The Orlando Magic lost an absolute heartbreaker on to the Miami Heat on Wednesday night.
Orlando blew an 11-point lead but battled back to take a 3-point lead on a Vince Carter 3-pointer with just 14 seconds left. Unfortunately, two put-backs combined with two missed free-throws from Jason Williams gave the Heat the win. Miami’s last put-back, a Michael Beasley dunk with one second left, appeared to be offensive goal-tending, but the call was not made nor was the play reviewed.
The Magic fell to 11-4 while the Heat improved to 9-5.
The Magic did some good things and Wednesday night and they did some very bad things.
We’ll start with the good.
The three-point shooting has returned with the return of the Stretch Fours. Orlando was 14-of-31 from downtown (45.2%) and were just 18-of-46 (39%) from inside the 3-point arc, leaving the Magic with an eFG% of 50.6%.
Conversely, the Magic held the Heat to just 39.3% shooting on the night (33-of-84) and allowed Miami to make only six of their 20 3-point attempts (30%), giving them an eFG% of just 42.8%. The Magic played pretty good defense throughout the game.
Mickael Pietrus, who has already done an excellent job defensively against the likes of Andre Iguodala, Kevin Durant and Paul Pierce, limited Dwayne Wade to just 8 points through three quarters.Wade did manage to score 16 fourth quarter points, but a majority of those points came from free throws on some very ticky-tack foul calls. Wade made just six field goals in the game and shot 28.5% (6-of-21) from the field, but he was 11-of-11 from the free throw line and finished with 24 points.
The list of what the Magic did wrong is a lot longer.
First of all, the Magic were dominated inside the paint. Miami’s inside presence is comprised of two very undersized players in Center Joel Anthony and Power Forward Udonis Haslem, a 31-year old Jermaine O’Neal and a less physical player in Michael Beasley.
With Orlando’s height and All-Star Center, you’d think this would be a match-up that Magic could really exploit.
Wrong.
Miami easily won the battle in the paint. The Heat had 49 rebounds to Orlando’s 42. 14 of those 49 boards were on the offensive end. Miami scored 17 second-chance points to Orlando’s 13 and Miami’s last 4 points were second-chance points. The Heat also scored 30 points in the paint, hitting 15 their 25 field goal attempts (60%) while the Magic managed just 24 points in the pain and shot very poorly (12-of-26, 46%).
Heat backup Center Joel Anthony only played 12:33, but he was a monster on the defensive end in the second quarter, blocking three separate Magic shots. The Heat finished with 7 blocks while Orlando only managed to block 2 shots, one by Mickael Pietrus and one by Jason Williams.
Beasley managed to grab 11 rebounds and O’Neal had 16 rebounds, 7 of them being offensive rebounds, including three decisive tip-ins down the stretch in the fourth quarter. These four combined to grab 38 rebounds while Orlando’s Power Forwards and Centers had just 26. And 16 of those came from Dwight Howard.
After the game, Magic Head Coach Stan Van Gundy told reporters that one rebound could have won them the game.
"“We got a miss from Wade and nobody rebounds the ball. No block-out, no real focus. One rebound right there ends the game. Then obviously we miss the free throws but that unfortunately will happen. Then, we get good defense again on Wade and another guy’s untouched to the basket to tip the ball in. When you don’t get a body on either rebounder in a hard-fought game like that, you probably deserve to lose.”"
The Magic did not take care of the ball, turning it over 15 times while the Heat turned it over just eight times.
Van Gundy pointed out the three reasons the Magic lost in his post-game press conference.
"“The three key things in the game are; we had 15 turnovers to their eight. We got a nice lead and what let them back in was turnovers. We get out-rebounded by seven. They score 17 second-chance points. Obviously, the last four were second chance points. And then, they make seven more free throws than we do even though we shoot one more than they do.”"
The Heat were excellent at the free throw line, shooting 84.4% (27-of-32) while the Magic were awful, shooting just 60.6% (20-of-33).
"“We have eight different guys go to the line and the only one who doesn’t miss a free throw is Ryan.”"
