Game review: Heat (9-5) 99, Magic (11-4) 98
The Magic looked like they were well on their way to victory as they held a 86-75 lead with just under 8 minutes remaining in the game. From that point on, the game changed dramatically, as missed free throws, poor defense, and poor rebounding doomed the Magic. Miami went on a stunning 16-0 run, led by Dwyane Wade, to take a 91-86 lead with 5 minutes remaining. The Magic came back with a 12-4 run of their own to take the lead 98-95, capped by a dramatic three pointer by Vince Carter with 14 seconds remaining. A Udonis Haslem tip-in cut the Magic lead to 98-97 with 10 seconds remaining. Jason Williams, who had a brilliant offensive game, missed two crucial free throws with 9.5 seconds remaining to set up the game-winning slam dunk by the Heat's Michael Beasley off a missed Wade jumper with 1.6 seconds remaining. The Magic, without any timeouts, could only watch as Matt Barnes threw the ball away on a desperation pass downcourt as the Heat came away with the stunning victory.
The Magic started slowly, as the Heat led by as much as 8 points in the first quarter and held a 26-24 lead after one. The Heat led by as much as 38-29 in the second before the Magic went on a 13-1 run to take the lead by three, and settled for a 44-43 halftime lead. The Magic extended their lead by as much as 8 points in the third quarter and held a 71-66 lead entering the fourth quarter.
Magic leading scorers
Jason Williams: 25 points (9 of 12 FGs), 8 assists, 1 turnover
Vince Carter: 22 points (8 of 19 FGs), 6 rebounds
Dwight Howard: 12 points (3 of 5 FGs), 16 rebounds, 3 steals
Ryan Anderson (bench): 12 points (4 of 7 FGs)
Mickael Pietrus: 10 points (3 of 11 FGs), 2 steals
Overall game statistics:
FG%: ORL 41.6% (32 of 77) MIA 38.8% (33 of 85)
3 PT FG%: ORL 45.2% (14 of 31) MIA 30% (6 of 20)
FT%: MIA 84.4% (27 of 32) ORL 60.6% (20 of 33)
REB: MIA 50 (15 offensive) ORL 42 (10 offensive)
AST/TO: ORL 19/15 MIA 12/8
BENCH: MIA 27 ORL 20
Other game notes and stats:
-Wade, after scoring just 8 points the first 3 quarters, erupted for 16 points in the fourth quarter, which included making 9 of 9 from the free throw line, and led the Heat with 24 points, despite shooting just 6 of 22 and missing his final 5 shots
-Four other Heat players scored in double figures, including James Jones with 16 points and Beasley with 15 points
-The Magic made only 3 of their final 13 shots, committed 6 fourth quarter turnovers, and shot just 6 of 12 on free throws in that fatal final quarter
-Pietrus and Rashard Lewis combined to shoot just 6 of 26 for 19 points
-The Heat starting frontcourt (Jones, Beasley, and Jermaine O'Neal) combined for 44 points and 32 rebounds; the Magic starting frontcourt (Pietrus, Lewis, and Howard) combined for 31 points and 24 rebounds
-The Magic allowed 33 fourth quarter points after allowing just 40 combined points in the second and third quarter
-The Heat's Joel Anthony blocked 3 shots in just 12 minutes off the bench
-Williams played 39 1/2 minutes, including the entire second half
-Brandon Bass was the only active Magic player not to play
-The Magic saw their 5 game winning streak snapped and now trail Atlanta by a half game entering Thursday night's showdown with the Hawks
Here is the complete box score and recap from nba.com
The Magic started slowly, as the Heat led by as much as 8 points in the first quarter and held a 26-24 lead after one. The Heat led by as much as 38-29 in the second before the Magic went on a 13-1 run to take the lead by three, and settled for a 44-43 halftime lead. The Magic extended their lead by as much as 8 points in the third quarter and held a 71-66 lead entering the fourth quarter.
Magic leading scorers
Jason Williams: 25 points (9 of 12 FGs), 8 assists, 1 turnover
Vince Carter: 22 points (8 of 19 FGs), 6 rebounds
Dwight Howard: 12 points (3 of 5 FGs), 16 rebounds, 3 steals
Ryan Anderson (bench): 12 points (4 of 7 FGs)
Mickael Pietrus: 10 points (3 of 11 FGs), 2 steals
Overall game statistics:
FG%: ORL 41.6% (32 of 77) MIA 38.8% (33 of 85)
3 PT FG%: ORL 45.2% (14 of 31) MIA 30% (6 of 20)
FT%: MIA 84.4% (27 of 32) ORL 60.6% (20 of 33)
REB: MIA 50 (15 offensive) ORL 42 (10 offensive)
AST/TO: ORL 19/15 MIA 12/8
BENCH: MIA 27 ORL 20
Other game notes and stats:
-Wade, after scoring just 8 points the first 3 quarters, erupted for 16 points in the fourth quarter, which included making 9 of 9 from the free throw line, and led the Heat with 24 points, despite shooting just 6 of 22 and missing his final 5 shots
-Four other Heat players scored in double figures, including James Jones with 16 points and Beasley with 15 points
-The Magic made only 3 of their final 13 shots, committed 6 fourth quarter turnovers, and shot just 6 of 12 on free throws in that fatal final quarter
-Pietrus and Rashard Lewis combined to shoot just 6 of 26 for 19 points
-The Heat starting frontcourt (Jones, Beasley, and Jermaine O'Neal) combined for 44 points and 32 rebounds; the Magic starting frontcourt (Pietrus, Lewis, and Howard) combined for 31 points and 24 rebounds
-The Magic allowed 33 fourth quarter points after allowing just 40 combined points in the second and third quarter
-The Heat's Joel Anthony blocked 3 shots in just 12 minutes off the bench
-Williams played 39 1/2 minutes, including the entire second half
-Brandon Bass was the only active Magic player not to play
-The Magic saw their 5 game winning streak snapped and now trail Atlanta by a half game entering Thursday night's showdown with the Hawks
Here is the complete box score and recap from nba.com
posted by Mike from Illinois @ 12:32 AM
7 Comments:
At 2:41 AM,
Mike from Illinois said…
I know many Magic fans are pretty upset at some officiating calls that went against the Magic in the fourth quarter, especially the Beasley slam that won the game for the Heat which could have been called offensive goaltending, but please, do not blame the referees for this loss; the Magic have no one to blame but themselves.
