The Orlando Magic completed a five-game season sweep over the Miami Heat. (Mandatory Credit: Megan Briggs/Getty Images)
Despite the return of two of their best scorers, the Miami Heat still could not solve the Orlando Magic in front of their home crowd Saturday.
After a non-competitive first 42 or so minutes, the Heat’s late comeback attempt came up shy, losing 121-117 in front of a packed Kia Center crowd.
Miami fell into a 22-point hole after surrendering 41 points in the first quarter, looking completely out of sync on both ends of the floor. Though the Heat defense — after entering zone — began to force turnovers and tighten the deficit late. But it was too little, too late, even though there was a questionable five-second call baked in down the stretch.
Miami was led by Jaime Jaquez Jr.’s 22 points on 9-of-16 shooting off the bench. Despite a low-impact performance, Norman Powell scored 20 points on 7-of-15 shooting in his return, while Bam Adebayo had 20 points and seven rebounds.
The Heat shot just 46.6 percent from the floor and 12-of-36 from 3-point range. Orlando, led by Paolo Banchero and Desmond Bane, didn’t shoot much better, while turning the rock over nearly twice as many times (19 to 10) as the Heat. Though the biggest difference came on the glass, where the Heat getting outrebounded 49-32.
As a result of Saturday’s loss, Miami’s seven-game win streak was snapped. It dropped back down to a No. 7 seed in the East, where it’s on the wrong-end of a two-team tiebreaker shared between the Toronto Raptors. Orlando now sweeps the season series — improving to a miraculous 5-0 against its intrastate rival — while moving two games up in the loss column (one game total).
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