The Orlando Magic eked out a 108-101 win over the Miami Heat on Tuesday in their preseason opener, and they couldn't have done it without some clutch heroics from Andrew Nicholson. In his first game following a disappointing sophomore season, the Magic's longest-tenured player came up big for his team: with two-tenths of a second to play in regulation, Nicholson nailed a baseline jumper to force overtime.
The brilliant out-of-bounds play starts with Aaron Gordon triggering the ball on the left sideline. Nicholson opens stationed at the weak elbow, and he heads to the block to screen for Roy Devyn Marble, who in turn pops to the top of the arc to spring Elfrid Payton with a back pick. Nicholson, meanwhile, slides across the baseline through a Dewayne Dedmon screen, and Heat defender Shawn Jones badly misreads the play, floating in no man's land for a split second before closing out to Nicholson... and crashing into teammate Khem Birch in the process. Gordon delivers the ball to Nicholson's shooting pocket, and he scores easily.
Nicholson finished the night with five points on 2-of-7 shooting. The assist was Gordon's only one in his Magic début.
Video via YouTube channel Basketball Orbit.