By Brian Windhorst
ESPN.com
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MIAMI -- Each year the NBA teaches there are no absolutes in the regular season, the "playoffs" sticker affixed to the floor in late April having magical powers to erase so many supposed certainties learned over the first 82 games. It is a fundamental truth, but it can also be a crutch.

Right now the Miami Heat are using the crutch. But that isn't the worst part for the team that owned not just championship hopes, but championship expectations. They know they're clinging to hope and not belief -- and that current reality is going down like bitter medicine.

Calling the Heat's 99-96 loss Thursday to the Orlando Magic -- in which they blew a 24-point lead -- a collapse isn't really accurate. For a collapse, there must be something strong and towering that falls. The Heat, now more than three-quarters of a season into their fascinating experiment, can't honestly say they've ever fit that description this season.

Proper credit must be given to the Magic, who shot their way back into the game by making nine 3-pointers in the second half. They also showed some of their better defense, relying on Dwight Howard to wall off the paint and rebound while their bombers had a great night. Orlando has scored wins over the Oklahoma City Thunder, New York Knicks and now their in-state rivals in less than a week.

The majority of the attention is attracted by the Heat, who continue to fail against quality opponents and continue to do so in troublesome ways. For the third time in eight days they blew a big lead against a potential playoff opponent and for the third time they didn't execute on offense in the closing stretch, despite having two of the greatest offensive players in history.

For the third time, LeBron James missed a 3-pointer that would have been heroic. For the third time, historical closer Dwyane Wade didn't touch the ball on the last possession.

The consecutive misses have hit James like a right hook, his distant look and defeated body language after the game telling more than his words. James has never taken regular-season losses as hard as he has several over the past few weeks.

James, now a hardened veteran of eight seasons, knows how fickle it is to be in the spotlight. He knows a win in San Antonio on Friday or against the Chicago Bulls on Sunday or even the Los Angeles Lakers next week will be like a salve. It always is. In the regular season, you're only as healthy or sick as your last game.

But James also knows what's more important than individual wins or losses is to take stock and eye the long haul. Doing that, at the moment at least, is giving James and his teammates more indigestion than a few missed clutch jumpers.

"If we had the answer we would try to figure it out," James said after going scoreless in the fourth quarter following his 29 points in the first three periods. "Hopefully we can figure it out soon, hopefully this will make us a better team."

There's that word "hope" again.

When the Heat had their well-documented issues in November, even when the players started stressing a bit and calling meetings, it was because they were playing horridly and finding no flow. They were absolutely certain they'd come out of it. They knew, they didn't merely hope, and they were right.

As the Heat take stock of themselves now, with that postseason on the horizon, the worries are more real. They know this is when they should be getting a footing. Instead they are thrashing and doing so while they feel like they are playing pretty good basketball. It's more than unsettling them, it's unnerving them and time isn't on their side.

Wade and James aren't getting it done together. Chris Bosh is a vital piece but when he doesn't play well the Heat have no answer. And at the end of clutch games, Bosh hasn't been playing well.

The supporting cast has been erratic and generally unhelpful. Thursday's example was Mario Chalmers, who faced a chance to state his case to remain the starting point guard now that Mike Bibby had arrived. He answered by going 2-of-11 from the field.

On the bench, coach Erik Spolestra still doesn't have lineups he can trust and continues to mix-and-match weeks after coaches prefer to have comfort zones.

The record is still good but the substance isn't there, and everyone on the Heat knows it.

"We're going through this growing pains and it sucks," said Wade, who scored just two points in the fourth quarter when he and James again managed to not help each other and disappeared. "You're looking for the light at the end of the tunnel and maybe [in the playoffs] we'll look back on it and say, 'Oh, that's what it was for.'"

Spoelstra is attempting to keep his team together, hitting the same bedrocks as he was in October. None of them are wrong and it is the proper thing for a coach to do. After all, when the playoffs arrive the lessons learned in the journey often are vital.

But he's also no computer, knowing there's only so far rhetoric and star-clustering can go. He accurately senses his team is losing its grip on its dream. There's time to get it back but there's no guarantee.

"If you experience something like this and you're not getting the result you want, it's frustrating," Spoelstra said. "There are only two options for us: we can either collapse or we can continue to stay the course and continue to move forward."

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