Mateo’s Hoop Diary: Heat fall to the Magic at Kaseya Center as they fail to complete second-half comeback

The final matchup between the Miami Heat and Orlando Magic ended with the latter getting away at Kaseya Center. They are 5-0 against the Heat this season, and it wasn’t about the hosts matching their urgency as their rivals were bigger, stronger and faster. But the Magic make the constant mistake of getting satisfied with their work. 

The defense was on ice in the first few minutes, committing four fouls, getting mauled inside and on the break plus they were unable to slow down Jalen Suggs. Tyler Herro nailed multiple treys, but their attack was in shambles, falling behind by 14 points.

“Forty-one points in the first, was not our defense,” Adebayo said.”

Suggs’ pull-up shooting continued, and former Heatle Jamal Cain’s inside and outside pressure were like the shots that shatter a fighter’s ribs. The Heat went on a run at the end of the quarter, but the Magic diluted it with the last two baskets going into halftime.

At that point, the Heat were down 16 digits and powerless to stop the Magic from extending their bombardment to 32 points in the lane. They subsequently struggled to guard Desmond Bane’s paint attacks in the third quarter and couldn’t stop Banchero from going to the line. Powell made a few baskets at short and long range, but cutting the deficit to nine was short-lived as Orlando extended it back to 16 going into the fourth. 

The Magic, sensing they already had it in the bag, slowed down in the fourth quarter, and allowed the Heat to get within two points in the last 19 seconds. Then Banchero made the critical freebies after Jaime Jaquez Jr. intentionally fouled. 

The Heat won 121-117. They allowed 54 paint points, yet were superior on the break and on second chances.

Takeaways:

• Both teams entered the matchup nine games over .500. The Magic logged 41 points on 69.6% shooting in the first quarter, setting the mood. Additionally, the Magic give up the lowest number of wide-open 3-pointers this year (16.2), and the Heat only made 31.6% on Saturday. The Heat should get some credit for trying to seize the opportunity when it presented itself, but it’s no different than a fighter who makes the scorecards closer because his superior opponent foolishly did not step on the gas in the championship rounds.

• Herro and Powell returned after missing two and seven consecutive games. The former started and never got it going offensively, and the latter came off the bench, being a step behind on defense while adding 20 points. Additionally, Bam Adebayo was a pest with four steals, and he scored 10 points in the second quarter on rim attacks, finishing with 20. 

• Pelle Larrson had a career high of 28 points on Thursday against the Milwaukee Bucks. On Saturday, he picked up two early fouls, yet was still second in minutes (16) in the first half and went on to have a decent game. He finished with 35 minutes, scoring 15 points and doing a little bit of everything.

• The team’s offense was derailed to 112.5 points per 100 possessions, good enough for the 41st percentile, per Cleaning the Glass.