Miami is a seasoned and experienced team. They know not to let the situation and poor play early in the game affect the whole game.
In the second half, the Heat began to push back. Looking at the scoring in the game, Orlando jumped out to 29-19 at the end of the first. but Miami out scored the Magic 27-25 in the second quarter, 26-25 in the third quarter and 25-18 in the fourth quarter.
Orlando held the lead in most of the game, up until late in the fourth quarter, when the Heat managed to tie the game, ending regulation at a 97-97 score and heading into overtime.
Orlando played with extra fire for a reason.
“We’ve played these guys before, in the same situation with the same result.” Said Fultz “We just had that extra fire to push to get this win. It’s definitely good experience for us.”
Miami took over the overtime, and pulled out a 10 to 6 overtime win for a 107-103 final score.
Tyler Herro scored 23 points for the heat, followed by 22 for Butler and 20 by Gabe Vincent.
Markelle Fultz lead the Magic with 17 points, whole Paolo Banchero managed a double-double with 16 points and 13 rebounds. Orlando had six players in double figures and their second unit outscored that of the Heat 40 to 21.
Orlando had more turnovers in the fourth quarter, opening the door for the Heat to have a chance.
Some questionable calls late in the game also contributed to Miami’s win, but that’s just how it is when you’re low on the totem pole in this league.
the Magic have two road games before the All-star break, heading to Chicago on 2/13 and then Toronto on 2/14.
They return to the Amway Center on February 23rd to face the Detroit Pistons.
