Heat uses dominant third quarter to surge past Magic
The second half belonged to the Miami Heat, and so did the game.
The Heat (32-14) opened the third quarter on a 22-4 run on its way to a 113-92 victory over the Orlando Magic (21-27) on Monday at AmericanAirlines Arena. Miami improved to 3-1 on its five-game homestand and to 21-2 at home for the season.
Behind a strong third quarter, the Heat won the second half 59-44.
With the Heat falling to the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday, Miami moved to 13-1 after a loss this season following Monday’s victory.
The Heat also jumped to second place in the Eastern Conference. Despite owning the same record as the Toronto Raptors, the head-tohead tiebreaker put the Heat ahead in the standings.
Miami closes its five-game homestand Tuesday at 8 p.m. against the Boston Celtics.
Five takeaways from the Heat’s win over the Magic, which was playing on the second night of a back-toback ...
1. Heat big man Bam Adebayo continues to prove he’s one of the best passing big men in the league.
With another standout stat line that included 20 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists on Monday, Adebayo recorded his third triple-double of the season. He also notched his team-leading 26th double-double and finished a game with seven-plus assists for the ninth time this season.
Adebayo, 22, entered averaging 15.9 points, 10.4 rebounds, 4.7 assists, 1.2 steals and 1.2 blocks this season. He’s one of only two players averaging at least 15 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, one steal and one block this season — a short list that also includes reigning MVP and Bucks All-Star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo.
With the seven All-Star reserves from each conference set to be announced Thursday at 7 p.m. on TNT, Adebayo will receive serious consideration to earn his first trip to the All-Star Game because of his unique allaround skill set.
In addition to Adebayo’s strong performance, the Heat also got a quality performance from Duncan Robinson. The second-year forward finished with 21 points on 6-of-9 shooting on threes.
No Magic player scored more than 13 points Monday, with Aaron Gordon and Nikola Vucevic both reaching that mark in the loss.
2. The Heat’s Kobe Bryant tribute spilled into the game.
The basketball world has been left in a state of shock after Bryant was killed Sunday along with his 13-yearold daughter, Gianna Bryant, in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California.
Just minutes before Monday’s game, the Heat honored Bryant and Gianna with a tribute video that included various highlights from Bryant’s playing career and ended with a photo of Bryant and Gianna. Then there were 24 seconds of silence in the arena, honoring the No. 24 jersey Bryant wore for the second part of his career. The crowd capped the pregame tribute off with chants of “Kobe!”
The Bryant tribute continued at the start of the game, when the Heat took a 24second violation on the first possession and the Magic followed by taking an eightsecond violation on the next possession in honor of the two jersey numbers Bryant wore during his NBA career.
At halftime, Bryant’s Oscar-winning short “Dear Basketball” was played on the AmericanAirlines Arena video screen. It drew more “Kobe!” chants from the crowd when the six-minute film was over.
Even the AmericanAirlines Arena marquee was used to pay tribute, as it displayed a rotating series of photos of Bryant and Gianna throughout the day Monday.
3. Even with Goran Dragic back from injury, guard Dion Waiters remained in the Heat’s rotation.
After making his season debut in Friday’s loss to the Clippers, Waiters played in his second consecutive game Monday even with Dragic (left calf bruise) back from a one-game absence. With guard Kedrick Nunn (bilateral Achilles soreness) still out, Waiters was the fifth reserve used against the Magic and played limited minutes.
Waiters finished Monday’s win with three points, two rebounds and two assists in six minutes.
On Friday, Waiters finished with 14 points on 5of-12 shooting from the field and 4-of-9 shooting on threes, four rebounds and one assist in 18 minutes off the bench.
This has been an encouraging stretch for Waiters and the Heat. Waiters didn’t play his first minutes of the season until the Heat’s 45th game after serving three team-issued suspensions over the first two months of the season. Making his first comments to the South Florida media since the suspensions, Waiters said he took “full responsibility” for his missteps.
As long as Nunn is out, Waiters should have a spot in the Heat’s rotation. But when Nunn returns, Waiters could be left watching from the bench again. Nunn started the first 44 games of the season before suffering the Achilles injury that has kept him out for two consecutive games.
4. Heat wing Jimmy Butler played against the Magic despite spraining his right ankle in Friday’s loss to the Clippers.
Entering Monday’s game, Butler was listed as questionable. But the ankle injury didn’t force him to miss any time, with Butler recording 19 points, three rebounds and seven assists in 30 minutes against the Magic in his usual spot in the Heat’s starting lineup.
Butler has missed six games this season — three because of paternity leave, one because of an illness, one because of lower back soreness and another because of right hip soreness. Miami is 4-2 in those games.
5. Lately, wins against the Magic have been hard to come by for the Heat.
Entering Monday’s matchup, the Heat had lost five of its past six meetings against the Magic. In its previous 12 games against Orlando, Miami was 3-9.
But the Heat evened this season’s series against the Magic at 1-1. The Heat dropped its first matchup against the Magic 105-85 on Jan. 3 in Orlando.
The Heat and Magic face off two more times this season, with their next matchup coming Saturday in Orlando. Miami has not won its season series against Orlando since the 2015-16 season. Considering the Magic has posted a 96-150 regularseason record over the past three seasons, Miami’s struggles against Orlando have been perplexing.
Anthony Chiang: 305-376-4991, @Anthony_Chiang