Orlando Magic waste lead as Miami Heat win with big fourth quarter

The Orlando Magic came out big against the Miami Heat and looked to be heading for an easy win, before Miami charged back with a 39-point 4th quarter.

After a good two day’s rest, the Orlando Magic came out not only to face their local rivals, but also a big opportunity against one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference.

The Magic did not disappoint, as they rode hard inside defense while taking it to the hoop themselves, earning a large halftime, and respectable third-quarter lead.

This is where the game changed.

The Heat exploded for 39 points, and the Magic were powerless as they saw their great win sail past them into Miami Heat’s hands 108-101 at Amway Center on Saturday.

Chris Bosh (MIA) — 24 pts., 10 rebs.; Dwyane Wade (MIA) — 24 pts.

Nikola Vucevic (ORL) — 22 pts., 10 rebs.; Elfrid Payton (ORL) — 16 pts.

In the first half, the Magic focused in on the Heat’s two biggest threats, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, defensively, and their efforts gave results. Wade and Bosh only had four field goals in the first half combined, and while only one of those belonged to Wade, he did go six for six from the stripe in the first half.

Even then though, coach Scott Skiles said he could sense some slipping and that the defensive effort — 44 points allowed and 37.5 percent shooting with 3-for-10 shooting from beyond the arc for the Heat — was a bit of fool’s gold.

With Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade, the Heat were never too far out of things. The Magic were giving up open shots and Skiles said he commented to Magic assistant coach Monte Mathis even at halftime that the Heat would end up shooting 50 percent.

“At one point in the third quarter, they got a lot of points in the paint,” Nikola Vucevic said. “We didn’t do a good job protecting the paint. I thought in the first half, we were really good defensively. We did exactly what we talked about. In the second half for some reason, our defense wasn’t as good. I think it affected our offense to where we were trying to make a lot of plays for ourselves instead of keep doing what we do.”

Orlando’s offense just could not keep pace with Miami scoring every time down the floor, it seemed.

On the other side of this, Heat point guard Goran Dragic, who is suffering through his worst statistical season in years,  had his best scoring game of the season with 22 points, just his second game with more than 20 points all year.

Dragic knocked down three 3-pointers (tied highest for the season) and gave the Magic fits with his penetration all night.

Miami came out in the third unfettered. In just a few minutes, the Heat cut the lead from 15 to five points thanks to Goran Dragic continuing his good play and penetrating into the paint. Orlando’s defense was not helped by the team missing four straight free throws — and making just two of nine in the second half.

“We had a good first half,” Jason Smith said. “We got a little satisfied and they came out and played with more intensity and more precision that us in the second half. Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh came out and played like All Stars, like they have been their whole career. It’s just one of those things that we have to learn from and we have to get better from it.”

A Skiles timeout, and Payton pushing the issue was able to help the Magic hold on, but the Heat kept forcing it. The Heat were far more active in the second half, getting their hands on passes, crashing the boards and breathing down the Magic’s neck the whole time.

The Magic had three turnovers in the whole first half, they had five in the third quarter alone, along with 1-for-7 shooting from the free-throw line.

This run from the Heat had all the makings of something that would have completely thrown the Magic off earlier in the season and would have taken them out of sorts.

For a while, it looked precisely like that.

There were long gaps between field goals for the Magic and not long enough for the Heat. But the Magic perfected another trait of winning teams: withstanding the run.

Mario Hezonja had a fantastic 13-minute stint in the first half with six points, four assists and two 3-pointers. He continued to show brilliant promise. He had several highlight plays and it was obvious how he has becoming a fan favorite, even in his limited minutes.

He only played six minutes in the second half with little impact, but he made a big impression early on.

Orlando took Miami’s best punch, and then came right back with one of its own. The Magic got out in the open court again, Tobias Harris and Mario Hezonja and Elfrid Payton, running and putting the pressure back on the Heat. The Magic went on a 7-0 run themselves and thanks to a buzzer beater by Victor Oladipo, went into the fourth with heads held high.

These high heads only left them exposed to a sharp punch to the jaw as a previous problem came back to haunt the Magic. Orlando gave up 39 points to the Heat in the fourth, as Bosh, Wade and Dragic all went over the 20-point mark, and frankly made it looked like they had planned it all along.

It was Wade’s awakening that really ended it.

“You’re generally not going to [maintain a lead] against a team like that,” Skiles said. “They made a run, but we answered back. We appeared to be stabilizing ourselves a little bit. When we know exactly what we’re supposed to be doing and we’re watching the game and we’re not doing it, it can be difficult to stop a trend that is going on in a game like that. We were trending in the wrong direction and we couldn’t get it stopped.”

After the overtime game Friday, his early struggles were not surprising, though he kept getting to the line. He ended the game  a perfect 10 for 10 from the line, hitting clutch ones down the stretch, and the rest of his team followed suit. The Heat only missed one free throw the entire night. The Magic were 6 for 13 overall.

The bright sparks for the Magic came, unsurprisingly, from Nikola Vucevic and Elfrid Payton, who scored 22 and 16 respectively. Vucevic also pulled down 10 boards and continued his strong play historically against the Heat. Considering he was going toe-to-toe with one of the best defensive centers in Hassan Whiteside, this is all the more impressive.

Payton actually took longer to get into the game than usual, but did his same trick of pushing the ball when the Magic dropped their head and not taking no for an answer. Payton also finished with seven assists as the Magic had a season-high 34 assists on the game.

It was critical to them building their early lead.

“When we played really well defensively, we were able to build a nice lead going into halftime.” –Nikola Vucevic

“[The defensive slippage] is definitely what got us tonight,” Vucevic said. “When we played really well defensively, we were able to build a nice lead going into halftime. You could tell it was hard for them to get what they want, we were physical and in the second half we just didn’t do the same thing.”

Fournier started off well but faded in the second half, finishing 4 for 11 for 12 points. Victor Oladipo ended up playing less minutes than Hezonja and shot three for eight for eight points.

The loss leaves a bitter taste for Magic fans. The win was there, ripe for the taking.

The Magic had done the tough stuff. They hadd built up a lead, protected it, they only had to finish the fourth. A win against the Heat would have told the nation the Magic were here, they are at this level, and surely the players must know they have let something slip through their fingers.

“[We] just have to get back to basics, just get back to doing what we do, get back to the fundamentals and we’ll be all right,” Payton said.

Now the Magic are faced with a familiar challenge: moving past a stinging loss and continuing on their previous success.

This is something the Magic have had to do repeatedly, and something they must be tired of now. They need only to put all these good performances together to really climb the standings.

The record does not show how the Magic handled the Heat in the first half, and withstood them in the third, but the Magic will know.

Now they just have to finish the deal.

Next: Scott Skiles pushing Orlando Magic to the next level

Philip Rossman-Reich contributed to this report.