Heat makes late push, but can’t complete comeback in loss to Magic. Takeaways and details
Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 106-105 loss to the Orlando Magic (14-9) on Friday night at Kia Center to drop its second straight game and close its two-game trip at 0-2. The Heat (14-9) now returns home for one game, hosting the Sacramento Kings on Saturday to complete the back-to-back set (8 p.m., FanDuel Sports Network Sun and WPLG Local 10):
Despite a rough start to the second half, the Heat had a chance to escape with a road win over the Magic in the final seconds. But the Heat botched the final possession and couldn’t close the deal.
The Magic pulled ahead by as many as 10 points in the fourth quarter and held a seven-point lead with 2:39 to play.
The Heat responded and made it a possession game down the stretch, going on an 8-2 run after falling behind by seven points to pull within one point with 50.9 seconds remaining.
The Heat then got a defensive stop and took possession in a one-point game with 25.1 seconds to play and a chance to steal the victory.
Norman Powell missed a 14-foot fadeaway jumper to begin the possession, but the Magic knocked the loose ball out of bounds with 5.7 seconds remaining to give the Heat another chance.
What followed was a case of miscommunication between Bam Adebayo and Powell that led to a botched play on the final possession.
Adebayo caught the inbounds pass at the top of the three-point arc with less than five seconds on the clock. Adebayo’s plan was to attack his defender in an isolation situation and hit a game-winner, but Powell ran into the action and brought his defender into the play.
“It’s usually my iso play to go get a bucket,” Adebayo said of the final play call. “But, throughout the game, it’s ran for a backhammer and [Powell] comes running off. So, just miscommunication on the last play.”
Powell running to Adebayo threw the spacing off, forcing Adebayo to put up a desperate three-point heave that had no chance of going in as the final buzzer sounded. That ended the Heat’s hopes of completing the comeback.
“I feel like it’s on me,” Powell said. “I hate messing up at the end of games. I should have spaced out and gave him some room to work.”
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra added: “That stuff happens. Norm was zigging while Bam was zagging. We’ll get that all sorted out. It was a tough loss.”
The game was competitive from the start, with nine lead changes and seven ties in the first half before the Heat entered halftime with a 60-57 lead.
But the Heat’s poor third quarter allowed the Magic to take control of the game. Miami was sloppy throughout the period, committing four turnovers in the first two minutes of the third quarter on the way to committing seven turnovers in the quarter.
That led to plenty of empty Heat possessions, as Miami scored just 19 points on 5-of-18 (27.8 percent) shooting from the field in the third quarter.
The Magic took advantage, winning the third quarter 30-19 to turn a three-point halftime deficit into an eight-point advantage entering the fourth quarter.
The Heat could never fully recover from that ugly third quarter.
“The start of the third quarter, that put us in a hole,” Spoelstra said. “The rest of the half, we just had to grind out of it, which we did to make it a possession game. But it was deflating to start that quarter with the turnovers and miscatches, miscues with the passes. But it was a heck of a game. You got two really competitive teams, and they came away with the win.”
Adebayo finished the loss with 24 points, 15 rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocks for the Heat.
Powell closed the loss with a team-high 28 points, three rebounds, four assists and one block. He turned his right ankle in the second half of Friday’s loss, but he was able to finish the game and said following the defeat “I should be fine.”
Jaime Jaquez Jr. added 16 points in 33 minutes off the Heat’s bench.
Franz Wagner recorded a game-high 32 points for the Magic. Wagner’s Magic co-star Paolo Banchero contributed nine points and six rebounds in his return from injury.
Not only has the Heat now lost two straight games, but it has also dropped three of its last four games.
With starting guard Tyler Herro out because of a toe injury, the Heat was forced to make another change to its starting lineup. Miami turned to the double-big look of Adebayo and Kel’el Ware, but they didn’t end the game with that frontcourt.
This isn’t necessarily new, as Friday marked the ninth game this season that the Heat has started the double-big frontcourt of Adebayo and Ware.
It’s still noteworthy, though, because the Heat went away from this combination after Herro made his season debut last week. Miami instead went with the smaller starting frontcourt of Andrew Wiggins and Adebayo in the five games Herro played in before now being sidelined by a toe injury.
But against a big Magic starting lineup that features three 6-foot-10 players in Banchero, Wendell Carter Jr. and Wagner, returning to the Adebayo-Ware look made sense despite the duo’s negative results this season.
Entering Friday, the Heat had been outscored by 5.7 points per 100 possessions in the 103 minutes Adebayo and Ware played together this season.
The Heat again struggled with Adebayo and Ware on the court in Orlando, as the Magic built an 18-15 lead to begin the game before Adebayo was subbed out.
The Magic then began the second half on a 15-7 run before Ware was subbed out.
That had the Magic outscoring the Heat by a total of 11 points at the beginning of each half with Adebayo and Ware on the court.
Ware closed Friday’s loss with four points, eight rebounds and one block in 22 minutes. He never re-entered the game in the fourth quarter.
Spoelstra wasn’t pleased with the results of the Adebayo-Ware frontcourt on Friday, benching Ware for most of the second half. Ware was subbed out of the game with 2:06 left in the third quarter and he was never subbed back in.
