The woes continue for the Miami Heat, who are having a tough time putting good teams away. The Magic came back from a 24-point deficit in the third quarter to upend the Heat in Miami, 99-96.
Down by 24 points in the third quarter, the Magic went on an unbelievable 40-9 run over the next 15 minutes and stunned the Heat 99-96, the second-largest comeback in Orlando franchise history and matching the second-biggest in the NBA this season.
Jason Richardson scored 24 points for Orlando, 11 of them to kick start the epic burst that turned a 73-49 deficit into an 89-82 lead.
It’s unbelievable that a team with three players like LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh would allow a run like that to occur. Not only are they three of the best offensive players in the league, the Heat are pretty damn good defensively as well.
Forget about the 22-7 run to close the third quarter. The Heat had time to digest that during the break between quarters and went into the fourth quarter with an 80-71 lead. A Chris Bosh jumper pushed the lead to 11.
Then the Magic went on an 18-0 run to take an 89-82 lead with 5:16 to play. Erik Spoelstra did his part, taking two timeouts (after Orlando’s 8-0 run and then again after the Magic rattled off another eight points), but it did no good. Miami’s three stars went 0-for-5 from the field during that run, and Wade even missed two free throws and turned the ball over once.
Miami is susceptible to runs like this because they lack an inside scorer. Bosh is more of a face up power forward and is far more comfortable shooting 18-footers than he is trying to score on the post, and we all know that LeBron rarely (if ever) ventures down to to the block. When those jumpers aren’t falling, it’s so valuable to have a player or two who can get you a bucket or a pair of free throws with his post up game. That player should be LeBron, but he has never developed a post game, and at this rate — I doubt he ever will.
It’s mind-boggling that LeBron and Wade combined to go 21-for-34 from the field for 57 points. That means the supporting cast shot just 14-of-41 (34%) for 39 points.
