MIAMI _ There was a perfect moment.
And a perfectly awful outcome.
On the night the Miami Heat retired Chris Bosh's No. 1 with a heartfelt halftime ceremony, the result ultimately was devastating, the Heat blowing an early 17-point lead and fall 104-99 Tuesday night to the Orlando Magic at AmericanAirlines Arena.
The loss dropped the Heat out of the eighth and final playoff seed in the Eastern Conference, at No. 9 now just a single game ahead of the No. 10 Charlotte Hornets.
By winning the season series 3-1, the Magic now have the playoff tiebreaker over the Heat.
As do the Hornets.
As do the Detroit Pistons.
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra went in appreciating the significance of the moment.
"We have to really impose our will," he said. "You've got two really well-prepared teams that are ready for this matchup. Of the teams that are fighting for these playoff spots, everybody's playing well, everybody's playing desperate. So we will have to bring a great urgency for 48 minutes."
The urgency was there, just not as sustained productivity, which particularly has been an issue at home this season.
Dion Waiters led the Heat with 26 points, with Dwyane Wade adding 22 points and Josh Richardson 17.
Center Nikola Vucevic led the Magic with 24 points and 16 rebounds.
Wade attempted to will the Heat back into the game, including a four-point play with 9:21 to play that drew the Heat within 82-80 after they had fallen behind by eight.
But Orlando, behind the play of Vucevic then pushed back to a six-point lead.
The Heat led 32-18 at the end of a dominant first quarter, pushed their lead to 17 in the second quarter, with the Magic able to pull within 51-42 at the intermission.
Orlando then continued to seize the momentum, closing within 57-55 with 7:29 to play in the third quarter on an Evan Fournier 3-pointer and then moving to a 63-62 lead on a Jonathan Isaac 3-pointer with 5:11 to play in the third.
The Magic opened 10 of 15 from the field and 6 of 9 on 3-pointers in the third period, closing the third ahead 76-70, with 11 assists on their 12 baskets in the period.
