The Miami Heat, fresh off a win in their season opener, came home to face instate rivals the Orlando Magic to open the home slate. For the Magic, this was their curtain raiser and they looked to erase of the bitter 4-2 first round opening loss to the Hawks. For the Heat, it was their first home contest since the disappointing end to the finals in Game 6. As always , courtside was full of celebrities such as Birdman, Slyvester Stallone, J-Lo , and the new single Kim Kardashian. Despite this being the second game of a "back to back", the Heat raced out to an early 12-2 lead courtesy Lebron James. James knocked down two quick threes to start the festivities and handed out assists for dunks to Joel Anthony and Chris Bosh. The Magic responded by dumping the ball into Dwight Howard who drew two quick ones on Anthony. This gave us our first Dexter Pittman sighting of the 2011-2012 season. The young big man did his best but was no match for Howard and the Magic quickly closed the gap. The teams exchanged body blows during the quarter with Howard scoring at will on the inside, while James and Bosh torched Magic defenders from the perimter. At the end of one, the Heat led 29-27. Dwight Howard leading all scorers with 17.
The second quarter, saw more of the same as defense seem to be optional in this one. Dwayne Wade, reinserted after a poke in the eye, rattled off ten quick points to start the second, only to be answered by Ryan Anderson's three 3-pt field goals. Two of the better defensive teams in the NBA were both struggling to slow the other as both teams knocked down one perimeter shot down after another. The Heat double teamed Howard on every possession and the Magic made them pay. On the other end, Bosh continued to shoot over the top of Anderson and Brandon Bass while Wade took advantage of Arenas and JJ Redick. At halftime, the score was tied at 60. Howard leading all scorers with 28 points but counteracted by Wade, James, Bosh combining for 44 of the Heat's 60, led by Wade with 18.
The two defenses settled in to start the third quarter and the perimeter shooting cooled down. The Heat's defensive rotations were a lot sharper and quicker as they covered shooters allowing no Magic three's in the third quarter. On the other end, having not picked up any fouls in the first half, Howard asserted himself more aggressively thwarting Heat drives to the basket with three blocks and three hard fouls , one leading to a small altercation between Howard and Anthony. Toward the end of the quarter, the Magic bench provided a spark to give Orlando a five point lead going into the third at 83-78.
The fourth quarter was a defensive stalemate to begin the period with the two teams exchanging defensive stops for the first three minutes. Wade's free throws were the only points for either side to begin the fourth. After a rest, Stan Van Gundy reinserted Howard and Howard quickly scored two hoops to push the Magic lead to seven at 87-80. Howard would finish the game with 44 points. Miami quickly responded with an 11-4 run over the next four minutes to tie the game at 91 with five minutes to play. Miami continued its excellent perimeter defending with Wade, Mario Chalmers and rookie Norris Cole creating havoc. Cole, the rookie out of Cleveland State, forced Arenas into two straight turnovers leading to layups for Chalmers. Chalmer, for his part, did a great job of defending at the 3 point line. The Heat look a 101-93 lead with three and half minutes to play. Spolestra reinserted Bosh and James to close the deal and close they did. James hit a pair of tough stepback jumpers and Bosh took two charges on Howard as the Magic tried to get back in the game to no avail. The Heat moved to 2-0 with a 109-97 victory
SUPERMAN VS SUPERFRIENDS
Howard: 44points, 15 rebounds, 5 blocks
Wade: 30 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists
James: 27 points, 11rebounds, 3 steals
Bosh: 18 points, 7 rebounds
Other Scores
Memphis 92, Utah 90
Denver 101, Portland 95
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