The Miami Heat found themselves in a second consecutive down-the-wire matchup against the Sacramento Kings, locked in a back-and-forth affair that led to sweaty palms and beating hearts on Wednesday night at the FTX Arena.
In a game that featured two teams on the upward track (the Kings entered winners of two straight, one of which came at Miami’s expense in California over the weekend), both clubs were presented the opportunity to continue building on winning momentum following slow starts to the season, despite the absence of each team’s respective leading scorer.
Both Miami and Sacramento took turns wrestling the advantage away from each other for four quarters, but the Kings came closest to pulling away early in the fourth period when they erected an 88-81 lead with 8:34 to go.