Miami Heat guard Norman Powell (24) drives the ball as Orlando Magic forward Noah Penda (93) defends in the first half of their NBA game at Kaseya Center on March 14, 2026, in Miami.
Photo by Matias J. Ocner
mocner@miamiherald.com
Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 121-117 loss to the Orlando Magic (38-28) on Saturday night at Kaseya Center to close its four-game homestand at 3-1. The Heat (38-30) now enters a two-day break before hitting the road for another important game on Tuesday against the Hornets in Charlotte:
The Heat is getting healthier, but it still can’t beat the Magic. Miami’s season-best winning streak is over at seven games.
The Heat got its top two scorers, Tyler Herro and Norman Powell, back from injury on Saturday. Herro returned after missing the previous two games with left quad soreness and Powell returned after missing the previous seven games with a right groin strain.
But the Heat again lost to the Magic on Saturday, dropping all five matchups against Orlando this regular season. Because the Heat also played the Magic as part of the NBA’s in-season tournament, Miami and Orlando played each other five times this regular season instead of the usual four regular-season meetings.
The Magic took control of Saturday’s game at the start, ending the first quarter with a 41-27 lead and pulling ahead by as many as 22 points in the second quarter before entering halftime with a 16-point advantage.
The Magic shredded the Heat’s defense in the first half, scoring 71 points on 60.9 percent shooting from the field and 7-of-16 (43.8 percent) shooting on threes.
“I thought we came out kind of soft and lackadaisical, and they were able to get whatever they wanted,” Powell said.
The Heat made a run to pull within nine points with 1:25 left in the third quarter. It marked the first time that Miami cut Orlando’s lead to single digits since the first quarter.
But the Magic quickly responded, scoring the final six points of the third quarter to enter the fourth period with a 15-point lead.
The Heat kept pushing, though, even with the Magic ahead by 16 points with 5:54 left in the fourth quarter.
The Heat went on an 18-6 run to cut the deficit to four with 43.2 seconds to play.
After a Magic turnover, the Heat got possession with 36.6 seconds left to have a chance to make it a one possession game.
But Heat guard Pelle Larsson didn’t get the inbounds pass in on time, as the officials called a five-second inbounding violation to give the ball back to the Magic.
The Heat then intentionally fouled Magic guard Jalen Suggs with 23.2 seconds to play to extend the game. Suggs missed both free throws to keep Orlando’s lead at four and keep Miami’s comeback hopes alive.
After the Heat grabbed the rebound off of Suggs’ second missed free throw, forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. rushed the ball up the court and drew a foul. Jaquez hit both free throws to cut the Magic’s lead to two points with 18.5 seconds remaining.
Unfortunately, the Heat then just ran out of time.
The Heat intentionally fouled Magic center Wendell Carter Jr. with 11 seconds left, but Carter made both free throws to put Orlando back ahead by four.
Powell then made a two-point shot to bring the Heat back within two points with 8.6 seconds to play.
Following another Heat intentional foul, forward Paolo Banchero made two game-sealing free throws to put the Magic back ahead by four with 7.8 seconds remaining.
“We just did not set the tone for the game defensively,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “And then the rest of the second half, we had to dig from behind. We don’t want to get in the habit of allowing teams to put up 70 on us in a half without resistance.”
Banchero was the star of the night for the Magic, finishing with a game-high 27 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the field, 1-of-3 shooting on threes and 10-of-10 shooting from the foul line to go with eight rebounds and seven assists.
The Magic overcame its sloppy 20 turnover performance with the help of efficient 49.4 percent shooting from the field and 11 offensive rebounds.
Jaquez scored a team-high 22 points in 30 minutes off the bench for the Heat.
Bam Adebayo added 20 points, seven rebounds, one assist, four steals and two blocks for the Heat.
The only Heat players unavailable on Saturday were Nikola Jovic (low back injury management), Terry Rozier (not with team) and Andrew Wiggins (left big toe sesamoiditis).
The Magic was missing Anthony Black (abdominal strain), Colin Castleton (G League), Jonathan Isaac (left knee sprain), Alex Morales (G League) and Franz Wagner (left ankle sprain injury management) on Saturday.
With the Heat going winless in five matchups against the Magic this regular season, it marked the first time that the Heat has gone 0-5 against an opponent during a single regular season since losing all five games to the New York Knicks during the 1992-93 season.
“We’re not used to that over here,” Herro said of going 0-5 against the Magic this regular season. “We’re definitely not happy about it.”
