Magic's Hot, Not Heat, Surviving 3-Pointers

ORLANDO -- It took the Heat a little too long to get hot Saturday night.

The Magic survived five threepoint baskets by Miami in the fourth quarter and held on for an 80-77 victory, breaking an eightgame losing streak against the Heat.

Jameer Nelson and Steve Francis made four straight free throws in the final 11 seconds to clinch the third victory in four nights for the Magic (6-6) before a crowd of 16,619.

"A lot of people walked out of this building after the New Orleans game (a 98-95 loss on Nov. 19), myself included, not feeling very good about where we were at the time," said coach Brian Hill. "It's a testament to these guys to come back after that game and rattle off three wins."

After the loss to the Hornets, victories over Washington, Portland and Miami looked very unlikely for the Magic, who have won as many games home games in the last four nights as they won in the preceding 238. But beating the Heat was something special for the Magic, whose last victory over their instrastate rival came on March 23, 2003.

Alonzo Mourning, starting at center in place of the injured Shaquille O'Neal, had a monster game for the Heat, putting up 15 points, 21 rebounds and four blocks. Dwyane Wade scored a game-high 21 points for the Heat (7-6), but made only 8-of-20 shots and 5-of-10 free throws.

DeShawn Stevenson, who scored the Magic's only field goal in the final 6:12 of the game, did most of the defensive work against the explosive Wade.

"He had a struggling night, shooting-wise, but he still had 21 points," Stevenson said of Wade, who spent much of the game complaining to the officials. "Once you get a player of his caliber whining about plays -- I don't want to say whining, but complaining about calls -- it makes it kind of hard for him. He's a talented player; he can get to the basket any time he wants to and score. The only thing I tried to do is make it tough on him."

Hedo Turkoglu led the Magic with 18 points. Dwight Howard, limited by foul trouble, finished with 15 points and 16 rebounds.

Miami came into the game as the second-best shooting team in the NBA, but shot only 32 percent.

The Magic led by as many as 12 points late in the third quarter. But Gary Payton scored the final five points of the period for the Heat, including a three-pointer with 4.2 seconds left, to cut the margin to seven. It was the Heat's first three-pointer of the game after 10 misses.

Antoine Walker drilled another three early in the fourth quarter, and Jason Williams and Payton combined to make three more threes in a span of less than two minutes to jolt the Heat back into the game.

A dunk by Wade cut the Magic's lead to 76-74 with 1:30 left.

Wade missed a long jumper that could have tied it, but the Heat got another chance under their basket with 13.2 seconds left. But Payton stepped out of bounds while taking an inbounds pass from Wade.

O'Neal sat out the 11th straight game with a sprained right ankle he sustained in the second game of the season on Nov. 3. Since signing with Miami in the summer of 2004, O'Neal has missed four of the Heat's five games against the Magic.

MAGIC NOTES

Keyon Dooling re-injured his right heel Friday night and was inactive for Saturday's game. An MRI revealed no tear. . . . Christmas time is now the best-case scenario for the return of Grant Hill, who has yet to play in the regular season.

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MIAMI (77): Posey 0-3 1-1 1, Haslem 2-10 2-2 6, Mourning 4-10 7-12 15, Wade 8-20 5-10 21, Williams 6-16 0-0 14, Kapono 1-5 0-0 3, Walker 3-10 2-2 9, Simien 0-2 0-0 0, Payton 2-4 2-2 8, Wright 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 26-81 19-29 77.

ORLANDO (80): Turkoglu 4-14 10-10 18, Howard 7-14 1-3 15, Battie 4-8 0-0 8, Stevenson 3-12 6-8 12, Francis 3-8 4-5 10, Cato 0-4 0-0 0, Augmon 3-6 1-2 7, Nelson 1-8 3-4 5, Garrity 2-3 0-0 5. Totals 27-77 25-32 80.

Miami 16 17 21 23--77

Orlando 20 21 20 19--80

3-Point Goals--Miami 6-21 (Payton 2-3, Williams 29, Walker 1-3, Kapono 1-4, Posey 0-2), Orlando 1-7 (Garrity 1-2, Battie 0-1, Francis 0-1, Nelson 0-1, Turkoglu 0-2). Fouled Out--None. Rebounds--Miami 63 (Mourning 21), Orlando 59 (Howard 16). Assists-Miami 13 (Wade 4), Orlando 11 (Nelson 5). A--16,619. (17,248).