Desmond Bane matched his season high with 37 points as the Orlando Magic beat the Miami Heat 117-108 in Tuesday’s NBA Cup quarterfinal at Kia Center.
Miami opened with a 15-0 run, but Orlando controlled the middle portions of the game and outscored the visitors 39-27 in the second quarter.
Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra pointed to those stretches as the turning point, saying, “they had a huge second quarter… that could have kept things a little bit different if we could have gotten, you know, a few more stops.”
Bane opened the fourth with two threes and a three-point play, creating a 96-83 lead that Miami never meaningfully trimmed until the final minute.
Spoelstra said the Heat could not stack stops when they needed them, adding, “we were trading baskets when we were down double digits… you need to put together three, four, five stops in a row to be able to change it and we just weren’t able to do it.”
Miami shot 8-for-33 from deep and missed several open looks that could have shifted momentum.
Spoelstra said the team cannot tie its defensive identity to shot-making, explaining, “you can’t live and die with your defense by if you’re making threes or not… that’s not how we’re built.”
Norman Powell led the Heat with 21 points, while Bam Adebayo and Andrew Wiggins each scored 19.
Tyler Herro finished with 20 points but went 0-for-6 from three, including an open attempt with 37 seconds left that would have cut the deficit to four.
Spoelstra noted three consecutive clean looks for Powell in the fourth and a wide-open attempt for Davion Mitchell, saying he was comfortable with the attempts but stressed the need for “competitive toughness” in late-game defense.
Orlando shot 51% from the field and 47% from three, boosted by Bane’s 6-for-9 display from deep.
Jalen Suggs added 20 points, Paolo Banchero finished with 18 and seven boards, and Wendell Carter Jr. posted a 14-point, 10-rebound double-double.
The Magic also controlled the glass 47-39 and outscored Miami’s bench 31-18.
Miami dropped to 14-11 with its third loss in Orlando this season.
Spoelstra said the upcoming break could help chemistry, adding that a short rest window and practice time would benefit the group.
The Heat return home to face the Toronto Raptors on Monday.
Orlando, now 15-10, heads to Las Vegas for Saturday’s semifinal against the New York Knicks as Bane enters the round in peak form.
