Jimmy Butler III had 29 points (20 in the paint) and 5 steals, and the Miami Heat beat the Orlando Magic 102-97 for their fourth straight win.
Butler’s 11-foot turnaround jumper put the Heat ahead for good with 3:22 left in the fourth quarter.
The Magic got within 100-97 on Nikola Vučević’s hook shot with 46 seconds to play. They had the ball down 3 with 8.6 seconds left, but Butler stole the ball from Michael Carter-Williams. A 3-pointer would have tied the game. Butler followed with a driving layup, and the Magic got no closer.
During clutch time, the Heat outscored the Magic 12-7. Butler scored 4 of the Heat’s 12 on 2 for 4 shooting. Late in the fourth quarter, Butler had 2 of his 5 steals, one of them leading to his driving dunk that put the Heat ahead 90-89, and the Heat scored 4 points off them. With 4:45 left, Vučević stole the ball from Kelly Olynyk, and Terrence Ross’ pull-up 3-pointer off it put the Magic ahead 92-90.
Tyler Herro had 22 points (10 in the fourth quarter) and 8 rebounds off the bench.
For the Magic, Vučević had 38 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists, and Ross added a season-high 31 points with 8 3-pointers off the bench. The Magic had 2 30-point scorers.
The Magic turned it over 23 times, about 10 more than usual for this many possessions. The Heat outscored the Magic 20-5 on the fast break. The Magic outscored the Heat 12-0 in 3 minutes with Ross, Birch, Randle, Bamba and Okeke on the floor together.