Miami Heat 104, Orlando Magic 86
by Ben Q Rock on Dec 18, 2009 2:34 PM EST
in 2009/2010 Recaps
44 comments
In arguably their worst overall performance of the season, the Orlando Magic did little more than go through the motions against the Miami Heat, and came away with a 104-86 defeat as a result... and the game wasn'te ven really that close. Dwyane Wade and Michael Beasley led Miami with an effortless 25 and 22 points, respectively, while the bench combined for 32 points. The Heat shot 58% from the field and from three-point range through three quarters and held a well-deserved 29-point lead. Only an impressive showing from J.J. Redick (11 points on 4-of-6 shooting), coupled with indifference on the Heat's side, made the score look more respectable.
| Team | Pace | Efficiency | eFG% | FT Rate | OReb% | TO Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Magic | 88 | 97.9 | 49.4% | 11.5 | 17.1 | 14.8 |
| Heat | 86 | 121.2 | 56.2% | 16.0 | 22.0 | 10.5 |
| Green denotes a stat better than the team's season average; red denotes a stat worse than the team's season average. | ||||||
What makes the loss so jarring, from an Orlando standpoint, is just how decisively Miami out-worked it, in every facet of the game. Point guard Carlos Arroyo twice managed to out-race a Magic player to an offensive rebound, for instance. The Heat moved the ball about as well as I've seen a Magic opponent do this year, making the right pass to the right guy, which helps to explain how Joel Anthony scored 3 baskets. The Magic's defense scarcely took any of the Heat's offensive options away through the first three quarters, in which Dwight Howard, the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, did not rest a single second.
The offense looked just as bad, really. Howard showed some nice moves inside early, with a rolling hook from the left block and a drop-step-to-layup maneuver from the right one, which had TNT analyst/NBA legend Kevin McHale, in a rare courtside appearance, raving. Other than that? Rashard Lewis rimmed out some open three-pointers and mid-range jumpers, while Vince Carter attempted to play HORSE with an invisible adversary, launching all variety of off-balance, contested looks. Carter's played much better of late, tending to drive to the basket rather than settle for jumpers. Tonight? 2 free-throw attempts, 4 three-point attempts (all misses) and 4-of-10 shooting overall.
It truly was an instance of Miami doing almost everything right and Orlando doing almost everything wrong, on both ends. Redick, to his credit, obviously came to play, finishing with 13 points, 5 boards, and 2 steals. But on the whole, the Heat chewed the Magic up and spit 'em out. Orlando rarely plays so uninspired on the road. Incidentally, it's now dropped 3 consecutive away games after an 8-game win streak. The good news, then, is that Orlando finishes out 2009 with 5 straight games at Amway Arena, where they can hope to rediscover their winning ways.
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At least they know...
they played like sh*t. Looking at the pic (nice choice), they seem pretty dejected. Nothing infuriates me more than when your team is losing big and guys are joking and smiling on the bench. We’re bound to have few games like this throughout the season, but it still sucks.
by TheOtherWhiteMeat on Dec 18, 2009 2:50 PM EST reply actions
It's never good to lose games like the way the Magic did last night, but it's not the end of the world.
I write for Orlando Pinstriped Post and have a Twitter account.
"The second unit is kind of crazy because the second unit is only white guys." - Marcin Gortat
i LOVE getting blown out on national TV
I especially love losing 3 straight game on national TV. Actually I’m just tickled pink that the Magic are 2-5 on national TV this season. Yes folks, of their 7 losses…5 of them were in front of a national audience who think they are a joke in the first place. Way to stand up for yourselves, Tragic.
Spreading that Calgary Flames, Montreal Expos, The U, and Orlando Magic love.
3 straight games
My post was all sarcasm in case none of you picked up on that. Because at this rate, it seems like this team thinks its fans love seeing them get blown out on major network television.
Spreading that Calgary Flames, Montreal Expos, The U, and Orlando Magic love.
yeah I feel you, it hurts even more.
As a competitor, I really hate losing, and I hate watching my favorite team and favorite player get embarrassed like that from a team of MIA’s calibur. But, we have bigger fish to fry, and to be quite frank, MIA won’t stand a chance against us come playoff time (if they even get a chance to play us).
1 bad game won’t ruin the season for us. In the end, the national audience will see us hoist the Larry O’brien trophy and Dwight will get Finals MVP.
"Blue and white...ignite...BOOOM! - Dwight Howard
Your last sentence is the goal but Orlando has a long way to go.
I write for Orlando Pinstriped Post and have a Twitter account.
"The second unit is kind of crazy because the second unit is only white guys." - Marcin Gortat
Maimi is good
I don’t believe they will win the division. They could put lewis in the post more. His out of control 3’s scare me. I love our bench and they sould get more playing time. Go magic!!
