Tyler Herro steps up with winner as Heat down Magic, 89-88, in Jimmy Butler's absence

Ira Winderman, South Florida Sun-Sentinel on Dec 26, 2024

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ORLANDO, Fla. — This time the Miami Heat turned the tables five days after blowing a 25-point lead in this building five nights earlier.

In dramatic fashion, no less.

Battling back from a 17-point deficit Thursday night at Kia Center, Erik Spoelstra’s 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.

Heat 89, Magic 88 — with the game ending with Magic guard Jalen Suggs off with a 3-pointer just before the closing buzzer.

It was a rugged, gritty, at times painful experience, as Spoelstra had forecast when his team arrived in Orlando for Saturday’s game.

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.

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.

Suggs led the Magic with 29 points.

Five Degrees of Heat from Thursday night’s game:

— 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.

But as the Magic’s 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.

A Herro 3-pointer with 3:33 to play then put the Heat up 85-80, only to be followed by three Heat turnovers.

Eventually, that allowed a 3-pointer by Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to draw the Magic within 87-86 with 52 seconds to play.

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.

That’s when Herro stepped up to close the scoring.

— 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.

That had Spoelstra quickly working through his rotation, with Rozier and Nikola Jovic entering early, followed in short order by Kel’el Ware and Burks.

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.

— 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.

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.

In the fourth quarter, Jaquez set a career regular-season high with his fifth steal.

Thursday was Jaquez’s third start of the season and second in a row.

— 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.

Burks had not played in seven games before being brought out of the deep freeze and contributing 12 points in Monday night’s victory over the Nets.

In this one, Burks not only scored from the 3-point line but also led the Heat to the foul line.

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.

Burks closed 4 of 5 from the field, including 3 of 3 on 3-pointers.

— 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.

He then is expected to return from his three-game absence on Saturday afternoon against the Hawks.

It then could get interesting — again — with Saturday the first game of a back-to-back road set that concludes Sunday night against the Houston Rockets.