ORLANDO, Fla. _ It took desperation _ and a healthy dose of Tyler Johnson _ for the Miami Heat to move within striking distance after a first half Saturday night at the Amway Center that picked up where Friday's blowout loss to the Brooklyn Nets at AmericanAirlines Arena left off.
Down 18 early in the third, the Heat rallied behind 22 third-quarter points from Johnson, to create a nail-biter, and then a much-needed victory.
And that's when Erik Spoelstra's team dug in, moving to a 117-111 victory to go into the New Year's break at 19-17.
Johnson led the Heat with 31 points, supported by 25 from Goran Dragic and 17 from Kelly Olynyk. Center Hassan Whiteside added nine points and 13 rebounds for the Magic.
Aaron Gordon led the Magic with 39 points, the most by a Heat opponent this season, eclipsing the 38 of Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love, with Magic teammate Evan Fournier adding 23.
The Heat again were without Dion Waiters, James Johnson, Justise Winslow, Rodney McGruder and Okaro White, with the Magic without Jonathon Isaac, Terrence Ross and Nikola Vucevic.
A Bam Adebayo dunk drew the Heat within 98-97 midway through the fourth quarter, before baskets by Jonathon Simmons and Gordon pushed the Magic to a 103-97 lead.
Later, a Wayne Ellington 3-pointer drew the Heat back within 103-100.
The Heat then matched a Magic inside basket with a Dragic 3-pointer that drew them within 105-103.
From there, a driving layup by Josh Richardson tied it 105, with basket by Dragic putting the Heat up 107-105. From there, Dragic dribbled to a floating layup for a 109-105 lead and a Magic timeout with 1:35 to play.
Gordon then drew a double-team and a foul on Richardson on a 3-point attempt with 1:12 to play. He made all three free throws to trim the Heat lead to 109-108.
Dragic then found Tyler Johnson for what was ruled a 3-pointer and a 112-108 Heat lead.
Fournier countered with a 3-pointer for the Magic to draw Orlando within 112-111, with Dragic nailing a jumper for a 114-111 lead with 23.8 seconds left.
That led to a Magic timeout, their last of the game.
Gordon then was off with a potential tying 3-point attempt, with Johnson securing the rebound.
Down 18 early in the third period, the Heat stormed within four in the quarter before going into the fourth down 92-86.
The rally was sparked by Johnson, who followed up a four-point first half with 22 points in the third period, converting his first 10 shots of the quarter before missing at the buzzer.
Gordon was already up to 34 points at that stage for the Magic, with Fournier at 20.
Whiteside had 12 rebounds through three periods.
After closing back within four points midway through the second period, the Heat went into halftime down 66-50, with the Magic at .675 from the field at that stage, including 7 of 12 on 3-pointers.
The 66 points were the most for the Magic in a first half this season.
The Magic simply ran the Heat out of the building in the first half, with 24 fast-break points, converting every fast-break opportunity.
Gordon, at 7 of 8 in the first half, already was up to 20 points at the intermission, having sat out Tuesday's Heat victory over the Magic in Miami. Fournier had 13 at the break.
As with the Heat's 8-0 lead at the outset in Friday's home loss to the Brooklyn Nets, the Heat got off to a solid start again. And again, that's about where the early hope ended, with the Magic eventually moving to a 32-21 lead at the end of the opening period.
The Heat defense was particularly abysmal early, with the Magic closing the first quarter 13 of 19 from the field, with Fournier up to 11 points by then.
There was a curious moment in that first quarter, when the Heat subbed out but not for Whiteside, who began to walk off the court.
"Pay attention! Pay attention!" an angry Erik Spoelstra bellowed to his big man.
It was, in fact, only the second time this season that Whiteside played alongside Adebayo, who instead entered for Kelly Olynyk.
Spoelstra subbed out for Whiteside on the next stoppage. Neither acknowledged the other as Whiteside walked past to the bench. Whiteside then removed his knee brace, returning for his second-quarter stint without the brace.
Spoelstra has said he would be keeping Whiteside on a minutes restriction, with the game Whiteside's third back after missing 13 with a bone bruise on his left knee.
It was the third game of the four-game season series that concludes Feb. 5 at AmericanAirlines Arena.
The Heat lost the season's previous visit 116-109 on opening night, with Fournier leading Orlando with 23 points on Oct. 28. The Heat then evened the season series with Tuesday's 107-89 victory at AmericanAirlines Arena, when they outscored the Magic 39-21 in the fourth quarter.
Wednesday's victory snapped a four-game Heat losing streak to the Magic.
The Heat entered 10-8 on the road, with victories in four of their previous five road games.
The game concluded the Heat's fifth back-to-back set of the season, with a 1-3 record in the second game of such pairings, to now be followed by a three-day New Year's break in their schedule before a Wednesday home game against the Detroit Pistons.
The Magic entered idle since Thursday's 102-89 over the Pistons, when they were led by Elfrid Payton's 19 points, which snapped a losing streak that had been extended to nine with Tuesday's loss in Miami.
