Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Heat win thriller against Hawks
Wade outduels Carter as Heat slip past Hawks
Miami stays within striking distance of playoff spot with 114-113 victory.
MIAMI – A week after losing to the Phoenix Suns, it was almost another Monday night-mare for the Miami Heat.
And then Dwyane Wade stepped up his play in a battle for the aged.
Sparking the Heat with seven consecutive fourth-quarter points, Wade helped settle the Heat in what turned into a 114-113 victory over the Atlanta Hawks at AmericanAirlines Arena.
“He’s playing his best basketball of the season now,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “That’s text book Hall of Fame poise.”
At 37, Wade closed with 23 points, including 14 in the fourth quarter, his highest-scoring quarter of the season and just about all of them needed, with Vince Carter, at 42, scoring 21 for the Hawks.
“Between Dwyane and Vince Carter at the end, this was circa 2005 at the end,” Spoelstra said.
That drew a chuckle from Wade.
“Obviously the older guys in the league, you love having those moments,” Wade said.
Even if it means having to put in extra work.
“It was just an opportunity I took advantage of,” Wade said.
The Heat led 32-31 at the end of the opening period, with the score tied 61-61 at halftime and 85-85 at the end of three quarters.
The Heat entered 0-3 against the Hawks, manhandled in each of the losses.
That had Spoelstra expecting more than
the uneven play from his team through three quarters.
“What we talked about today is put the foot on the gas pedal and let’s go,” he said going in. “Either we have a response for that -we’re tired of getting blown and the door absolutely taking off by this team -- or we don’t.”
Ultimately, the response came from Wade, with Josh Richardson added 19 points for the Heat and Justise Winslow 18.
Still, after Carter’s seventh 3-pointer, which set a record by a player 40 or older, the Hawks closed within 111-105, with a pair of Tre Young free throws trimming Atlanta’s deficit to 111-107 with 2:04 to play.
Rodney McGruder then made one of two fouls shots for a 112-107 Heat lead, with an Alex Poythress driving layup trimming the Heat edge to 112-109.
A Wade turnover followed with 1:16 to play, with a Young layup with 62 seconds to play brining the Hawks within 112-111.
That’s when Wade swooped in for a layup with 42 seconds to play for a 114-111 Heat edge.
But the Heat’s 19th turnover, by Kelly Olynyk on an inbounds play, with 10.3 seconds to play, gave life to the Hawks.
The Hawks then went to Kent Bazemore, who was fouled with 9 seconds to play, his two foul shots bringing Atlanta within 114-113.
The Hawks then were unable to foul as time ran out.
“Our team is gaining confidence,” Spoelstra said, after his team’s third win in the last four games.
Five degrees of Heat from Monday’s game:
1. Whiteside back-ish:
Hassan Whiteside was back after missing the previous three games with a strained hip, but was not in the starting lineup.
Whiteside, in fact, entered as the fifth reserve off the bench, with Bam Adebayo again opening at center.
It was the first time Whiteside played as a reserve since signing his fouryear, $98 million contract on July 1, 2016.
“We’re playing good basketball right now,” Spoelstra said. “This is just about production and let’s keep this train moving forward.”
Wade, Derrick Jones Jr., McGruder and even Udonis Haslem all entered ahead of Whiteside.
Monday, in fact, marked the first time Haslem appeared in consecutive games this season.
For James Johnson, the waiting game continued, out of the rotation for the second consecutive game since being cleared to return from his shoulder sprain.
2. Wade record: With his second blocked shot of the night, Wade became the NBA’s all-time leader in blocked shots among guards when counting regular-season and playoff games.
Wade tied Michael Jordan’s record of 1,051 with a first-period block.
The record is, of course, an unofficial one, counting all games played by Jordan and Wade, including the times they were cast at forward.
BJ Johnson was the victim of Wade’s record-setting block, the 449th NBA player with a shot blocked by Wade.
The players blocked most often by Wade have been Joe Johnson and Ben Gordon, 12 times each.
3. No Dragic: Goran Dragic was ruled out for a second consecutive game due to what the Heat are listing as a strained left calf.
Dragic had been back four games after returning from December surgery on his right knee.
“Some of that is to be expected,” Spoelstra said, “and we’re being probably, as we should be, very cautious with it. It’s muscle, calf tightness and we just want to make sure that that’s taken care of.”
4. Concentration issues:
The Heat managed to foul Bazemore on consecutive 3-point attempts in the third period, with the Hawks forward 4 of 6 on those attempts.
The first of those two fouls was on Jones, which sent him to the bench with his fourth foul with 7:52 left in the third period. That was moments after Olynyk was called for his fourth foul with 9:07 to play in the third.
The second 3-pointer foul on Bazemore was on Richardson.
The pressure on the Heat power rotation continued with Adebayo was called for his fourth foul with 2:35 left in the third.
5. Still going: With his ninth point, Carter passed Reggie Miller (25,279) to move into 20th place on the NBA all-time scoring list.
At one point in the third quarter, Carter, a 5 of 8 on 3-pointers to that stage, had as many as the Heat (5 of 17), with Carter also taking on the defensive assignment against Winslow, yielding 20 years in the matchup.