<\/p>\n
ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 This time the Miami Heat turned the tables five days after blowing a 25-point lead in this building five nights earlier.<\/p>\n
In dramatic fashion, no less.<\/p>\n
Battling back from a 17-point deficit Thursday night at Kia Center, Erik Spoelstra\u2019s team found a way in the absence of Jimmy Butler, winning on a Tyler Herro 19-foot jumper that closed the scoring with five-tenths of a second to play.<\/p>\n
Heat 89, Magic 88 \u2014 with the game ending with Magic guard Jalen Suggs off with a 3-pointer just before the closing buzzer.<\/p>\n
It was a rugged, gritty, at times painful experience, as Spoelstra had forecast when his team arrived in Orlando for Saturday\u2019s game.<\/p>\n
This time, though, it was the Heat grit that persevered, albeit with the Magic still playing in the absences of leading men Paolo Banchero and Franz Wager.<\/p>\n
Herro led the Heat with 19 points, supported by 17 from Alec Burks, 15 from Jaime Jaquez Jr. and 14 from Terry Rozier, on a night Heat center Bam Adebayo was limited to four points on 2-of-10 shooting.<\/p>\n
Suggs led the Magic with 29 points.<\/p>\n
\u2014 1. Closing time: The Magic led 31-22 at the close of the first period, 52-41 at halftime and 71-61 going into the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n
But as the Magic\u2019s streak of missed 3-pointers eventually grew to 19, the Heat climbed within 71-67 early in the fourth quarter, later moving with 76-75 on a Jaquez 3-pointer with 8:32 left, essentially resetting the game.<\/p>\n
A Herro 3-pointer with 3:33 to play then put the Heat up 85-80, only to be followed by three Heat turnovers.<\/p>\n
Eventually, that allowed a 3-pointer by Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to draw the Magic within 87-86 with 52 seconds to play.<\/p>\n
Off another Heat turnover with 27 seconds to play, the Magic scored on a follow-up scramble for an 88-87 lead with 4.9 seconds to play.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s when Herro stepped up to close the scoring.<\/p>\n
\u2014 2. Ugly at outset: The Heat fell behind 16-0 at the outset, a start that included five turnovers and an 0-for-5 start from the field, later falling behind by 17 in the first quarter.<\/p>\n
That had Spoelstra quickly working through his rotation, with Rozier and Nikola Jovic entering early, followed in short order by Kel\u2019el Ware and Burks.<\/p>\n
Jovic provided a needed boost, at 2 of 3 on 3-pointers in the opening period, with eight points in his first eight minutes. He also had three steals in the first period, which tied his career high for a game. That third steal gave him 50 for his career.<\/p>\n
\u2014 3. Comeback trail: When Jaquez converted a 3-pointer early in the third period, it marked the first time since Nov. 29 he had more than one in a game, entering with just 11 for the season. A third 3-pointer, early in the fourth quarter, gave him a season-high three.<\/p>\n
Amid a highly uneven sophomore season, the 2023 first-round pick out of UCLA was already in double figures early in the third quarter, giving him only his second game scoring 10 or more since Dec. 2.<\/p>\n
In the fourth quarter, Jaquez set a career regular-season high with his fifth steal.<\/p>\n
Thursday was Jaquez\u2019s third start of the season and second in a row.<\/p>\n
\u2014 4. Professional scorer: With the need for offense dire early, Spoelstra turned to Burks, who helped settle the team with his scoring in the first period and kept going from there.<\/p>\n
Burks had not played in seven games before being brought out of the deep freeze and contributing 12 points in Monday night\u2019s victory over the Nets.<\/p>\n
In this one, Burks not only scored from the 3-point line but also led the Heat to the foul line.<\/p>\n
His 3-pointer with 7:09 left put the Heat up 80-76, moving to 20 of 40 at that stage on 3-pointers for the season.<\/p>\n
Burks closed 4 of 5 from the field, including 3 of 3 on 3-pointers.<\/p>\n
\u2014 5. The Butler timetable: While little has been a given when it comes to Butler speculation, the thought Thursday was that Butler would join the Heat in Orlando on Friday before their midday flight to Atlanta.<\/p>\n
He then is expected to return from his three-game absence on Saturday afternoon against the Hawks.<\/p>\n
It then could get interesting \u2014 again \u2014 with Saturday the first game of a back-to-back road set that concludes Sunday night against the Houston Rockets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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