Miami Heat & Orlando Magic: The NBA's Two Hottest Teams Still Streaking

Miami Heat vs. Milwaukee Bucks

It’s hard to believe that the Miami Heat were able to clinch an overtime win last night (101-95) versus the Milwaukee Bucks in hostile territory and they did it even by shooting garbage percentages, as Miami Thrice was a combined 18-of-58 from the field. 

The Heat were out rebounded by the Bucks 53-to-48 and the Buck’s center, Andrew Bogut grabbed 27 rebounds all by himself. 

But that’s not all, the Heat were also out-shot from the field 44.4 percent to 39.3 percent.  Still there’s more, the Heat had four players in double figures compared to five for the Bucks who also had the game’s high scorer in Chris Douglas-Roberts. 

Points in the paint and fast break points also belonged to the Bucks at 40-to-28 and 17-to-15 respectively.  What about blocks you ask?  Miami blocked six shots to the Bucks nine.

The one category that the Heat came out on top was turnovers (16 for the Heat versus 23 for the Bucks).

Mind boggling to say the least, enough for you to want to scratch your head in disbelief, but a win like this is still a win and the Heat have won eight straight games.  

More importantly for Miami is their pursuit of the consecutive road wins set by the 1971-72 Lakers' at 16 games.  The Heat have won 20 of their last 21 games including the 12 game winning streak on the road.

Will Miami win 15 games in a row?  Game eight is in the books, check out the rest of the predictions here.

Orlando Magic vs. Houston Rockets

The Orlando Magic played much more solidly than their neighbors from South Beach in a game against a tough Houston Rockets squad, coming out on top by a score of 110-95.

The Magic had six players score in double figures and shot a combined 51 percent from the field as well as all of their free throws and 40 percent of their three point attempts.  The Magic won the battle of the paint (54-24) and fast break points (13-5) as well as rebounds (48-35).

The newly revamped roster is working out nicely and the players are sharing the offensive load with center, Dwight Howard who was in foul trouble early (typical), but Jason Richardson and Brandon Bass added 18 points each as well as a decent contribution of 16 points from Ryan Anderson off the bench.

"We have guys that can stretch the court and guys that can take a lot of attention," Anderson said. "Dwight doesn't have to score 30 points a game to be felt in the game. He opens the court up for everybody." (Courtesy of The Orlando Sentinel)

Invariably, the new-look Magic are showing an early maturation that may take them far this season.

Will Orlando win 15 games in a row?  Game eight is in the books, check out the rest of the predictions here.