“That starting group was a little bit uneven tonight,” Spoelstra said. “We’ve got to continue to work on that. I just want to see that group, when we play bigger, just for it to be a plus. So we have some work to do there. It should be a very good defensive group, but that’s a group that hasn’t been able to defend so far, and we’ve got to continue to work at that.”
Along with missing Herro, the Heat was without Myron Gardner (G League), Vlad Goldin (G League), Kasparas Jakucionis (G League) and Terry Rozier (not with team) on Friday.
The Magic was missing Jamal Cain (G League), Colin Castleton (G League), Orlando Robinson (G League) and Moe Wagner (left knee injury recovery) against the Heat.
Even with Herro out and Ware moving into the starting lineup, fourth-year forward Nikola Jovic still found himself out of the Heat’s rotation.
The Heat went with a bench rotation of Jaquez, Pelle Larsson, Dru Smith and Simone Fontecchio against the Magic.
That left Jovic receiving his second DNP-CD (did not play, coach’s decision) of the season on Friday, and both of those DNP-CDs have come in the last five games after his rough start to the season.
As one of the Heat’s six first-round picks on the current roster, Jovic is an important part of the team’s young core after being taken by Miami with the 27th pick in the first round of the 2022 NBA Draft. But while other recent Heat first-round picks such as Jaquez (Heat’s first-round pick in 2023) and Ware (Heat’s first-round pick in 2024) have displayed noticeable signs of improvement early this season, Jovic has shown signs of regression through the first month of the schedule.
Jovic has scored single-digit points in 13 of his 17 appearances, and he’s averaging a team-high 4.2 turnovers per 100 possessions this season.
Jovic, 22, signed a four-year, $62.4 million extension with the Heat in October. The new deal begins next season.
It was a milestone night for Adebayo.
With his 14th point on Friday, Adebayo passed Glen Rice for sole possession of third place on the Heat’s all-time scoring list. Adebayo scored his 14th point with 7:55 left in the second quarter.
With 9,259 total points after Friday’s 24-point performance, Adebayo only sits behind second-place Alonzo Mourning (9,459) and first-place Dwyane Wade (21,556) on the Heat’s all-time scoring list.
“That’s just a testament to his consistency, his work ethic,” Spoelstra said of Adbeayo’s accomplishment. “He came in basically as a defensive player and he’s really honed his skills offensively to become so much more versatile. On a tough night and a tough loss, that’s one heck of an accomplishment. He’s going to keep going.”
At this pace, Adebayo will pass Mourning to move into second place on this list later this season. But overtaking Wade as the Heat’s all-time leading scorer will take a lot longer, as Wade is more than 12,000 points ahead of Adebayo.
The bottom line is Adebayo is producing at a pace that would make him one of the greatest Heat players ever if he spends all or most of his career with the organization.
Adebayo is on track to finish alongside Wade as No. 1 and No. 2 as the Heat’s all-time career leaders in categories like two-point field goals made, free throws made, assists, steals and points, among others. Adebayo is also on his way to overtaking Udonis Haslem as the Heat’s all-time leading rebounder within the next two seasons.
Along with now ranking third in points, he also already ranks fourth in games played, third in minutes, third in field goals made, fourth in free throws made, fourth in offensive rebounds, second in defensive rebounds, second in total rebounds, third in assists, fourth in steals and fifth in blocks on the Heat’s all-time lists.
Adebayo, 28, is in his ninth NBA season after being drafted by the Heat as a 19-year-old with the 14th overall pick in 2017. He’s also in his third season as the Heat’s captain.
After facing off twice during the preseason and then in the regular-season opener, Friday’s game in Orlando already marked the fourth time that the Heat and Magic have played each other since the start of October. And there will another Heat-Magic matchup in a few days.
The Heat lost both preseason games to the Magic — 126-118 in Puerto Rico on Oct. 4 and 120-104 in Orlando on Oct. 12.
The Heat then lost to the Magic 125-121 in Orlando to open the regular season on Oct. 22.
The Heat lost again to the Magic on Friday.
And the Heat will return to Orlando in a few days to face the Magic on Tuesday in an NBA Cup quarterfinal game with stakes. The winner of Tuesday’s matchup will advance to the NBA Cup semifinals in Las Vegas and the loser will be eliminated from the in-season tournament.
“I don’t have a feeling one way or another. This is what the schedule is,” Spoelstra said of unusual schedle. “You just have to face whoever is in front of you on a particular night.”
Tuesday will be the third time that the Heat plays in Orlando in 25 regular-season games.
“We would like to have a couple games at home,” Adebayo said with a smile when discussing all the Heat’s games in Orlando so far this season. “It seems like we’re always here, but it’s OK.”
Following Tuesday’s contest, the Heat’s final two regular-season games against the Magic will come in Miami on Jan. 28 and March 12. Because of the added matchup for the NBA Cup quarterfinals, the Heat and Magic will face off five times this regular season instead of the usual four regular-season meetings between the two teams.
This story was originally published December 5, 2025 at 9:37 PM.