Atlanta is more of a threat to win the division than Miami.
I write for Orlando Pinstriped Post and have a Twitter account.
"The second unit is kind of crazy because the second unit is only white guys." - Marcin Gortat
A few times this season, I've read people complain about the team's effort and focus during the games..
And for the most part, I didnt sense at all looking at most of the games that this team was complacent, and actually thought rhey were playing well.
Last night was the first time all season I felt like the guys didnt show up. Just very disorganzied on defense, jacking up bad shots and not a lot of cohesivness. I still think Orlando will have the better record than Miami in the division and win the thing, but this is a team that I sense because of speeed could present matchup problems for the Magic should they face in the playoffs.
"Don't wait till im gone to say I was the best"-NaS
Certified Kristin Kreuk obsessive...
Still miss em: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvvgVn0gg1E
I don't think the Heat present many matchup problems for the Magic.
That is, if Orlando is focused and prepared to play for real.
I write for Orlando Pinstriped Post and have a Twitter account.
"The second unit is kind of crazy because the second unit is only white guys." - Marcin Gortat
Didn't we get our asses handed to us by cleveland at home?
by i2ambler on Dec 19, 2009 11:11 AM EST via mobile up reply actions
Not really, the Magic lost by 9 and fought back in the second half.
That game is an outlier, though, given that Rashard and Ryan weren’t available.
I write for Orlando Pinstriped Post and have a Twitter account.
"The second unit is kind of crazy because the second unit is only white guys." - Marcin Gortat
They just seem bored
Like they wish it was April instead of December. Hey, I agree with them. I live in Cincinnati, and I would love it to be warm outside instead of snowing. But they need to wake up and get it together so that they are the #1 seed for April and beyond.
In Gene We Trust.
by MoveThoseChains on Dec 18, 2009 4:39 PM EST reply actions
I do think the team gets complacent sometimes.
I write for Orlando Pinstriped Post and have a Twitter account.
"The second unit is kind of crazy because the second unit is only white guys." - Marcin Gortat
Yup
The team played like this was just a game on the way to April. Very disappointing.
Shortest off-season ever!
It happens.
It happened in Oklahoma City, it happened in MIA, it’ll likely happen at least once more in the dog days of March. I would be a lot more upset if there weren’t so many outliers in this game (which seems to be happening in most of their losses, oddly enough). Dorrell Wright, Quentin Richardson, Mario Chalmers, Carlos Arroyo carving us up? O’Neal hitting hotly contested jumpers over Dwight? Beasley (22%3PT coming in) draining one from downtown? It’s just like when CJ Miles and then Jared Dudley had basically career nights to help beat the Magic.
Dwight still played hard and well. The only thing I was upset about was that the rest of the team didn’t take a cue from him and pick up their own energy. Jameer will be back in a week or two, so hopefully we’ll have our starting lineup together for more than one game this time.
It happens, but it shouldn't happen to us
If we’re going to be as great as we’re talking about being, we need to show it. This team boasts one of the most versatile rosters in the entire league, there is NO EXCUSE for being blown out like that. NO EXCUSE.
"Blue and white...ignite...BOOOM! - Dwight Howard
It shouldn't happen, but it does happen.
I write for Orlando Pinstriped Post and have a Twitter account.
"The second unit is kind of crazy because the second unit is only white guys." - Marcin Gortat
It will.
Rather, it has. Utah didn’t embarrass LA THIS bad, but they were up big in the second half before a too-little-too-late rally just a few games ago. Celtics will have their time in the blowout dunce cap too.
The Celtics just lost at home to Philly.
Seriously, bad games happen. OKC and Miami are both playoff-caliber teams and they were on the road, so you can’t just write off getting pounded by Utah on the round as nothing and then call out the Magic’s defeats as embarrassing. Of course they’re embarrasing, but it’s part of an 82 game season.
Also, Boston is the only team in the NBA to have the same starting line-up every game so far. Please, don’t compare the Magic’s season so far to theirs, because it’s pointless at this point of the year.
You also have to take into account the Thunder loss.
Only nine players dressed for that game and Barnes was playing sick.
I write for Orlando Pinstriped Post and have a Twitter account.
"The second unit is kind of crazy because the second unit is only white guys." - Marcin Gortat
I don't see much difference, other than the final scores.
They’re all playoff-caliber teams.
I write for Orlando Pinstriped Post and have a Twitter account.
"The second unit is kind of crazy because the second unit is only white guys." - Marcin Gortat
utah is better than either miami or okc and the magic got beat by way worse against the latter teams.
whatever conclusions you want to draw is certainly speculative at this point but the facts are the facts. the lakers have played better than the magic so far and the celtics probably have to.
now, right now, tomorrow, i would pick the magic to beat the celtics and lose to the lakers. you can say whatever you want.
by the way, losing to phili at home by 1 after an whatever game win streak is not nearly as bad as losing twice to the heat in a short period of time in absurd fashion each time. it’s just not.
