MIAMI (AP) — Paolo Banchero scored 27 points, Desmond Bane added 21 and the Orlando Magic beat the Miami Heat 121-117 on Saturday night, becoming the second team in the last 30 years to beat the same opponent five times in one season.
Wendell Carter Jr. scored 15 for the Magic, who won their seventh straight and snapped Miami's season-best, seven-game winning streak.
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Orlando Magic head coach Jamahl Mosley reacts during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Miami Heat in Miami, Saturday, March 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Rhona Wise)
Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra gestures during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Orlando Magic in Miami, Saturday, March 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Rhona Wise)
Orlando Magic guard Desmond Bane (3) defends Miami Heat guard Pelle Larsson, right, during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Miami, Saturday, March 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Rhona Wise)
Miami Heat guard Pelle Larsson (9) and Miami Heat Kel'el Ware (7) defend Orlando Magic guard Desmond Bane (3) during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Miami, Saturday, March 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Rhona Wise)
Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo (13) and Orlando Magic forward Tristan da Silva, right, wait for a rebound during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Miami, Saturday, March 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Rhona Wise)
Orlando led by as many as 22, before Miami twice got within two in the final 18.5 seconds.
Orlando (38-28) moved a game clear of Miami (38-30) in the race for fifth in the Eastern Conference, plus is 10 games over .500 for the first time since the end of the 2023-24 season.
Jaime Jaquez Jr. scored 22, while Bam Adebayo and Norman Powell each had 20 for Miami, which hadn't gone 0-5 against one team since doing so against New York — then coached by now-Heat President Pat Riley — in 1992-93.
The only other instance in the last three decades: New Orleans went 5-0 against Sacramento in 2023-24.
The Heat got Tyler Herro and Powell back from injuries, with Herro starting and Powell coming off the bench for the first time since 2023-24 with the Los Angeles Clippers. Herro scored 10.
The five-game season series was impossible for the better part of the last three decades, given that the NBA scheduling formula almost always called for teams to play four games against opponents from their division, three or four games against the other in-conference opponents and two games against each opponent from the opposite conference.
The advent of the NBA Cup — and the quirk of two games being added to each team's schedule after pool play — makes the five-game series possible. It has now happened 13 times over the last three seasons.
Magic: Visit Atlanta on Monday.
Heat: Visit Charlotte on Tuesday.
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA
Orlando Magic head coach Jamahl Mosley reacts during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Miami Heat in Miami, Saturday, March 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Rhona Wise)
Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra gestures during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Orlando Magic in Miami, Saturday, March 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Rhona Wise)
Orlando Magic guard Desmond Bane (3) defends Miami Heat guard Pelle Larsson, right, during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Miami, Saturday, March 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Rhona Wise)
Miami Heat guard Pelle Larsson (9) and Miami Heat Kel'el Ware (7) defend Orlando Magic guard Desmond Bane (3) during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Miami, Saturday, March 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Rhona Wise)
Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo (13) and Orlando Magic forward Tristan da Silva, right, wait for a rebound during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Miami, Saturday, March 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Rhona Wise)
A pilot from Alabama had just been promoted to major in January and had been deployed less than a week when the refueling aircraft he was aboard crashed in Iraq this week, killing him and five others, his brother-in-law said Saturday.
Alex Klinner, 33, leaves behind three small children: 7-month-old twins and a 2-year-old son, his brother-in-law, James Harrill, said Saturday while confirming his death.
“It’s kind of heartbreaking to say: He was just a really good dad and really loved his family a lot — like a lot,” Harrill said.
Klinner was one of three people killed in the Thursday crash who the U.S. government said were assigned to the 6th Air Refueling Wing at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida and who Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said were stationed in Birmingham. On Saturday, the U.S. government identified the other two as Capt. Ariana Savino, 31, of Covington, Washington, and Tech. Sgt. Ashley Pruitt, 34, of Bardstown, Kentucky.
Three additional deceased service members on the aircraft were assigned to the 121st Air Refueling Wing at Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base in Columbus, Ohio. They were identified by federal and state officials as Capt. Seth Koval, 38, Capt. Curtis Angst, 30, and Tech. Sgt. Tyler Simmons, 28.
