Orlando Magic 99, Miami Heat 96

I was watching this game and as Miami’s lead kept growing, I was just thinking more and more that the best thing that could come out of it was to see what lineups would be best defensively and who should guard who if we have to play them in the playoffs. Then J-Rich and Gil got us close and the game got real again. Then Q came in w/ another big spark off the bench, hustling and frustrating Lebron into TO’s. Then Dwight went all Shaqtastic and was passing the ball out of the post perfectly to open shooters (season high 5 assists).

After all that, I was actually sweating a little as the game got down to the final two minutes.

Unbelievable. Awesome win, cant wait to see what happens tomorrow night against Chicago. I just hope there isn’t a huge emotional let down after tonight’s draining win.

This is what I tweeted back to Josh Robbins when he said that’d be Miami’s strategy tonight: “@JoshuaBRobbins dont know if that’ll be a good idea. Unless it forces Dwight into a TON more TOs than normal, it’ll leave shooters wide open”

So obviously I get a gold star….or a cookie.

when you go out the door… look up at those beautiful stars and shout out LOUD: “THANK YOU”!!!

and reading each one of your in-game narratives is indeed, something to remember!

Thanks guys, for a Night to Remember… GO MAGIC!

Left the bar in disgust at halftime. Didn’t want to waste money on beer watching Orlando get crushed… I couldn’t believe my eyes when I went to check the recap and found out the Magic won.

Huge win for sure. A loss tonight would have locked the Magic into 2nd place in the SE. Now there’s hope, especially with Miami’s upcoming schedule getting a whole lot tougher.

Miami led 73-49 with 8:57 remaining in the third. Here are the numbers for the remaining 20:57 of the game:

Orlando outscored Miami 50-23, with Miami shooting 8 of 34 (23.5%), including 1 of 11 on threes (9.1%) and 6 of 13 on free throws (46.1%) along with 7 turnovers for an eFG% of 25% and a TS% of 29%. Wade and James combined to shoot 2 of 12 from the field and 2 of 6 on free throws for 6 points.

During that same time, the Magic shot 15 of 29 (51.7%), including 9 of 14 on threes (64.3%) and 11 of 12 on free throws (91.7%) for an eFG% of 67.2% and a TS% of 72.9%.

Miami went 6:23 without scoring in the fourth quarter, with the Magic going on a 18-0 run in that time.

The 16 Magic three point field goals was the 13th time in franchise history that they have made at least 16 three pointers in a game, with all but one of those games coming in the Stan Van Gundy era.

The 16 Magic three point field goals tied for second for the most three pointers in a game by a Heat opponent, with the Magic also holding the top spot.

To answer 3.3seconds, Dwight was getting touches, it’s just he had to kick them out more often today due to the swarming heat defense. He had about 5 assists today. I suppose he would only get assists if the ball receive knocks down their shots, fortunately the team did that today

Our PGs did pretty well – Jameer was once again aggressive, and the team becomes so much more than a “Dwight and 3” team when he’s on ball. It also reduces our need for Turk who is clearly not 100%. Gilbert didn’t do too badly, 3-7, 11 points, 2 assists, he had 3 turnovers but I think one of them was an errant JJ pass that he happened to pick up on the backcourt. And he knocked down the threes in critical times. I’m still waiting for the drive game to return, but for 15 minutes work he acquitted himself well.

I wonder if starting QRich at 3 guarding LeBron and sliding Hedo to 4 can help Orlando can help Orlando defensively at a possible playoff matchup. It seems like Magic should find ways to start better defensively so they won’t need miracle comebacks against Heat.

the answer is always no. Luckily, Bosh doesn’t need much guarding these days. He just stands back and takes ridiculously long jumpers that don’t go in.

And he was barely smiling even after the win. I love the intensity.

https://twitpic.com/show/large/45veve

this game has really made my day great after a stressful day from work.

I think the most exciting aspect of this game for me was JRich’s defense on Wade in the second half. He was forcing him so far baseline he almost stepped out of bounds on every possession.