The Heat was also not happy about the five-second violation called in the final seconds.
Spoelstra and Heat players believed the five-second violation called on Larsson’s inbound pass was quick. It came at a crucial time, too, as the call that resulted in a Heat turnover came with Miami down by four and 36.6 seconds left in the fourth quarter.
“I haven’t gone through the mechanics of it right now, but it felt like a quick five,” Spoelstra said.
Powell added: “I thought the five-second violation was BS. I mean, it was too fast. We couldn’t even get through our first two actions before they called a five-second violation.”
The Heat also believes a five-second violation should have been called on the Magic with Orlando ahead by two points and 18.5 to play. But the officials ruled that Magic coach Jamahl Mosley called a timeout before the five seconds were up.
“That’s what’s frustrating about it, because we get fined if we say something about it,” Adebayo said. “But that altered the game. When you alter the game, you should have to, like, stand on that. Because when we mess up, when we make mistakes, when we miss stuff, all hell breaks loose on us. We got people blaming us for everything. And then on the other side, I felt like they had a five-second call that wasn’t called. That altered the game.”
The NBA will issue a Last Two Minute Report on Sunday, which will go over every call made in the final two seconds of Saturday’s game.
Not only does Saturday’s loss make it really hard for the Heat to catch the Magic in the standings, but it also dropped the Heat back into play-in tournament territory.
With Saturday’s loss, the Heat (38-30) moved two losses behind the fifth-place Magic (38-28) in the Eastern Conference standings with just 14 regular-season games left on Miami’s schedule. But the Heat is essentially three losses behind the Magic because Orlando owns the head-to-head tiebreaker after sweeping the teams’ five-game regular-season series.
Saturday’s defeat also dropped the Heat from sixth to seventh place in the East, falling percentage points behind the sixth-place Toronto Raptors (37-29).
The NBA’s play-in tournament features the seventh-through-10th-place teams competing for the final two playoff seeds in each conference.
The Heat, which has needed to qualify for the playoffs through the NBA’s play-in tournament in each of the last three seasons, needs to finish among the East’s top six teams to clinch a playoff spot and avoid the play-in tournament.
With Herro and Powell making their returns from injury on the same night, Spoelstra continued to try to stagger some their minutes. That led to Powell playing as a reserve for the first time this season.
The Heat opened Saturday’s game with a starting lineup of Davion Mitchell, Herro, Larsson, Kel’el Ware and Adebayo.
That left Powell playing off the bench for the first time this season. Powell, who entered Saturday averaging a team-high 22.5 points per game and was the Heat’s lone All-Star this season, started in his first 49 appearances of the season before playing as a reserve against the Magic.
“Just that they didn’t want to mess the flow up, with the way the team is playing,” Powell said of what Heat coaches told him regarding his move to the bench on Saturday. “And just to be myself and be aggressive.”
Saturday marked just the 12th game that Herro and Powell have both been available so far this season, in large part because Herro missed a large chunk of the schedule due to injuries.
Herro and Powell played 14 minutes together on Saturday, with the Heat outscoring the Magic by three points during that time.
Since the NBA All-Star break, Herro and Powell have played 29 minutes together.
When Herro returned from a rib injury following the break, he was used as the reserve and Powell played as a starter.
But with Herro being moved to the starting lineup and flourishing during Powell’s recent absence to win Eastern Conference Player of the Week for his work last week, Herro remained a starter and Powell was moved to the bench upon their returns Saturday.
Herro was inefficient on Saturday, though, finishing with 10 points on 4-of-14 shooting from the field and 2-of-8 shooting on threes.
Powell caught a rhythm in the second half of his first game as a reserve this season.
After scoring just six points on 1-of-5 shooting from the field during a shaky first half, Powell appeared to find his rhythm down the stretch.
Powell scored 14 points in the second half to end his first game in two weeks with 20 points on 7-of-15 shooting from the field and 1-of-5 shooting on threes, one rebounds and three assists in 31 minutes off the Heat’s bench on Saturday.
“Pissed off because we lost, but my body felt good,” Powell said after making his return.
Powell was part of a Heat bench rotation that also included Jaquez, Kasparas Jakucionis and Myron Gardner on Saturday.
This story was originally published March 14, 2026 at 10:53 PM.
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Anthony Chiang covers the Miami Heat for the Miami Herald. He attended the University of Florida and was born and raised in Miami.