{"id":659357,"date":"2026-03-15T08:09:35","date_gmt":"2026-03-15T08:09:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/659357\/"},"modified":"2026-03-15T08:09:35","modified_gmt":"2026-03-15T08:09:35","slug":"orlando-magic-escape-miami-with-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/659357\/","title":{"rendered":"Orlando Magic escape Miami with win"},"content":{"rendered":"

MIAMI \u2014 The Magic<\/a> had already beaten the Heat<\/a> four times so far in the regular season but Saturday\u2019s fifth and final meeting might have been the most important matchup between the Sunshine State rivals.<\/p>\n

No. 5 Orlando<\/a> entered on a six-game winning streak.<\/p>\n

And No. 6 Miami<\/a> had won its past seven.<\/p>\n

So when Jamahl Mosley<\/a>\u2018s squad stepped onto the Kaseya Center court, it understood the importance of the matchup with only 16 games remaining in the regular season and a close playoff race in the East.<\/p>\n

The Magic met the moment and escaped South Florida on top, 121-117, behind a combined 62 points from Paolo Banchero (27), Desmond Bane (21) and Jalen Suggs (14).<\/p>\n

\u201cI was extremely proud of these guys for staying with it because we didn\u2019t execute down the stretch,\u201d Mosley said. \u201cThe resiliency \u2026 That\u2019s a mindset piece for our guys. Understanding that we\u2019ve been in this situation before, so now what do we need to do?<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was the mentality of our guys from this morning until the end of the game,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Orlando led by as many as 22 points in the first half, but it turned the ball over 20 times for 25 Miami points. That allowed the Heat to get within four points multiple times with under a minute to play and within two with just 9 seconds remaining in the game.<\/p>\n

Free throws from Wendell Carter Jr. and Banchero in the final 11 seconds secured the four-point win.<\/p>\n

The Heat (38-30) saw Bam Adebayo (20), Jaime Jaquez Jr. (22) and Norman Powell (20) total 62 but the team overall shot 12 for 38 (32%) from 3-point range.<\/p>\n

Winners of seven in a row, the Magic (38-28) remain on the road when they head to Atlanta for another key Southeast Divison matchup Monday against the Hawks.<\/p>\n

Banchero\u2019s ball<\/p>\n

Banchero did a little bit of everything from the jump by dishing out five first-quarter assists.<\/p>\n

Although he turned the ball over twice before the break, he followed up a 10-point first half with a 13-point third quarter. Nearing a triple-double, he finished with eight rebounds and seven assists alongside his 27 points.<\/p>\n

Saturday\u2019s game marked Banchero\u2019s 76th\u00a0career game with 20-plus points, five-plus rebounds and five-plus assists, passing Penny Hardaway (75) for second all-time in franchise history.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a crazy stat,\u201d Banchero said. \u201cObviously Penny is \u2026 one of the great to put on a Magic uniform. So, that\u2019s a hell of a accomplishment. I\u2019m a big fan of him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two-way help<\/p>\n

Still without Franz Wagner (left high ankle sprain injury management) and Jonathan Isaac (left knee sprain), the Magic were already thin at forward. They then learned pre-game they\u2019d also be without Jett Howard (illness).<\/p>\n

Without those three, along with Anthony Black (left lateral abdominal strain), the door opened for two-way forward Jamal Cain to see significant minutes.<\/p>\n

Playing double-digit minutes for the first time since Jan. 2, Cain took advantage of the opportunity soaring through the sky for a lob from rookie Noah Penda and finishing off an early drive with a reverse layup.<\/p>\n

Cain, who previously played for the Heat, added a corner three in the second quarter to post 12 points and five rebounds before the break. Although he grabbed two more rebounds, he didn\u2019t score again in the second half.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought Jamal was excellent, I really do,\u201d Mosley said. \u201cHe played with a level of poise, a toughness about him, and you see those guys celebrate him because they know how hard he works as a two-way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paint points<\/p>\n

Following the first 12 minutes of action, the Magic held a 20-6 advantage scoring in the paint.<\/p>\n

But as the contest continued, Miami found success attacking the basket. Although Orlando outscored the Heat 32-22 in the paint in the first half, Miami had notched 16 points in the paint in the second quarter alone.<\/p>\n

After the Heat switched to a zone defense, the Magic had trouble penetrating the paint. And as Orlando turned the ball over, that allowed Miami to score with ease at times near the basket.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, the Magic outscored Miami 54-52 in the paint.<\/p>\n

Rookie watch<\/p>\n

Penda was the first player off the Magic bench halfway through the first quarter.<\/p>\n

The French forward knocked down his first triple off a kick-out pass from a Banchero drive. Penda racked up seven points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals in 20 minutes.<\/p>\n

First-round pick Jase Richardson didn\u2019t see the floor.<\/p>\n

Jason Beede can be reached at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MIAMI \u2014 The Magic had already beaten the Heat four times so far in the regular season but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":659358,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3778],"tags":[7,144,165,295,189,3881,6,76,1412,80939,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-659357","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami-heat","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-heat","10":"tag-latest-headlines","11":"tag-miami","12":"tag-miami-heat","13":"tag-miamiheat","14":"tag-nba","15":"tag-orlando-magic","16":"tag-social","17":"tag-social-sports","18":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116232176482141832","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=659357"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659357\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/659358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=659357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=659357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=659357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}