The Miami Heat had many reasons to be thankful on the eve of Thanksgiving, particularly once a Dwyane Wade air ball benefited them when Michael Beasley dunked in the miss with 1.6 seconds left in the game. That concluded a Heat comeback from an 11-point deficit with just under eight minutes left in the game as the Magic were edged 99-98 in front of a sold-out crowd at Amway Arena.

Wade, who was held to 6-of-22 shooting on the night, dribbled to the right and crossed to the left near the free thrown line before letting go of a 15-foot fade away that would fall short. But Beasley would soar in to grab the rebound and dunk it through. Beasley ended up with 15 points and 12 rebounds but it was the last 2 points that he scored that would come with some controversy. Magic center Dwight Howard and his teammates pleaded to officials for an offensive goaltending call, to no avail.

“You don’t expect an air ball from D-Wade,” Howard said. “Matt (Barnes) had good position, he just out jumped him. We thought it was (offensive) goaltending. We can’t do anything about it now.”

Magic Coach Stan Van Gundy attributed the loss to not blocking out on that last play.

“We got a miss from Wade and nobody rebounds the ball, no block out, no real focus,” said Van Gundy.  “One rebound right there ends the game.”

Barnes had the responsibility of blocking out Beasley on that final play and showed his frustration at the end of the game as he tossed the basketball into the stands.

Asked afterwards in locker room if he thought he might have committed offensive goaltending, Beasley replied, “I was actually thinking it and kept looking directly at the ref, but he was running back down court.

“When it reached my hands I was just thinking ‘dunk it’ because I was so close to the basket,” he said.

Wade joked afterwards in the locker room about the missed shot being a planned pass to Beasley all along, but acknowledges it was a short shot and a great play by his teammate.

“I am going to stop lying, that was a great play by Mike. Very athletic play” said Wade, who scored 16 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter.

The Magic looked like they were going to extend their winning streak to six games after Vince Carter hit a three pointer over Wade with 14 seconds left to give the Magic a 98-95 lead. But the Heat cut that lead to 98-97 with 10.6 seconds left as Heat forward Udonis Haslem tipped in a missed three-point attempt from Wade. Once again, no box out from Orlando. Then Jason Williams, who had a big night against the team that he won an NBA title with in 2006 and finished with 25 points and 8 assists, missed two free throws with 8.6 seconds to go which set up the dramatic finish. The Magic as a team missed 13 free throws in the contest.

The game had playoff intensity in the stands as well as on the court as things got testy in the second quarter when Heat center Jermaine O’Neal and Howard got tangled up. A technical was called on O’Neal after shouting a few words and walking towards Howard. The officials got between the two of them and Van Gundy walked onto the court to make sure things didn’t escalate even more.

The win was the first for the Heat in Orlando since 2006 and could ignite some new bad blood and excitement that’s been lacking between the two in-state division rivals and their respective fan bases. With that intensity during a pre-Thanksgiving game, imagine what it would be like if they met later in the year with a division title on the line, or even in the playoffs.

–– More Orlando Magic Coverage ––

– Tim Povtak at Fanhouse

– Andrew Melnick at Howard the Dunk

– Team page at HoopsWorld

– SB Nation’s Third Quarter Collapse