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Heat and Magic battle for Sunshine State bragging rights

Feb 8, 2012 - 3:47 PM (Sports Network) - Since their heart-to-heart meeting among players and coaches following a loss at Milwaukee last week, the Miami Heat haven't suffered defeat and hope to continue that trend tonight against the Orlando Magic in the opener of a six-game road trip.

Miami has won three in a row and 11 of its last 13 games since a season-worst three-game slide and posted its sixth straight win in South Beach with Tuesday's 107-91 over LeBron James' former team, the Cleveland Cavaliers. James had 24 points, six assists and five rebounds, while Dwyane Wade led the Heat with 26 points. Chris Bosh tacked on 15 points and nine boards for Miami, which got 14 points from both Mario Chalmers and Udonis Haslem.

"We (the Miami Heat) just understand that no game is over until it is over," Wade said. "We know teams are going to fight against us because they have a lot of pride. We did a good job of really locking in defensively and turning up the engine."

Wade has scored 20-plus points in a season-high five consecutive games, and in six of his last seven contests. The Heat's 19-6 record is the best 25-game start in franchise history. The previous best was 18-7 (three times).

The Heat are 7-4 away from home this season and are scheduled to make other stops in Washington, Atlanta, Milwaukee, Indiana and Cleveland.

Orlando had won three in a row since a four-game slide, but fell back into the loss column with Monday's 107-102 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Clippers in the opener of a three-game homestand.

Magic point guard Jameer Nelson returned from a five-game absence due to concussion-like symptoms and registered 15 points and a season-high 12 assists. The Magic, who went 3-2 without Nelson in the lineup, received 33 points and 14 rebounds from Dwight Howard.

"The only thing I fault our guys for was the start of the third quarter. The first six minutes, we came with no energy whatsoever. The rest, it's on me," Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy said.

Orlando is playing eight of 10 games at home and owns an 8-5 record at the Amway Center this season.

The Magic and Heat split four meetings a season ago and the last eight matchups overall. Miami has lost eight of 10 games in central Florida. James averaged 30.0 ppg last season against Orlando, while Howard had averages of 18.5 points and 14.8 rebounds. Howard is averaging 16.8 points and 12.5 boards in 28 career games in this series. James is posting 28.4 ppg in that same amount of games lifetime against the Magic.

Van Gundy served as the Heat's head coach for two-plus years from 2003-05, compiling a 112-73 (.605) record.