The Miami Heat faced off against the Orlando Magic on Thursday night. Having not left his mark on a game yet, Jimmy Butler put his stamp on this one.
The Miami Heat came into their fourth preseason game of the year with a record of 3-0 across the preseason. Having beaten the San Antonio Spurs, the Charlotte Hornets, and the Atlanta Hawks, they would be looking to add the Orlando Magic to that list as well.
They came out pretty slow, allowing the Magic to go up by eight points or so before charging back to close the gap. It was a very back and forth affair for much of the first half, with neither team leading by any more than four points or so.
D.J. Augustin made a two-point jumper at around 2:26 in the second quarter to give the Magic a three-point lead, making the score 42-45 at that point. From that point on, it was mostly Jimmy Butler.
Jimmy would then go on to make the following and last four buckets of the half for the Miami Heat. The Heat closed the half with a lead of 50-49.
It was much of the same as the half-opened into the third quarter. Butler scored 13 of the Heat’s 33 third-quarter points.
Something else of note that took place in the third quarter was a sequence of technical fouls that evolved between Tyler Herro and Michael Carter-Williams. Herro felt as though Carter-Williams stampeded over him as he drove to the basket, to which Herro responded by sinking a three, and doing a bit of jawing of his own.
They both received technical fouls as they made their way back to the other end of the court. Then, a short time later, they were both given more technicals, and subsequently ejected. After further review by the officiating crew though, only Carter-Williams was ejected from the game.
Butler finished the game with 23 points, six rebounds, and six assists, to lead the Miami Heat and all scorers. Duncan Robinson finished with 17 points, on 4-8 from three. Bam Adebayo finished with six points and 13 rebounds, while Justise Winslow finished with seven points, six rebounds, 12 assists.
Winning the game 107-98, the entire team played well, as they will need to again on Friday night. The Miami Heat play again on Friday against Houston. Hopefully, they continue their scoring ways against Russell Westbrook and James Harden.