Miami Heat escapes with a 112-110 win over Orlando Magic: NBA Recap
Miami Heat were pushed to the brink by Orlando Magic before they finally came out roaring for a 112-110 win in overtime here at the Amway Center on Monday night. Heat needed clutch plays from all of their star players against an
injury depleted Magic squad to squeak out a win.
Heat were a little off colour tonight having lost their last two games, but Dwyane Wade and LeBron James took control in overtime as they both combined for the Heat total 13 points in extra period to edge out Magic after the four
quarters of play left both teams tied on 99 all.
James who celebrated his 28th birthday yesterday, posted a double-double with a night high 36 points to go along with 11 assists and 8 rebounds. Wade had 21 points including the crucial steal and the dunk with just 6.2
seconds left to go in the match to secure the win. Chris Bosh added 22 points including the all-important jumper down the stretch to tie the score on 99.
“This is a winning league. You win or lose. It's not about how close you came to losing or how close you came to winning. We won; I am not discrediting what they did. They played a great game. They have some really good players
and some pretty good pieces. We just made one more play than they did." said LeBron James.
Nikola Vucevic was on fire; he had the game of his career but unfortunately his exploits could not result in a ‘W’ for the Magic who dropped their 6th straight. He finished off with as many as 29 rebounds and gathered
20 points. Arron Afflalo led the Magic with a team high 28 points while J.J. Redick chipped in with 23 points coming off the bench, he went 5 of 9 from the three point land.
Heat got off to a fast start to the game and a Ray Allen layup had them leading 20-13 about 8 minutes into the game. Heat kept pulling ahead and were leading 31-22 by the end of the period.
Second period was all about Magic; an 8 nil spurt early in the period made it a two point game on 31-33. Another 7 nil run tied the score on 40 as the momentum shifted hands and Orlando carved out a 54-48 advantage at halftime.
Heat trailed by 7 points by the end of the third period, but they kicked off the fourth period with a 9-0 run to go in front of Magic on 79-77. It remained close throughout the period and Bosh made two back to back jumpers to tie
the score and take the game into overtime.
Overtime was LeBron James time. He collected 10 points in the final 5 minutes of play and scored two from foul line with 1.5 seconds left to play to seal the deal.
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