Dwight Howard’s monster night carries Orlando Magic past Miami Heat in O.T – NBA Recap
In possibly his last home game at the Orlando Magic, Dwight ‘Superman’ Howard exploded with 24 points and hauled down 25 rebounds, while Jameer Nelson sprung with 25 points, including some clutch plays in the fourth quarter and
overtime, as Orlando Magic overcame a 14 points second quarter deficit to win the battle of South Florida, 104-98, in overtime on Tuesday night.
Miami were led by 28 points from Dwyane Wade including a three that eventually took the game into overtime. Wade however could have won the game in the closing seconds, but his fade away jumper over J.J. Redick went out after rattling
the rim. Chris Bosh pounded 23 points and 8 boards for the Heat, who nearly got a triple double from LeBron James with 19 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists.
Miami had a three game winning streak snapped and more importantly will now take on the Bulls tomorrow night after a tough but lost cause. They were under the cosh right from the start as Orlando connected on 12 of their 17 field
goal attempts in the first quarter, ending it with a 30-27 lead. Howard had 12 points and 7 rebounds in that frame.
He was however completely hounded in the second quarter and managed to add only two rebounds for the Magic. With D-12 silent, Miami got hot and after going doing 36-29 early, they raced away to a 27-9 run, opening up a 56-45 lead
at the break.
Miami held on to a significant lead, 68-59, entering into the last five minutes of the third but Nelson and Redick keyed a 13-5 run to cap the quarter, making it a one point game at 72-73.
Jason Richardson, playing after a two game injury layoff, scored the first six Magic points in the fourth for a 78-75 lead, but two minutes later, Miami pulled off an 8-3 spurt to take a 85-84 advantage. A minutes later, Jameer
and Anderson made a deuce apiece to again put Orlando front. In the ensuing passage, the game was tied three times but with 44 seconds in the regulation, Nelson made a three to put the Magic ahead at 94-91. Nearly five seconds later though, Wade drilled a
trey to tie the game at 94 and this was how it remained as the game proceeded to overtime.
Magic started the overtime with 4 points each from Howard and Nelson to take a 102-96 lead and after that, there was nothing much left for the Heat. The win was the third in row for Orlando and 5th in the last six.
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