Heat Takes Hawks in Scoring Showdown 🏀💥

MIAMI — The Magic snapped the Heat ‘s seven-game winning streak, extended their own winning streak to seven games and swept the five-game regular-season series against their in-state rival Saturday night. But Orlando’s latest thrilling victory almost didn’t come fruition. Jamahl Mosley ‘s squad led by as many as 22 points in the first half and, for the second game in a row, took a 15-point lead into the fourth quarter.

And Miami only pushed Orlando to its limits inside Kaseya Center from there. The Heat, who outscored the Magic by 12 points in the second half, cut the deficit to just two with 8. 6 seconds left in the game.

That’s when Paolo Banchero sunk a pair of free throws to secure the 121-117 win. “We’ve been in this position a lot this year where we get into those tight games and we’ve won a lot of them,” said Banchero, who led all scorers with 27 points. “We’ve lost some of them.

So, I think just as a team we’re comfortable. Obviously we’re not like too … there’s still a sense of urgency, but at this point in the season we know that we’ve just got to do what we need to do to win the game. ” To Banchero’s point, the Magic improved to 16-7 in games decided by five points or less this season.