HEAT is back in the ring. For several weeks they have been in the shadows – we could almost say hibernating – while others have hogged the limelight. That’s changing. With last night’s 110-105 win against Orlando, their Florida rival, Erik Spoelstra’s boys have won eight of their last eleven games and are already in sixth place in the Eastern Conference with a 28-22 record. Huh. They are late, but they reach on time.
The truth is that the Miami course is riddled with physical problems. Virtually all of their players have been through the hospital and it has been almost impossible to see them with the full team until recently. Perhaps this is the main reason for the progress of a team in which Jimmy Butler is the undisputed leader. Intensity, energy, determination… the forward usually leads the way for his teammates and was no less against the Magic, for whom he scored 29 points, while also grabbing six rebounds and handing out six assists.
Having Butler in good shape makes everything easier, but it doesn’t hide the fact that the Heat have a long way to go. Not only was it not a comfortable game for them last night, but they had to come back after a first half in which their opponent was the better. In the second half they pressed on and ended up claiming victory. The experienced forward wonders why he is forced into games like this.
“I don’t know if we just like dogfights. I don’t know if we want to make it interesting”, commented Butler, who added to Bam Debayo’s 20 points the previous night as well as Max Strauss’s 17 off the bench. Was.
Orlando, condemned by loss
The Magic have been playing really well this season, but they still lack the consistency to solve something that ends up being decided by small details. That’s what happened to him against Miami. Although they fought to the end, turnovers cost them. He had 20 and the Heat converted him into 32 points. This was the big difference between the two.
“When he reacted we managed to turn it around. When you’re in a game like this, you have to take care of the basketball. I loved the fact that we were at the game, in a good atmosphere, on the road and against a tough team, but you have to take care of the basketball,” says Jamahl Moseley. head coach of magic.
In regards to individual performances, Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner and Cole Anthony each scored 19 points, the latter starting with the second unit.
(Photo by Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)