Free throws really hurt the Magic down the stretch. With the Magic trailing by three, Mickael Pietrus missed a 3-pointers and Dwight Howard got the offensive rebound. He was fouled and made just one free throw. After Dwayne Wade missed another three and Howard got another rebound, Pietrus once again missed from downtown and Howard got another rebound. He missed both free throws. Howard, once again rebounded a Heat miss and followed it up by rebounding a missed jumper from Vince Carter. He was able to knockdown both free throws to tie the game this time, but was just 3-of-6 during this stretch. Of course, you can’t really blame Howard because he got five extremely important rebounds during the same stretch.
After this, Jason Williams missed two free throws with eight seconds left and the Magic holding a one-point lead.
Van Gundy thought the Magic deserved to lose the game.
"“Turnovers, free throws and then not rebounding the ball. They were better than us in all of those areas. For that reason, they win the game and deserve to.”"
Van Gundy thinks that Magic need more out of their three superstars – Dwight Howard, Rashard Lewis and Vince Carter.
"“We’re just not getting consistently good play from the guys we’re really looking too right now.”"
Dwight Howard has been hindered by foul trouble all season long and it happened again today. He attempted just five field goals, hitting three and was 6-of-11 from the free throw line, finishing with 12 points. Howard did manage to grab 16 rebounds with seven of them coming in the final quarter. Howard turned the ball over four times. He did not block a shot. Howard’s absence really hurts Orlando defensively and without him in, the Heat exploited the Magic in the paint.
Marcin Gortat did not do a good job filling in for Howard. He missed his only shot attempt and grabbed just three rebounds. Gortat usually plays solid defense, but he failed to block a shot on Wednesday night.
Rashard Lewis still has not found his rhythm. He shot just 20% tonight (3-of-15) and scored only 9 points while turning the ball over three times. Lewis is shooting just 33% on the season and has been awful from downtown, going 5-of-29 (17.2%).
Vince Carter has been great down the stretch but has also been very inconsistent. He shot 42% from the field tonight (8-of-19) and 2-of-4 from downtown. Carter scored seven points in the last 3:25, including what should have been the game-winning 3-pointer with 14 seconds left. I like the way Carter is getting to the basket – it’s helping him and the players around him. Carter is playing well at times, but he needs to be much more consistent.
Van Gundy knows these three players will get better.
"“I’m not bemoaning that. Those guys have all proven they’re going to play well. Just right now, they’re not.”"
Jason Williams’ night will be remembered for his two missed free throws but it should be remembered for the incredible performance he had on Wednesday night. Williams shot 75% from the field, going 9-of-12. He was 4-of-6 from downtown (66.7%) and made his first three free throw attempts. He led all scorers with 25 points. Williams leads the entire league in assist-to-turnover ratio and showed why today, dishing out eight assists and turning the ball over just once. Williams continued to keep the pace up and played excellent defense to match the face. He really limited Miami’s Point Guards, who combined to score 10 points on 25% shooting with two assists and one turnover.
Williams also keyed a second-half by scoring 13 third quarter points and dishing out a big assist on a Mickael Pietrus 3-pointer.
Williams kept this up in the fourth quarter, assisting on two Ryan Anderson 3-pointers and a J.J. Redick layup, plus hitting a layup of his own that helped the Magic build an 11-point lead before the Heat went on a 16-0 run.
Van Gundy was very happy with his performance.
"“I thought he played really really well. He had eight assists and one turnover. He did a good job on their point guards defensively. He played real real well.”"
Unsurprisingly, Ryan Anderson had another good game. He hit two key 3-pointers and made a 3-point play on a driving layup to put Orlando up 11. He was 4-of-7 from the field and 3-of-5 from downtown, finishing the game with 12 points.
Game Notes:
- Both Miami and Orlando had five players score in double figures.
- The leading rebounder for each team (Dwight Howard for the Magic and Jermaine O’Neal for the Heat) grabbed 16 rebounds.
- O’Neal’s 16 rebounds were a season-high.
- Jason Williams’ 25 points were a season-high and the most points he has scored since a 34-point performance against the Magic in 2008.
- Former Magic Point Guard Carlos Arroyo was booed by Magic fans throughout the night.
Final Thought: This was stings. Fortunately, a win Thursday night in Atlanta against the league-leading Hawks can cure it.
Next up: The Magic will travel to Atlanta to face the Hawks on Thanksgiving night on TBS. It will be the second consecutive the day the Magic will appear on national television.
(Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger and a contributor at NFL Mocks Subscribe to his RSS feed and add him on Twitter to follow him daily.)