Culture of Hoops

Orlando Magic fall to the Miami Heat, 99-92

Image courtesy of Michael Tipton/Flickr.

Image courtesy of Michael Tipton/Flickr.

The Orlando Magic played host to the revamped Miami Heat on the second night of a back-to-back, after beating the Charlotte Hornets 105-100 the previous night. The Magic went toe-to-toe with their in-state rivals, but a lack of three-point shooting and a closer made a huge difference. Thus, the Magic drop to the Heat, 99-92 in overtime.

The Magic played the Heat well to start things off with Victor Oladipo making some big defensive plays that led to easy baskets. It was a back-and-forth affair until Miami started draining threes. The Heat hit on all four of their attempts in the opening quarter to push their lead to six.

The offense began to click for the Magic in the second quarter. The team went 10-for-18 from the field and 8-for-11 from the free-throw line to keep the Magic within striking distance. However, the Heat’s hot streak from three was really turning into a problem for the Magic.

Things began to unravel for the Magic coming out of halftime as the offense went stagnant. The ball stopped moving and the Magic had to rely on forced post-ups from Nikola Vucevic. Head coach Jacque Vaughn made adjustments, putting in Elfrid Payton, who sparked the team with his inspired play. The team then started making big baskets and coming up with huge defensive plays, finding themselves right back in it heading into the fourth, down only 68-67.

From there, the Magic once again struggled to take the game in their hands. Chris Bosh was hitting every jump shot he took, and before they knew it, the Heat took a 10-point lead in the final minutes of the game. The Magic had one more rally in them, cutting the deficit down to four, but never took the lead. The team would drop one to the Heat.

Vucevic had a career-night, leading all scorers with 33 points and 17 rebounds. He currently leads the NBA with 11 double-doubles. Oladipo finished with 14, and Evan Fournier with 11.

Bosh had a team-high 32 points for the Miami, while Mario Chalmers finished with 24. Rookie Shabazz Napier put up 12 points off the bench. Shawne Williams finished with 10.

The Magic travel to Cleveland, Ohio to take on LeBron James and the new Cleveland Cavaliers on November 24th.

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