The U.S. government listed Koval from Mooresville, Indiana, while the Ohio National Guard listed his home Stoutsville, Ohio. The Ohio National Guard listed both Angst and Simmons from Columbus, Ohio, while the U.S. government listed Angst as from Wilmington, Ohio.
The aircraft was in “friendly” airspace, supporting operations against Iran, when an unspecified incident involving another aircraft occurred, according to U.S. Central Command. The other plane landed safety, U.S. military officials said.
Klinner, a graduate of Auburn University and an eight-year U.S. Air Force veteran from Birmingham, Alabama, had just moved with his family into a new home, his wife, Libby Klinner, said in an Instagram post mourning his death.
An outdoorsman who enjoyed hiking, Klinner was also ready to help others. When Harrill last saw him in January, Klinner had shoveled Harrill’s vehicle out of the snow during a family wedding.
“Alex was one of those guys that had this steady command about him,” said Harrill, of Atlanta, who helped set up a GoFundMe site for Klinner’s family. “He was literally one of the most kindest, giving people.”
Libby Klinner said in a post that her heart is broken for their children, who will grow up not knowing their father.
“They won’t get to see firsthand the way he would jump up to help in any way he could,” she wrote. “They won’t see how goofy and funny he was. They won’t witness his selflessness, the way he thought about everyone else before himself. They won’t get to feel the deep love he had for them.”
Simmons was a boom operator responsible for transferring fuel from the tanker to the receiving aircraft, according to his Air Force biography.
His mother, Cheryl Simmons, said Saturday that she was making funeral plans for her son.
In a statement obtained by WCMH-TV in Columbus, Tyler Simmons' family said it was saddened beyond measure to hear of the fatal crash.
“Tyler’s smile could light up any room, his strong presence would fill it. His parents, grandparents, family and friends are grief stricken for the loss of life,” they said.
The Ohio National Guard said Koval was an aircraft commander with 19 years of service. A graduate of Purdue University, he served in the Indiana National Guard before transferring to an Ohio unit in 2017, according to his Air Force biography.
Angst was a pilot with 10 years of service who graduated from the University of Cincinnati, according to his Air Force biography provided by the Ohio National Guard.
U.S. Central Command, which oversees the Middle East, has said the crash occurred on a combat mission but was over “friendly” territory in western Iraq. Military officials said it is being investigated and was "not due to hostile or friendly fire.”
The KC-135 aircraft refuels other planes in midair, allowing them to fly longer distances and sustain operations without landing. The plane can also be used to transport wounded personnel and conduct surveillance missions, according to military experts.
The Congressional Research Service says the Air Force last year had 376 KC-135s, including 151 on active duty, 163 in the Air National Guard and 62 in the Air Force Reserve. It has been in service for more than 60 years.
In this photo provided by the U.S. Air National Guard, U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Tyler Simmons, an in-flight refueling specialist with the 121st Air Refueling Wing, refuels a C-17 Globemaster with a KC-135 Stratotanker during a teacher orientation flight at Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base, Ohio, on April 27, 2023. (Airman First Class Ivy Thomas/U.S. Air National Guard via AP)
In this photo provided by the U.S. Air National Guard, U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Tyler Simmons, a boom operator assigned to the Ohio National Guard's 121st Air Refueling Wing in Columbus, Ohio, speaks during the Enlisted Leadership Symposium at Youngstown Air Reserve Station in Youngstown, Ohio, on June 27, 2023. (Airman 1st Class Nicholas Battani/U.S. Air National Guard via AP)
FILE - A U.S. Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker aerial refueling aircraft performs a flyover during the national anthem before an NCAA college football game between Central Florida and Georgia Tech, Sept. 24, 2022, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack, File)
FILE - A U.S. Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker refueling tanker aircraft takes off from the Kadena Air Base airfield in Kadena town, west of Okinawa, southern Japan, Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae, File)
In this Jan. 28, 2026 photo, U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Aaron Slupski, a crew chief with the 121st Maintenance Group, prepares to marshal a KC-135 Stratotanker at Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base, Columbus, Ohio. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said Friday that three of six crew members of an American KC-135 refueling plane were killed when it crashed in Iraq were from his state and had deployed with the Ohio Air National Guard's 121st Air Refueling Wing. (Ralph Branson, U.S. Air National Guard photo via AP)
