How Heat pulled off comeback win despite never leading Magic until overtime and other takeaways
Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 107-103 overtime win over the Orlando Magic (23-24) on Saturday night at Amway Center to complete a 2-0 back-to-back set after Friday’s home win over the Houston Rockets. The Heat (32-25) now returns to Miami to host the Denver Nuggets on Monday:
The Heat won despite never holding a lead in regulation, using a dominant defensive display to complete the comeback victory.
“We showed a lot of grit,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.
The first half was ugly for the Heat:
▪ The Magic led by as many as 17 points before entering halftime ahead by eight.
▪ The Magic’s offense had little trouble against the Heat’s defense, scoring 54 points on 47.5 percent shooting from the field and 8-of-16 shooting on threes in the first two quarters.
▪ The Heat’s offense was again a problem, as the unit totaled just 46 points on 35 percent shooting from the field and 5-of-20 shooting on threes while committing 10 turnovers in the first two quarters.
But the Heat dug deep on the second night of a back-to-back to claw its way back into the game and cut the deficit to just one point in the third quarter.
The Magic looked to regain control after pulling ahead by 10 points with 6:41 remaining in the fourth quarter and then taking a nine-point lead with 2:34 left in regulation.
That’s when the Heat’s comeback began.
Behind a much better defensive effort in the second half, the Heat closed the fourth quarter on an 11-2 run after falling behind by nine points with less than three minutes remaining in regulation to force overtime.
Much of the Heat’s comeback work came in the final minute of the fourth quarter after finding itself in a four-point hole with 51.7 seconds left in regulation.
Heat wing Jimmy Butler made a layup to cut the deficit to two with 35.5 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter.
Then Heat center Bam Adebayo came away with a steal in a sequence that ended with the ball in Gabe Vincent’s hands, as Vincent was fouled with the Magic already in the penalty. Vincent made both clutch free throws to tie the game at 97-97 with 12.1 seconds left in the fourth quarter.
The Magic still had a chance to come away with the win in regulation, but rookie Paolo Banchero blew a driving layup with 2.3 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter.
The Heat immediately called timeout with 1.5 seconds left after Max Strus grabbed the defensive rebound.
With so little time left on the clock, the best shot the Heat could generate in an attempt to earn a walk-off win in regulation was a fadeaway corner three-pointer for Butler. The shot barely grazed the front of the rim as the fourth quarter buzzer sounded with the score tied.
The Heat controlled overtime, though, immediately taking its first lead of the game with a three-pointer from Vincent to open the scoring in the extra period and pull ahead by three points. Miami scored the first five points of overtime to build quick a five-point lead and force a Magic timeout.
The game still came down to the final seconds, as the Magic had possession of the ball while trailing by just three points with 10.4 seconds left in overtime. But Gary Harris missed a game-tying three and Banchero stepped out of bounds while trying to set up for another three-point look after grabbing the offensive rebound to end that critical possession.
The Magic never got the ball back and the Heat escaped with the victory.
The Heat’s top-five defense came alive to limit the Magic to just 38.3 percent shooting from the field and 3-of-13 shooting on threes while forcing 11 turnovers after halftime to power the comeback win.
“Just absolute urgency to try to do what it took to get this win,” Spoelstra said of the Heat’s late-game defensive success. “We knew that we wouldn’t necessarily feel great physically, because we’re short a few guys and minutes restrictions on other guys. But we burned the boats and figured we got to go for it and the win by any means necessary.”
Vincent described the Heat’s defense down the stretch as “just getting gritty the Miami Heat way.”
Heat guard Tyler Herro also came alive after halftime, scoring 18 points on 8-of-13 shooting from the field in the final two quarters of regulation and overtime. He closed with a team-high 23 points.
Vincent, who made his fourth straight start in place of the injured Kyle Lowry, also was a catalyst behind the win. Vincent scored 20 points on 6-of-12 shooting from the field and 4-of-10 shooting on threes, and played the entire fourth quarter and overtime period.
Adebayo contributed 13 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the field, tied a season-high with 17 rebounds and dished out six assists for the Heat.
The Heat has won 20 of its last 30 games after a 12-15 start to the season. Sixth-place Miami pulled within 1.5 games of the fifth-place Brooklyn Nets in the Eastern Conference standings.
“We just need to keep building on this and go from here,” Adebayo said.
Shocker. This ended up as another close game for the Heat.
Saturday’s comeback win went down as Miami’s league-leading 40th clutch game of the season. A clutch game is defined as one that has a margin of five points or fewer inside the final five minutes of the fourth quarter.
The Heat improved to 23-17 in clutch games this season.
In addition, nine of the Heat’s last 10 games have been decided by five points or less. Miami is 7-3 during this stretch.
