As they reach the season's halfway point Friday, the Atlanta Hawks know they have to kick it into high gear if they want to make a fourth straight playoff appearance. Dejounte Murray took matters into his own hands Wednesday night, hitting an 18-foot jump shot at the buzzer to beat the Orlando Magic and help the Hawks avoid their third loss in four games. Another opportunity arises to gain ground in the Eastern Conference standings on Friday when Atlanta travels to Miami to take on its Southeast Division rivals. After Paolo Banchero's triple for the Magic tied the game at 104-104 with nine seconds left, Atlanta coach Quin Snyder elected not to take a timeout and allowed Murray to win the game for the Hawks. The Heat were on the opposite side of the spectrum Wednesday, absorbing a 121-97 road loss to the Toronto Raptors. Miami never led and trailed 78-43 at halftime -- a franchise record for a halftime deficit. "I can't say I would have predicted that from our prep this morning or arriving at the arena," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "It just happened. It was an avalanche at the beginning of the game. Our starters definitely did not set the tone for the game and then it just proceeded to get worse as that first half went on." Miami allows just 110.9 points per game -- tied for third best in the NBA entering Thursday -- but Toronto knocked down a season-best 20 3-pointers. We like the Heat here to bounce back after such an embarrasing loss, let's roll with Miami.