Heat beats Magic in double overtime after a furious fourth quarter rally: Five takeaways
Five takeaways from the Heat’s riveting 125-119 double overtime win against the Orlando Magic on Monday at Kaseya Center:
▪ The Heat made a furious comeback in the fourth quarter and took control in the second overtime, moving back over .500 at 23-22.
Miami -- which led by 10 early and then trailed by 10 at halftime and by nine after three quarters -- closed the fourth quarter on a 17-3 stampede to send the game to overtime, tied at 108.
The Magic surged ahead by six in the first overtime, but Miami rallied again, tying it with four points from Bam Adebayo and a basket from Nikola Jovic. Both teams missed several shots late, sending the game to a second overtime with the score tied at 116.
In the second OT, Duncan Robinson delivered an alley-oop to Adebayo, and Adebayo drove past Anthony Black for a jam after two Magic misses, putting Miami up four. A Wendell Carter Jr. three-point play pulled Orlando within one, but Kel’El Ware then tapped back a miss to Adebayo, who passed to Herro for a three that put Miami up four with 1:39 left.
Then an Adebayo jumper put Miami up six with 1:02 left. Ware then broke up a lob pass and the Magic drew no closer, as Miami moved up to sixth in the Eastern Conference standings.
“So many times this season it feels like we fought so hard and ended up on the short end,” Herro said after a 30-point night. “Really happy we continued to fight tonight. The challenge for us is going down in the game, being able to keep the mental energy and have the grit and focus to be able to fight back.”
“We proved to ourselves we have a tremendous amount of grit,” Erik Spoelstra said. “There were so many tremendous defensive plays down the stretch.”
The Heat’s fourth quarter run began after an infuriated Spoelstra stormed on the court and called timeout, angry that Jonathan Isaac scored on a put back, even with the Heat playing the 7-0 Ware, the 6-10 Jovic and the 6-9 Adebayo on the court at the same time for the first time all season.
Here’s how the fourth-quarter comeback unfolded after that timeout:
Duncan Robinson hit two threes and drew his team-leading sixth charge to pull Miami within six. A Herro three and a Robinson alley oop to Ware pulled Miami to within 106-103 with 2:59 left.
Threes by Herro and Jovic tied the game with 1:54 left, and a Jovic to Ware alley-oop put the Heat ahead with 33 seconds left. Franz Wagner tied it on a twisting layup with 24 seconds left in regulation, and Herro missed a long three with four seconds left in regulation, sending the game to overtime.
Too often, especially early, Heat defenders left Magic shooters open on threes, the byproduct of slow reactions, poor decisions or players needing to help on other Magic players who penetrated into the paint. But Miami’s defense stiffened considerably late in the game and in both overtimes.
Orlando made 8 of its first 17 threes and finished at 36 percent– an unexpected turn of events for a team that entered 30th in three point shooting percentage (at 30.5 percent, by far the worst in the league) and last in threes per game.
During one sequence, Ware was late to defend Tristan da Silva on three-point line, da Silva hit the shot, and Jovic pointed at his head when eyeing Ware. Spoelstra immediately called a timeout.
After committing 23 turnovers in Saturday’s win against Brooklyn, Miami committed 18, leading to 26 Magic points.
But the Heat outrebounded Orlando by six after Spoelstra stormed on the court to call that fourth quarter timeout.
And the Heat shot 52.2 percent from the field and played much better defense in the fourth quarter and both overtimes.
Herro was again very good, with 30 points, a season-high 12 assists (overcoming five turnovers) and 8 rebounds. He shot 12 for 28 from the field and 4 for 15 on threes.
“His playmaking has gotten a lot better over the last two or three years,” Spoelstra said. “That’s how to keep defenses honest. Tyler has that ability to make these quick passes when there’s a window when they’re trying to figure out a switch. Tyler’s passing has been an added bonus for us.”
Adebayo finished with 26 points, 10 rebounds and 9 assists and shot 10 for 15 from the field. Adebayo, who scored six in the second overtime, reached the 25-point mark for the first time since Dec. 7.
Ware hit all four of his three-point attempts and seven of his eight shots from the field on a 19-point, 10-rebound night.
