Heat hail Haslem in 123-110 win over Magic, with play-in showdown next against Hawks

MIAMI — On the eve of something dramatically and desperately new for the franchise, the Miami Heat first paid tribute to someone enduring and exemplary.

In a game with no impact on their place in the standings, the Heat instead put the focus Sunday on the final regular-season game of the 20-season career of 42-year-old team captain Udonis Haslem.

For the Heat, the 123-110 victory over the visiting Orlando Magic stood secondary to the tribute to Haslem, who arrived undrafted in 2003 and went on to contribute to three championships during his two decades with his hometown team.

Haslem received numerous ovations during his 24-point performance, including when he finished an alley-oop dunk and converted three 3-pointers, a career high for any previous season.

“It was an amazing day,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “UD is the ultimate gamer of all gamers.”

Haslem checked out with 58.9 seconds to play to a standing ovation. The effort tied his second highest scoring total in a regular-season game.

“I just wanted to ride the wave until the game was over,” he said. “I just wanted to go out and put on a good show.”

As for the game itself, it mostly was a vehicle for the Heat’s rotation regulars to briefly get some cardio, with the exception of forward Jimmy Butler, who was given the day off for rest.

What follows will be the most consequential moment of the season, Tuesday’s play-in game against the visiting Atlanta Hawks.

If the Heat win that game, they will receive the No. 7 playoff seed in the Eastern Conference and play the No. 2 Boston Celtics in the best-of-seven opening round of the playoffs. If the Heat lose, they will on Friday night host the winner of Wednesday night’s Chicago Bulls-Toronto Raptors game for the No. 8 East playoff seed and a first-round matchup against the No. 1 Milwaukee Bucks.

Should the Heat go without a win in that play-in round, they would miss the playoffs and be seeded into the NBA draft lottery.

“I think this is going to be fun,” Spoelstra said of the play-in round. “You have to embrace this new experience.”

The Heat closed 44-38, down from last season’s 53-29 finish.

Five Degrees of Heat from Sunday’s game:

1. As for the game: The Magic led 24-23 after the first quarter, before the Heat moved to a 52-50 lead at halftime. Orlando then took an 85-82 lead into the fourth.

From there, a 16-0 run put the Heat up 102-89.

In addition to Haslem’s 24, The Heat got a season-high 20 points from Duncan Robinson, 19 from Victor Oladipo, 18 from Jamal Cain and 14 from Omer Yurtseven.

“It’s always good for him to see a bunch of shots go in,” Spoelstra said of Robinson.

As for Cain, who is ineligible for playoffs on his two-way contract, Spoelstra said, “I thought Jamal just played with a tremendous energy and athleticism.”

In an oddity of the type of day it was, the Heat closed with 111 bench points.

2. Haslem-a-thon: The focus singularly was on Haslem, who entered to a rousing ovation with 9:05 to play, his first appearance since Feb. 2 and just his seventh of the season.

He then missed his first attempt, a baseline drive, but then converted a driving layup for his first score, and, after two missed attempts from beyond the arc, converted a 3-pointer. It was his first 3-pointer since March 28, 2022, against the Sacramento Kings and just the seventh of his 20-season career.

Along the way, he grabbed two rebounds before the game’s first timeout, extending his Heat all-time career record.

Later in the opening period, Haslem finished an alley-oop play from Duncan Robinson with a dunk, giving him 13 points in the opening period, matching the highest-scoring quarter of his career and the most points he had scored in a game since 2015.

The previous time Haslem had scored in double figures in a game was Dwyane Wade’s career finale at the end of 2018-19.

Of Haslem’s three 3-pointers, Spoelstra said, “We’ve been developing him as that stretch four for a while.”

Haslem closed 9 of 17 from the field, 3 of 7 on 3-pointers, 3 of 3 from the line, with three rebounds in his 24:56.

“He just took care of it all. He checked all of the boxes,” Spoelstra said of Haslem seizing the day.

3. Pregame tribute: In addition to various video montagues throughout the game, Haslem addressed the crowd pregame.

“Whether I was starting, whether I was the first guy off the bench, or whether I didn’t play at all, you guys always had my back and showed love,” he said. “For me, that’s priceless. That’s beautiful. And that’s why it made it all so easy, just to sacrifice everything.”

Center Bam Adebayo presented Haslem with a rocking chair during the brief pregame ceremony that had the Haslem family alongside.

“There you go man,” Adebayo quipped, “take your seat.”

Haslem did.

Wade, who watched from courtside in a Haslem jersey, praised Haslem during a televised interview.

“People talk about Hall of Fame careers.” said Wade, who will be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in August, “but they don’t talk about role-player careers and what they mean for the team and for the franchise.”

Wade called Haslem the “greatest Miami Heat of all-time.”

4. Last legs: Despite only a two-day turnaround before their play-in opener, the Heat opened with four of their regular starters, with Adebayo, Max Strus, Tyler Herro and Gabe Vincent on the court for the opening tip.

With Butler given a second consecutive game off, Haywood Highsmith rounded out the starting lineup.

Vincent played just the opening 7:19, Adebayo the opening 7:56, Herro the first 8:40 and Strus the initial 10:38. There also were brief, first-half cameos from Kyle Lowry and Kevin Love.

The Heat then opened the second half with Haslem, Highsmith, Yurtseven, Robinson and Oladipo.

5. New look: The game was the first for the Heat since the building was renamed the Kaseya Center, with the logo of the Miami software company painted in two places on the court and a temporary sign at the building’s entrance.

The Heat previously played this season with the facility called FTX Arena, The Arena and Miami-Dade Arena.

Kaseya branding also was in place for Saturday night’s UFC event at the building.