Miami Heat: Why Dwight Howard, Magic's Dominance over Heat Is Cause for Concern

The Miami Heat got absolutely crushed by Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic's shooting from behind the arc Wednesday night. The Heat just never had an answer for Howard's dominance, resulting in a 102-89 loss.

While a 13-point loss isn't exactly reason to panic, the way that the Magic outmanned and outgunned the Heat is undoubtedly reason for concern.

The first reason for concern is because the Magic, with Dwight Howard in the paint, exposed one of the Heat's major weaknesses, which is depth at the center position. Howard absolutely dominated every player that the Heat threw at him by scoring 25 points and grabbing 24 rebounds.

Because the Heat couldn't handle Howard in the paint, they were forced to constantly close in on him in the paint with one or two help defenders, which left the perimeter wide open for the Magic's sharpshooters.

The Magic went 17-of-42 from beyond the arc, shooting an impressive 40.5 percent on the night from three-point land. If there's one other major weakness for the Heat, it's the inability to contain on the perimeter, which in all honesty is because of their lack of size, strength and experience in the paint. Well, the Magic made them pay like other teams have by raining down three-pointers all night long.

It didn't help that LeBron James had his worst shooting night of the year, going 5-of-15 from the field for 33.3 percent shooting. Dwyane Wade made up for LeBron's poor performance with 33 points on the night, shooting 62.5 percent from the field.

No member of the Heat's big three could make up for the lack of defensive presence they had in the paint, which ultimately led to their demise against a shockingly disciplined Orlando Magic team that created a blueprint for how to take down the mighty Miami Heat.

That blueprint starts with having a powerful center or power forward who can be a legitimate threat on the offensive side of the ball deep in the paint. Unfortunately for the Heat there are quite a few teams in the Eastern Conference who have players like that—teams like the Magic, Pacers, Hawks, Celtics and Bulls.

The next piece of the blueprint detailing how to derail the Heat is to spread the floor with shooters around the perimeter. Once the Heat, who are incredibly weak in the paint, double down or bring help side defense in the paint, you swing the ball back out to the perimeter and let it rain from behind the arc.

The final piece that the Magic used to beat the Heat was forcing players not named LeBron, Wade or Chris Bosh, to beat them. The Magic held the big three of the Miami Heat to a total of 62 points, which is a lot, but it will never be enough to beat any playoff-caliber team.

Sure, the Heat are going to have bad games, games when LeBron and Bosh can't find their groove offensively, but the most important lesson to take from their most recent loss to the Magic is that the Heat need a better big man at the center position to dominate in the paint.

I know Heat fans love to believe that Eddy Curry will be that guy once he's back to 100 percent, but that's just not the case. The offensively inept Joel Anthony and the young Dexter Pittman aren't going to be able stop dominant frontcourt tandems when they need to.

There's no easy way for the Heat to fix this, aside from making a legitimate attempt to land free-agent center Joel Przybilla, who weighs in at a solid 7'1" and 245 lbs.

The one gaping hole on the Heat's roster, and one that must be filled if they want to win the 2012 NBA title, is the center position. Without someone like Przybilla stepping in, the Heat are destined to continue to get beat by teams who can bang it in the paint and then beat you from the outside.

Miami is far from perfect, and I'm sure the Heat know that, but there's no doubting that they have to get bigger and stronger on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball if they plan on competing come playoff time.

It's not time to panic, but the way the Heat played against the Magic is definitely reason for concern. Miami's weak performance in the paint makes it that much more evident that they need Joel Przybilla, and they need him now.

LeBron will bounce back and Bosh will get his production back up, but if the Heat can't defend in the paint, they'll get beaten by teams who can make it rain from three-point land.

Next up for the Heat is a trip to the nation's capital, Washington D.C., to take on the struggling 5-21 Wizards. Facing the Wizards is always a good way to bounce back after a tough loss. Expect LeBron and company to do just that on Friday night.