He seems SO disinterested

This is the second option. Now I don’t mean he will go 5-5 in the second half on 3’s, but I loved his aggression. He went into super eff you mode, and said give me the ball IM HOT!! The team fed off that. Loved that Dwight specifically listened to me. Said in the thread that the shooters were going to have win this game. Dwight was not getting any position last night, but he made the right decision to wait for the “swarmers” hit the open man and get high percentage open shots. They also happened to be open 3’s. Dwight didn’t score last night, but the Justice League showed up last night and took over the game. Great win, great defense in the second half, great passion, great patience.

I love me a cHeat collapse and a Magic victory at the same time.

using the Polanski method, so that last night’s effort on all fronts will be sustained.

The Magic have played elite defense. Well they were doing that before, but you can not deny this team is capable of elite defense after this past month

and enjoyed watching Heat fans suffer. I don’t know what it is about them, but their pain makes me smile.

Anyway, it was one of the best games I’ve ever seen live. At the start of the 3rd quarter I had already given up hope. I told myself I needed to just sit back and enjoy the greatness that is James and Wade. They could not miss in that first half. Of course, the comeback was something I had never seen before from this team…unreal.

Another note, the two greatest players in the league at slashing and getting to the basket refused to attack the rim when Dwight was in the game. Every time they penetrated they would pass it to the open wing as opposed to challenging Dwight. If that doesn’t garner serious MVP consideration than I don’t know what does.

I wanted to turn it off after halftime, but part of me still had some hope left or wanted to see how the rest of the carnage would unfold. That’s why I’ll always watch till the bitter end, hoping for a miracle.

Reading the game the game thread this morning was hilarious. From despair to jubilation.

it’s always nice to know we are never out of it. but that’s the point. why are we always playing catch up every game (big or small games). where is our energy gonna come from besides playing catch up. we can’t always do this. especially with teams that know how to close out games.(boston, lakers). anyway i loved that j-rich took command and arenas doing good. everybody playing good basketball (in the 2nd half). good win. on to the bulls.

it was so nice to see the ball move in the 4th quarter. Instead of Meer dumping the ball in to Dwight and 3 other players standing on the opposite side of the court, we saw the ball move in, then back out, then get another pass until we found the player with the open look.

For everyone who says the Magic just “jack up threes,” I would say: when the ball moves around the arc, nothin’ gets jacked. If the man with the open look takes a good shot, that ain’t jack. That’s Magic basketball.

And if you don’t know that, you don’t know jack.

we can’t afford to come back from games like this in the playoffs. The intensity will be heightened, so we gotta play defense from the beginning, not when were down by 18 at the half.

But dang, what a game! Arenas hitting a couple big ones?? Whaaaat??

just a sick win. Couldn’t believe it. I thought we were doomed because James and Wade’s js were fallin.

Q, Hibachi, Anderson, Jameer and of course J Rich played really well. Just awesome, i still don’t know what to say.

go to the Miami thread for the game last night. You can envision what was happening throughout the game and when the comback began. It gives great insight into what those fans were thinking when the walls began tumbling down.

Also, I don’t want to over-analyse this game because it should really be enjoyed for what it is- an exciting comeback win over ORL’s hated division rival and potential playoff opponent.

Some things do stick out to me that warrant mention though:

(i) Lebron and D-Wade getting hot from the outside. This was basically what killed us in the first half and even then I knew it was not sustainable. Some of the shots they were hitting last night… you just have to live with it. That being said, the defense in the 2nd half was a lot better. Whether Lebron and D-Wade’s drop off in production was due to them sleepwalking out of complacency or increased intensity from ORL is debatable… However, I do think forcing Miami’s stars to win games with their outside shooting is THE game plan, and is definitely correct.

(ii) ORL’s offensive execution is still wildly inconsistent, but (this might be stating the obvious) the team has so many potential modes of attack that need to click for the team to be effective. “Feed Dwight” has been gaining popularity amongst fans, but it is equally important for our perimeter players to contribute. ORL can’t settle into a predictable offensive flow of dumping it to Dwight and letting him post up for 10 seconds, or passing around the perimeter then jacking up a 3. The team needs to constantly adapt their offensive approach, be it Jameer’s penetration (which is truly fun to watch when he’s aggressive), getting out in transition, or whatever.

(iii) Q has found his role on this team as a situational defender. Loved his intensity. I hope he can keep up his good play of late.

Granted, I don’t expect him to shoot like that all the time. But that’s the reason I was so excited to get him.

absolutely made my night and was a great way to kick off Spring Break!