Bad free throw shooting, being thoroughly dominated on rebounding, very poor 4th quarter defense, and very poor 4th quarter shooting by anyone not named Vince Carter were the main reasons why the Magic lost this.
I feel really bad for Jason Willliams, who had a brilliant offensive game but missed the two critical FTs in the final 10 seconds. Not to make excuses for him, but he must have been exhausted after playing the entire second half.
Rashard Lewis is just not himself, at least offensively; another horrible shooting game for Lew.
Pietrus missed 3 wide-open threes late in the fourth.
I thought Howard played with a lot of passion and aggression in the fourth quarter, but there's his missed FTs...
Magic will need to overcome this very difficult loss and get ready for a very tough game against Atlanta Thursday night.
At 12:17 PM,
Big Figure said…
Well first let me give credit to the heat for playing very good defense for most of the game,THEY are the reason our shooters struggled. Their rotations were fast and sound,they didnt leave their feet and pretty much ran our shooters off of the three point line all night. With that said,i thought there were way to many times throughout the game that the magic's offense stalled and SVG didnt seem to do much to get his team/certain players going offensively. I also thought that with dwight in foul trouble BB would get some minutes behind gortat or anderson,minutes are there and because gortat wasnt really playing that well i would have given bass a look. We gave that game away but no time to dwell,gotta get this game against the hawks.
At 2:21 PM,
Matt said…
I fully agree with Mike that Magic should blame nobody but themselves. The team is out of sync offensively (and that is a surprise) as well as defensively (which have been from the start of the season). They are giving up way too many offensive rebounds to opposing teams, and that seems to me to be due to occasional lack of intensity by Dwight. MIA's offensive rebounding cost us the game last night. SVG got six more games to tinker with the mix after Rashard's being back. The current team does not look good, and looked good only in spurts. What happened to that defense which we showed against BOS? BIG Figure is right. We need to insert BB in there; I would say starting. Rashard was outplayed by both Haslem and Beasely.
At 5:26 PM,
Mike from Illinois said…
Good follow-up comments by you guys.
The Magic need to get D12 established more offensively. He is getting nowhere near the shot attempts he was last season (just 5 against the Heat), and as a result, he sometimes looks lethargic out there. I don't think he woke up against the Heat until the fourth quarter when he was finally getting some boards and some touches, but the Heat smartly fouled him and the missed FTs cost the Magic.
At 5:29 PM,
Big Figure said…
I agree with matt in the sense that rashard moving over to the SF spot would help the team rebounding and defense. Ryan anderson spreads the floor so i'd go with him as the starter and BB would be in my normal roataion at PF every night. But obviously who starts at PF is an apples to oranges debate (between RA & BB) the point is getting more skilled size on the floor. I havent really been that impressed with the way MP has played this year,maybe moving him to the bench should be looked into. Matt barnes is alot like CLee (last years starter)in the sense that defense comes first to him,but right now with nobody in the starting line-up willing to do the small things we're struggling to look like the same team defensively. Even at 11-4 i think SVG needs to start giving thought to what the best line-up would be to maximize our talent.
At 5:43 PM,
Big Figure said…
While i agree the missed free-throws were huge in the final outcome of the game,the problem is the game shouldnt have been that close with a team that's no where near as skilled as the magic. So when looking at the totality of the game you find so many ways the magic could and should have been better. There were periods where Jwill was the only one that seemed to take good shots. Other times when MP looked scared to get physical with wade. And to many times where garbage men for the heat scored points. You can make all the free-throws you want but if those three things are happening at the other end teams will stick around and have an opportunity to get back in the game in the fourth quarter. The heat won that game with grit and hustle,they also played extremely smart when it comes to how to stay in a game.
At 7:08 PM,
Mike from Illinois said…
Agreed, Big Figure. The Heat do deserve credit for winning last night's game, as difficult as it may be for us Magic fans to give the Heat credit.
Like the saying goes... gotta give credit where credit is due.
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