It's Magic! Orlando comes back from 24 down to beat the Heat

[vikesfan]

MIAMI -- This time, the Orlando Magic started their comeback in plenty of time to beat the Miami Heat.

Down by 24 in the third quarter, the Magic went on an unbelievable 40-9 run over the next 15 minutes and shocked the Heat 99-96 on Thursday night -- Orlando's biggest comeback win of the season, by far.

Jason Richardson scored 24 points for Orlando, 11 of them to kick start the epic burst. Jameer Nelson scored 12 of his 16 in the second half and Dwight Howard finished with 14 points and 18 rebounds for the Magic, who trailed 73-49 after a dunk by LeBron James with 8:57 remaining in the third quarter.

They outscored Miami 50-23 the rest of the way.

Orlando nearly rallied from a 23-point deficit in the final 7½ minutes when the teams last met early last month, missing a potential game-tying shot in the final seconds that night on its home floor.

So on Thursday, the Magic started rallying much sooner. Miami missed 17-of-22 shots from the field -- and a alarming 7-of-8 from the line -- during Orlando's run, during which Richardson scored 17 points and made all five of his tries from 3-point range.

Ryan Anderson scored 15 and Gilbert Arenas added 11, including a pair of big 3-pointers in the fourth.

James scored 29 and Dwyane Wade had 28 for Miami, which trailed 97-96 with 9.6 seconds left. J.J. Redick pushed the lead to three with a pair of free throws, and Chris Bosh and James missed 3-pointers in the final seconds.

Mike Miller made a 70-footer for Miami moments after the halftime buzzer, something that looked inconsequential when the Heat were leading by 18 at the time.

The final margin? Three points.

And given how the first half went, the loss was nothing short of stunning.

Orlando closed the third quarter on a 22-7 run, pulling to a very manageable 80-71 going into the fourth. The Magic made four 3-pointers in the final 8:40 of the period, three of those by Richardson.

He and the Magic were just getting started, ripping off an 18-2 burst to open the fourth.

In all, over a 15-minute stretch, the Magic made twice as many 3-pointers (eight) than the Heat had field goals of any sort (four). And the Heat, who made their first 17 foul shots of the night, then couldn't get anything to go down.

James made his first 11 shots when the teams last met in Orlando a month ago, so the Magic were quite possibly relieved when his first attempt Thursday bounced harmlessly away.

Ah, a mere temporary blip for the two-time MVP.

James and Wade could have played two-on-five in the first half, and it might not have mattered. The score after 24 minutes: Miami's two biggest stars 47, Magic 45. James wound up making nine straight shots after that first miss -- his streak stretched all the way to the midpoint of the third quarter -- and Wade was 10-for-12 from the field by halftime, as the Heat took a 63-45 edge into the locker room.

And it could have been worse. Miami's lead was 22 before Anderson hit a pair of 3-pointers late in the half, and then Miller swished his desperation shot that didn't count.

The lead reached 73-49 in the third, and the Magic looked anything but interested.

Appearances couldn't have been more deceiving.

As has been the case so many times with Miami this season, things took a quick -- and in this case, downright stunning -- turn.

In the last Heat home game, they wasted a 15-point lead before losing to the New York Knicks. At Orlando a month ago, Miami was up by 23 with 7:40 left before surviving a white-knuckle finish. A 23-point lead in Indiana was all but squandered a couple weeks ago, and there was the stunning 22-point collapse in a home loss to Utah in November.

This might have been the worst of all.

[skins-win-supbwl]

very nice comeback

[Andre]

Miami Heat, great regular season team, will be a bad playoff team. No point guard, no low post presence & can't play a half court game.

[ConstantColorUpor]

I wouldnt even go as far as saying they are a great regular season team tell you the truth. Like I said last week when they played the Knicks, they are not a contender. Not with how they have been finishing games and that showed again tonight. Until they can sort out their erratic play in the closing minutes of games I cant see them winning more than 1 series in the playoffs. When is Wade going to step up and take a big shot? They have struggled against the Celtics, blew a big lead against the just formed new look Knicks, and now blew a big lead against the Magic tonight. They are beating up on sub .500 teams but struggling against the contenders, dont be fooled by their record. Their lack of big men and inability to share the ball due to the absence of a true PG is holding them back. Maybe Bibby can solve that issue, but truthfully I thought their major problem was the lack of big men so when I saw they were 29th in the league in assists I was shocked.

vs Boston 0-3
vs Dallas 0-2
vs Atlanta 1-1
vs Lakers 1-0
vs Orlando 2-2
vs Knicks 2-2
vs Chicago 0-2

[bigALbones50]

VMI ****ed me on my $ line parlay

[ConstantColorUpor]

Originally Posted by bigALbones50

VMI ****ed me on my $ line parlay

Sweet, wrong forum, wrong thread, wrong topic. Thanks for letting us know tho.

[justdonating]

Originally Posted by ConstantColorUpor

29th in the league in assists

Not really that surprising when you watch them play. Almost every play is an isolation for Wade or Lebron. When they kick it out to the open shooters House, Jones, Chalmers, and Miller, the guys can't hit the open look......if they dump it into Bosh, he is hit or miss including 37% shooting in the last 5.....

[LordCC]

I am shocked they blew that kind of lead at home, how does that happen? Regardless, I think San Antonio wins tomorrow by 6-7 points.

[justdonating]

Originally Posted by LordCC

I am shocked they blew that kind of lead at home, how does that happen? Regardless, I think San Antonio wins tomorrow by 6-7 points.

Should be a good game. With Parker out things are evened up a bit.