After receiving the good news that Steve Francis would only be suspended for three games, the Magic managed to blow a 16-point lead against the expansion Bobcats on Monday night.

Brevin Knight's jumper with 12.4 seconds to play gave the Bobcats a 102-97 victory, breaking their 10-game losing streak.

``It's frustrating, but we're going to get to the playoffs,'' Dwight Howard vowed. ``We've got 15 more games left. We can't let any more slip away like this.''

``They kept playing. They outplayed us,'' new coach Chris Jent said. ``It takes a lot of commitment to play 48 minutes. We gave a great effort, but we played a half of basketball and that's not enough.''