The Heat’s captain in Adebayo would acknowledge the amount of events that have happened to the team, implying the drama with Butler. Adebayo would say that the team showed they can rally around each other and have an impressive “no matter what’s going on in the organization.”

“We’ve been in a lot of situations this past year or this year, it just shows that through all the noise, through all the chaos, we can still win,” Adebayo said. “We can still come together and be a great team and, you know, believe in one another and still go out there. Because at the end of the day, like I said before, the game still got to get played, no matter what’s going on in the organization. We still got to play games, and they still expect us to win.”

Heat’s Tyler Herro on the emotional win over the Magic

Miami’s big man finished with a near triple-double as he had 26 points on shooting 10 of 15 from the field, 10 rebounds, and nine assists. As for the Heat’s All-Star hopeful in Herro, he had another impressive outing, scoring 30 points to go along with 12 assists and eight rebounds.

Herro would say to the media after the game that there is some solace with the win in how looking back at some games like where the Heat lost a big lead to the Magic earlier in the season, they fought hard but succumbed to defeat by the end of it.

“Just so many times this season, it feels like we’ve fought so hard and ended up on the short end of it,” Herro said. “But, you know, just really happy with the way we continue to fight tonight through ups and downs. You know, the big thing for us, the challenge for us is, I think, you know, going down in the game, being able to keep the mental energy and still have to grit and lack of focus to be able to continue to cut down the lead and fight back ultimately.”

It was a frustrating first half where Miami came out to an early 10-point lead but lost it quickly as Orlando dominated the game for most of it until the home team got their groove back in the fourth quarter. Even in overtime, the team was down six, but once again fought back to bring it to double overtime and then to victory.

Erik Spoelstra says the thrilling win showed the Heat’s “grit”

Besides Adebayo and Herro, there was another standout outing for the Heat’s first-round pick Kel’el Ware who finished with 19 points on shooting seven of eight from the field, including making all four of his threes, with 10 rebounds. Besides Adebayo and Ware playing together, head coach Erik Spoelstra put Nikola Jovic (15 points, seven rebounds) with them to bring a bigger lineup which amounted to positive results on both ends of the floor.

Ultimately, Spoelstra would say that Miami “proved” how much “grit” the team has and how a rollercoaster affair like Monday night is beneficial to a young team like theirs.

“What it means right now is just we proved to ourselves that we have a tremendous amount of grit and you gain confidence from that,” Spoelstra said. “Last time we played Orlando, it was the same type of thing. We had to totally gut it out. And, you know, there’s so many inspiring defense plays down the stretch…I think going through those experiences where you figure out a way to win, where it’s not smooth sailing, I think it’s so important for a basketball team, and particularly a young team, or a team that has young players. I think that would be, you know, something we can build on.”

The Heat (23-22, sixth in the Eastern Conference) look to win three straight as they host the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday night.