“I think that’s the type of squad that we are. We like to make things difficult, I guess put on a show,” Butler said. “I don’t know what you would call it. It could be a lot easier. But we take them as they come.”
Something rare happened for Butler on Saturday: He completed his first back-to-back set since late October.
But Butler’s minutes were again carefully managed until he needed to play the entire overtime period.
After logging 28 minutes on the front end of the back-to-back in Friday’s home win over the Rockets, Butler again hung around that number to play 28:44 in regulation. But with the game heading into overtime, he needed to play five more minutes than expected.
“I was supposed to be at 28 minutos,” Butler said with a grin. “And I ended up play 33 minutos.”
Butler finished Saturday’s win with 22 points on 7-of-17 shooting from the field and 8-of-8 shooting from the foul line, seven rebounds, six assists, two steals and two blocks in 33:44 while posting a team-best plus/minus of plus-14.
“We just want to be smart about it,” Spoelstra said when asked about Butler’s minutes restriction during the back-to-back. “We’re not going to be militant about it. I thought if it didn’t go overtime, I thought we were in a great place. But we’ll rest up and get ready for Monday and we just have five days until All-Star break.”
This marked just the third time this season that Butler has played on both sides of a back-to-back and the first time since Oct. 26-27 (at Portland Trail Blazers and at Golden State Warriors). The Heat has played eight back-to-backs this season.
The reason Butler, 33, has missed most of the Heat’s back-to-backs is because of the right knee issues he has battled throughout this season. Butler missed seven games in November because of right knee soreness and then was held out of one of the games in each of the Heat’s three back-to-back sets in December as part of the team’s injury management plan for his knee.
The Heat remained without six players on Saturday and most of them aren’t expected back until after the upcoming All-Star break.
The Heat was again without Udonis Haslem (not with team/personal reasons), Nikola Jovic (lower back stress reaction), Lowry (left knee soreness), Victor Oladipo (right ankle sprain), Duncan Robinson (finger surgery) and Omer Yurtseven (left ankle surgery).
Spoelstra said before Saturday’s game that Oladipo “is probably the only realistic one” among the team’s injured players who could return before the All-Star break. Haslem falls into a different category because his absence is not related to an injury.
The Heat has just two games left to play — Monday vs. Nuggets and Wednesday at Brooklyn Nets — before next week’s All-Star break. Miami resumes its schedule following the break on Feb. 24 in Milwaukee against the Bucks.
“They’re doing all the work they need to do,” Spoelstra said when asked about the Heat’s group of injured players. “They’re taking all the necessary steps, and only their bodies will tell them. I would say Vic is probably the only realistic one before the break. Duncan always says he’s going to be ready, but we’ll have to evaluate him and make sure it’s safe before we put him back out there. But from a conditioning standpoint and all the other things, Duncan, he’s ready to go.”
Saturday marked the second straight game Haslem has been unavailable for, the 20th consecutive game Jovic has sat out because of his back issue, the fourth straight game Lowry has missed because of his sore left knee, the fifth consecutive game Oladipo has been held out with a sprained ankle, the 19th straight game Robinson has missed after finger surgery, and Yurtseven has yet to play this season.
Yurtseven, who underwent ankle surgery in November, is expected to make his season debut soon after the All-Star break but needs to get in several practices before making his return. Even though he’s been fully cleared for contact work, he has still mostly been limited to conditioning and rehab work and shooting drills.
The Heat continues to take a cautious approach with Yurtseven, who is expected to challenge for minutes as the backup center when he returns.
All the injuries left the Heat with just 10 available players for Saturday’s game in Orlando.
With the Heat’s short-handed roster, developmental guard Jamaree Bouyea was in the rotation for the second straight game.
After Bouyea made his NBA debut in Friday’s win over the Rockets, he was in the Heat’s mix again the following night to finish Saturday’s win scoreless in nine minutes off the bench.
Bouyea signed a 10-day contract on Wednesday to temporarily fill one of the Heat’s two open roster spots after Miami traded center Dewayne Dedmon away for cash considerations.
With Bouyea signing his 10-day deal on Wednesday, he’s eligible to remain on the Heat’s roster just beyond next week’s All-Star break. The 10-day clock is put on pause during the break.
Bouyea, 23, went undrafted last year out of San Francisco. He has impressed as a member of the Heat’s G League affiliate this season, averaging 19 points on 52.2 percent shooting from the field but just 29.3 percent shooting from three-point range, 5.3 rebounds, 5.8 assists and 1.4 steals in 16 appearances for the Sioiux Falls Skyforce.
In fact, three of the Heat’s 10 available players on Saturday have played for the organization’s G League affiliate this season: Orlando Robinson, Jamal Cain and Bouyea.
This story was originally published February 11, 2023 at 10:00 PM.