Robinson delivered 15 points.
And Jovic was huge, with 15 points, seven rebounds and two assists and two steals.
“Every single one of us fought,” Herro said.
The Heat played without second leading scorer Jimmy Butler, who was suspended indefinitely on Monday.
The Magic played without third leading scorer Jalen Suggs.
▪ The Heat made its late run with a supersized frontcourt, paired with two shooters.
For the first time this season, Erik Spoelstra used Adebayo, Ware and Jovic together, paired with Robinson and Herro.
Those five were on the floor for the Heat’s 17-3 run to close the fourth quarter and for all of both overtimes. The Heat outscored the Magic by 17 points in the 20 minutes they played together.
“I like that [three-big lineup] a lot,” Herro said. “I like that a lot. I like playing with bigger guys, being one of the smaller guys out there. Niko is so versatile, we can put him on spots on the offensive end, either initiating offense or being [the target].”
Adebayo said “I feel like we should do [that lineup] more often. When we are in transition, you have two dudes going downhill and a lob threat.”
Jovic and Ware have developed a special chemistry, and Jovic delivered an alley-oop to Ware for a go-ahead basket with 33 seconds left in regulation. All three made a big impact late in regulation and during the two overtimes.
“Niko did a good job defensively in fourth quarter and overtime,” Spoelstra said. “Kal’El and Bam had already been building chemistry defensively. That’s what we want. We want to make it really hard for teams to score easy buckets in the paint, at the rim. And our offense will get better as we spend more time together.”
▪ After producing eye-popping numbers in his first three games with extended minutes, Ware was hindered by foul trouble early, but then went on a three-point binge and was very impactful late.
Initially, foul trouble derailed Ware, who left 3:10 into the game after picking up his second foul. He played only eight minutes before picking up a third foul with 3:58 left in the second quarter.
But Ware avoided picking up a fourth foul in the third quarter and drained his four three-pointers, making him 23 for 54 (42.6 percent) for the season.
He had eight points during that fourth quarter rally, then made a couple of big defensive plays in the fourth quarter and the second overtime.
▪ With Jaime Jaquez Jr. sidelined by a stomach illness and Ware in early foul trouble, Spoelstra tinkered with his rotation.
Spoelstra stuck with the same starting group for the second game in a row, a group featuring Ware, Adebayo, Herro, Robinson and Haywood Highsmith.
Spoelstra’s decision to continue starting Highsmith, rather than reinserting Butler, triggered Butler’s angry reaction that led to Butler’s indefinite suspension.
In Jaquez’s absence, Spoelstra used Pelle Larsson, who is fourth in the NBA in fouls per 36 minutes at 5.0. (San Antonio’s Zach Collins averages 5.8, worst in the league.) Larsson picked up three fouls in 19 minutes but contributed five points.
And Kevin Love played two minutes, his first appearance since Jan. 13, and only his second in 14 games.
▪ Trade talks on Butler remain ongoing, and Miami believes the best offers might come in just before the Feb. 6 trade deadline.
If the Heat finds an acceptable offer in the next few days, the team would take it. But the sense internally is that other teams might not be motivated to present their best offers until closer to the deadline.
Negotiations are ongoing, with the permutations involving three or more teams. Charlotte, Washington, Detroit and Toronto reportedly are interested in helping facilitate a trade.
Several Heat players insisted that the notion that Butler has created a chaotic distraction for them is not accurate. One said it impacts the front office, and coaches, more than the players.
“We’ve been in a lot of situations this year,” Adebayo said when asked about what the team has gone through, in a reference to Butler leaving shootaround during the late stages on Monday and then being suspended.
“It shows with all the noise, with all the chaos, we can still win and come together and be a great team. The game still has to be played, no matter what is going on in the organization.”
Asked if this group of players is well suited to dealing with this type of disruption, Spoelstra said: “I don’t know. I don’t really care. We’re just focusing on the task at hand.”
The Heat, which split the season series with Orlando, next plays at home on Wednesday night against Cleveland.
This story was originally published January 27, 2025 at 10:26 PM.
