Vucevic Scores 33, Magic Fall To Heat 99-92

With Dwyane Wade out for Miami, I found this as a winnable game for the Magic. What happened was a 99-92 defeat. The Heat shot 52.2% from the field for the game, Chris Bosh exploded, and Mario Chalmers somehow finished with 24 points. It didn’t totally register until the end. All in all, the Magic lost, but it wasn’t a terrible loss. On some nights, Miami looks like the fourth of fifth best team in the East, which isn’t saying much, but that’s still a playoff team.

The first quarter belonged to Miami, as the Heat finished with 47% shooting and got some excellent looks on the outside. Chris Bosh started off on fire, opening the game with seven points, five rebounds, and forcing Nikola Vucevic to take a step out on the defensive end. His ability to hit that mid-range jumper gave the Magic fits because he can do it from almost anywhere in that area off any play. Bosh hit a couple mid-range jumpers from isolation and off the pick-and-roll.

Shawne Williams’ two threes gave Miami the floor spacing needed moving forward in the game. As a stretch forward, Williams gives the Heat one thing – three-point shooting. While he didn’t give them much, his two threes allowed more space for Bosh, as well as forced Orlando to send a man to him while he was beyond the arc.

In the second quarter, the Magic answered back. Vucevic tacked on 10 points and five rebounds, carrying the offense for Orlando in the quarter. Dewayne Dedmon also looked semi-unstoppable for Orlando, using his size to just land in the post and finish on some layup attempts. The Heat shot 52.5% from the field in the second quarter, but I also thought Orlando did a good job of forcing bad shots from Miami. In particular, I thought Maurice Harkless did a good job of forcing some awful Miami jumpers in his short stint.

As we moved into halftime, I expected someone to step up with Vucevic. Victor Oladipo was second on team with nine points, but I didn’t see him filling that role. As Orlando entered the third, I figured someone would step up as a shot-maker for the Magic.

The third quarter answered my question with an emphatic “no.” Again, Vucevic held the offense down, leading the team in scoring with six points. The eleven rebounds are incredible, but most of them came on a blooper reel play where Nikola couldn’t finish on a small jumper and continued to overpower Miami’s small frontline by grabbing each and every rebound off a miss.

Ending the game was much of the same. Chris Bosh had just enough energy to dash Orlando’s hope of winning, finishing with 17 points in the fourth quarter to seal the win for the Heat. The star for Orlando, Nikola Vucevic, attempted to match him with 12 points, but it wasn’t enough, dropping Orlando to 6-9 on the season.

Speaking of stepping up in the fourth quarter, Mario Chalmers came up huge for Miami in the fourth. He took control of the non-Bosh possessions and ran them well, scoring 10 points and getting five assists. Not only did Chalmers score, but he created, highlighted by the five assists, two of the five came in the pick-and-roll with Bosh late, ending any chance of a Orlando comeback.

When discussing Orlando’s secondary players, they just didn’t do enough to help the Magic pull out the victory. The combination of Evan Fournier and Victor Oladipo shot Orlando into a hole, finishing 10-26 for the game. Both had moments- Oladipo looked good on the defensive end, while Fournier’s six assists led the team, but neither combined that with a solid scoring performance. Had either guy made a shot or two here or there, the result would’ve been different.

I’ll also say this: I’m not sure what Jacque Vaughn is doing with Willie Green. A servicable veteran? Yes. Someone who should earn 30 minutes in a NBA game? No. Not at all. Both Maurice Harkless and Ben Gordon showed more than Green this game. Gordon offered a bit of a scoring punch, while Harkless did well on the defensive side of things. Green is nothing more than a role player, so I’m confused why he received 30 minutes on two separate occasions for the Magic.

Little things like that results in a loss.