The Heat made a statement with a 96-70 victory over the Magic on Friday night.

Miami led by just six points at halftime, but they opened the third quarter with 14 straight points.

"They came out, they threw an uppercut, and as a team we kind of went down," Magic center Dwight Howard said.

The Heat held Orlando to its lowest point total since Dec. 2, 2005. The 30.4 percent shooting effort was Orlando's worst since Nov. 3, 2003 -- a span of 573 regular-season games.

"The guys now can't go back on this," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "They've shown me what we're capable of defensively and I will hold them to this standard now in terms of the effort. The effort was great."