Despite a valiant comeback starting towards the end of the third quarter from 18 points down (sound familiar?), the Sixers weren’t able to pull out a second straight miracle Wednesday, losing to the Orlando Magic 96-87 in game two of their opening round playoff series.

It looked like the Sixers were going to pull off another stunner when Dwight Howard fouled out of the game with 3:11 left in regulation. The score at that time was 84-76; the Sixers were only down by eight. Unfortunately, they were unable to take advantage of the loss of the Magic’s best player.

The Sixers were able to score nine points after Howard went down, but unlike Sunday night, they allowed the Magic to score 15 points during that span.

Unlike Sunday night, the Sixers did not get the big stops. instead allowing Rashard Lewis to score six of his 16 in the final few minutes.

A big reason why the Sixers had such a huge deficit to overcome was because Andre Iguodala did not register his first field goal until almost three minutes into the second half. Even though he ended up with 21 points, 10 points in the first half would have made all the difference.

And despite 20 points from Thaddeus Young, including a late three to bring the Sixers within six, and 30 points by a red hot Andre Miller, and only 11 points from Howard, it was not enough.

It didn’t help that the Sixers had 16 turnovers, including 11 in the first half. If it wasn’t for Miller and Young, the first half would have been a blowout.

Even so, going back to Philly having stolen home court advantage from the Magic, one of the league’s best home teams during the regular season, gives the Sixers a leg up. Winning one game, and almost winning a second, against a team that is heavily favored over you, is a huge momentum boost.

Just how big of a boost? We’ll find out on Friday.