Heat climbs back to 8th seed with win
Shorthanded or not, the Heat can’t afford to lose home games this late in the season while in a tight playoff race. Especially against teams at the bottom of the standings.
Good thing for Miami, it narrowly avoided that type of loss Thursday night. The Heat (37-38) rallied from a 10-point halftime deficit to defeat the Mavericks 105-99 at AmericanAirlines Arena.
The comeback win (paired with Orlando’s loss to Detroit) pushed the Heat back into the Eastern Conference eighth and final playoff spot. No. 8 Miami is one-half game ahead of No. 9 Orlando.
With Justise Winslow, Josh Richardson and Rodney McGruder unavailable due to injury, the Heat found a way to avoid the painful upset behind Goran Dragic’s second career triple-double. Dragic finished with 23 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists in his first start since returning in February from December knee surgery.
There were a few storylines surrounding the matchup besides the Heat’s playoff push. The game represented the final meeting between Wade and Dirk Nowitzki, who shared plenty of memorable moments as adversaries in the 2006 and 2011 Finals.
The Heat recognized their final matchup Thursday with a tribute video that included Wade and Nowitzki highlights.
The Mavericks did not show a tribute video for Wade during the Heat’s lone visit to Dallas on Feb. 13.
Wade finished the night with 11 points on 4-of-14 shooting and four steals, while Nowitzki scored 13 and made three three-pointers.
There was also the matchup between two of Slovenia’s best players, Dragic and Dallas’ Luka Doncic. Doncic finished with 19 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, but was held to just one point in the fourth quarter.