At this point, I think the Celtics and Lakers have been better than the Magic.
Though Orlando’s head-to-head win over Boston does mean something.
I write for Orlando Pinstriped Post and have a Twitter account.
"The second unit is kind of crazy because the second unit is only white guys." - Marcin Gortat
Philly... at home...
The team that was just went through a 13 game losing streak. That’s embarrassing no matter how you slice it. You’d be talking about how much the Magic need to focus and there’s no excuse for losing to a team like that if it happend on our home floor.
You’re also conveniently leaving out that the only significant injury problem faced by either of those teams was Pau missing the first handful of games. Again, Boston has had the same starting line-up every game, the only team to say that, and it won’t continue through 82 games. it’s really easy to get into rhythm when you have talent and continuity like that.
I think the Magic are better than Boston -- the head to head record over the last 15 games are so makes that clear.
Not sure if the Magic are better than the Lakers. But watching all three teams makes it pretty clear to me that those teams have not been as prone to huge lapses in effort as the Magic.
by CaliFlorida on Dec 19, 2009 10:36 AM EST up reply actions
That's very true.
With Jameer not playing, he’s the only one who even remotely resembles a very vocal leader who demands everyone play with energy on the floor (besides Stan). Even when he’s in, the Magic don’t have someone like Kobe or Pierce or KG who will just get after the team when there’s not enough effort. As much as I love Dwight, when he tries to speak up, it sometimes tends to come off in a more childish way. Probably due to the fact he’s still only 24 (so crazy to think about, sometimes).
To me, when Nelson goes, so go the Magic.
His emergence as an All-Star is a big reason why Orlando became an elite team. That and Howard’s dominating defensive prowess.
I write for Orlando Pinstriped Post and have a Twitter account.
"The second unit is kind of crazy because the second unit is only white guys." - Marcin Gortat
I think the Magic are better than the Celtics -- the head to head record over the last 15 games or so is too much to ignore.
Not sure if the Magic are better than the Lakers. But watching all three teams makes it pretty clear to me that those teams have not been as prone to huge lapses in effort as the Magic. Are there possible explanations for that? Sure. But that’s all what you’re saying amounts to — explanations/excuses for the fact that the Magic have not been as consistent of a team thus far.
by CaliFlorida on Dec 19, 2009 10:41 AM EST up reply actions
Did not see the game but ........
from your comments it appears that Dwight was far from the main culprit – I repeat again "will a leader step up and take this team to the next level – Dwight and Jameer are the obvious candidates but someone on the team needs publicly and privately call out the “slackers” when they play like this thread reports. Unfortunately our coach has been rendered ineffective in this regard because the players are a little sensitive!!
Howard and Redick tried. Everyone else, not so much.
I write for Orlando Pinstriped Post and have a Twitter account.
"The second unit is kind of crazy because the second unit is only white guys." - Marcin Gortat
I think it comes down to Vince.
He has the ability to put the team on his back in these type of games. Sometimes he does, like in the first qtr. of the Raptors game. But if he is playing lazy and everyone else is off, it’s not good. I thought Dwight’s effort was good.
With Nelson's impending return, that should relieve the pressure on Carter a bit on offense.
I write for Orlando Pinstriped Post and have a Twitter account.
"The second unit is kind of crazy because the second unit is only white guys." - Marcin Gortat
I wasn't making Dwight out to be a culprit at all.
I think he was the only legit bright spot on the team. It was more of a condemnation of everyone else playing with him, because Stan saw the energy and kept Dwight in there way more than usual, Dwight stayed out of foul trouble, but too many other guys had poor rotations when Dwight went for blocks on guys that just blew past the perimeter defender. Or guys gave up offensive boards while Dwight was contesting shots.
Not a good team effort, to be sure.
I write for Orlando Pinstriped Post and have a Twitter account.
"The second unit is kind of crazy because the second unit is only white guys." - Marcin Gortat
What is Dwight supposed to do?
Start pushing guys around on the bench?
I’m sure the players know that that performance was unacceptable. If they don’t, it’s Dwight (and Stan’s) job to get that message through. But there’s only so much you can do whilst in a “phone-in” performance – you can’t physically force people to give a shit.
by eltharion_doa on Dec 19, 2009 9:36 AM EST up reply actions
Again, nothing to do with Dwight.
He was doing what he could. To repeat, “It was more of a condemnation of everyone else playing with him”. They were playing like the Cavs when LeBron goes into “LeBron-on-5” mode, except Dwight being a post player can’t dominate the ball like LeBron can. The team cannot work without playing with Dwight, not simply watching him play. The players know that, just had a lapse.
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