LeBron James torches the Magic with a 51-point blitz (Part -3)
Miami sang the same tune coming into the final quarter of play. James Jones slipped in a jumper early in the piece, to kick-start a vicious nine-point unanswered surge. The spurt further tightened Miami’s grip on the match, extending their advantage to 88-65
- their biggest of the match.
The game though was not over yet by any stretch of the imagination. Throughout the season Miami had been guilty of lapsing at crucial junctures of the game. The situation was not at all different this time around. Leading by 90-67, with less than eight minutes
left on the clock, the Miami defence decided to go for a nap.
Sensing complacency in the opposition ranks, the Magic cashed in big time as they went on a 19-4 scoring spree. The spurt which was capped by a Gilbert Arena’s three point shot propelled the Magic to 94-88 with less than two minutes remaining in the game.
However, just when Orlando came close to surpassing the Heat, LeBron James again proved to be their nemesis. James responded with his own three with the shot clock winding down to give Miami a 97-88 lead. James was not only maneuvering the Miami offence
on the night, but was also the cornerstone of their defence. He was at the helm of affairs deep in his court when Jason Richardson missed a three-pointer on Orlando’s next possession. James snatched the rebound and sprinted down the Magic court.
He got two free throws for his effort but managed to put in only one. The Magic though continued to press on with their late assault. Richardson shot a three-pointer to reduce the deficit to 98-91 with 51.1 seconds left. Jameer Nelson soon followed with
a layup to trim it to 98-93 and then 99-95 with a pair of free throws with just 22.5 seconds to play.
However, it was James again who chipped in with a pair of free throws to make it 103-97. Nelson kept on fighting though as he hit a three-pointer with 9.4 seconds left. His heroics down the stretch nearly paid off as the Heat lost the ball on the ensuing
inbounds play. The Magic though were unable to make it count, as Ryan Anderson missed a crucial game-tying three pointer. Wade hit a free throw to give the Heat a four-point cushion with 2.4 seconds left and Magic didn’t have any hope after that.
"We just let our guard down," James said. "We can't do that as a veteran ball club. You can say that about a young team. We came in (the locker room) and you could tell by the look on the guys' faces that we weren't satisfied with the way we finished the
game out. That's always a good sign. It's wasn't just 'Let's celebrate."'
Orlando Magic went into Thursday night’s clash without their regular starting forward Brandon Bass. Bass injured his left leg in the third quarter of their last match against the Memphis Grizzlies when he rolled his ankle after landing awkwardly on Zach
Randolph’s foot in an attempt to net a jumper.
In his absence they were always expected to look thin offensively and that proved to be the case.
Magic Coach Stan Van Gundy decided to play Ryan Anderson in his place. The move backfired completely as the Heat back-line proved to be a little too hot to handle for him. Anderson was called for two fouls in the first two minutes of play, the second coming
on an unnecessary reach at Chris Bosh. His foul play forced Gundy to bank on Earl Clark, who was off-colour as well. Anderson played only for 17 minutes but never got into a shooting rhythm until it was too late.
To round off a miserable night he also missed a three-point shot which could have tied the game in the closing seconds.
Ryan, who was the only Magic starter not to finish in double figures, said afterwards, "It was straight on, felt great coming off my hand, but it just didn't drop. Those shots really are painful to miss."
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