Heat hold off Dallas
Healthier Miami team edges Mavs for road win, 93-90
DALLAS — This was about as close to whole as the Miami Heat will be going into the stretch run of the NBA playoff chase, and it led to a wholly rewarding result Wednesday night against the Dallas Mavericks at the American-Airlines Center.
With center Hassan Whiteside back in themix, and with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh again stepping up, the Heat made it five victories in their last six games with a 93-90 decision that came despite a 28-point performance from Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki.
With Bosh closing with 20 points, Wade with 18 points, and Whiteside adding 10 points, nine rebounds and five blocked shots in 17 foul-filled minutes, the Heat pulled it out when Mavericks guard Raymond Felton was off on a 3-point attempt just before the final buzzer.
The Mavericks opened the fourth quarter with a 10-2 run, punctuated by a Justin Anderson 3-pointer tomove within 78-75.
Bosh stemmed that rally with a driving dunk off a Heat timeout and the Heat then moved to an 82-75 lead.
But the Mavericks pushed back, with a Nowitzki 3-point play drawing the Mavericks within 82-79 and then Heat following with a 24-second violation on the other end.
Mavericks guard Wesley Matthews followed with a floater to draw Dallas within 82-81 before Wade drilled a 19-foot jumper for an 84-81 Heat lead, with Justise Win slow scoring of a Wade assist for an 86-81 Heat lead.
But back came the Mavericks on a Felton jumper to draw Dallas within 86-83 as the game headed into its final three minutes.
With Wade going 1 of 2 from the line, a floating jumper by Felton then drew Dallas within 87-85.
Heat forward Luol Deng then came up with a block of a Nowitzki attempt, with Wade working his way to the line onthe other end on a rebounding scramble.
With 1:31 to play, Wade this time made both for an 89-85Heat lead.
Felton then was fouled on the other end by Goran Dragic with 1:22 left, making his free throws to bring Dallas within 89-87.
That’s when Deng stepped up with a 3-pointer from the right corner to give the Heat a 92-87 lead with 64 seconds to play.
Nowitzki then was off with a 3-pointer with Deng rebounding, with Justise Winslow missing a jumper on the other end.
Then, with 17.9 seconds to play, Nowitzki drained a 3-pointer in transition to draw Dallas within 92-90.
Wade was fouled with 15.5 seconds left, making only the first of his two free throws, but the game ended on a Felton’s wayward 3-point attempt.
The Heat went into the fourth quarter up 74-65, after Wade went from two points on 1-of-11 shooting in the first half to scoring10 in the third period on 4-of-6 shooting.
By then, Bosh was up to 16 points for the Heat, with Nowitzki with 19 for the Mavericks entering the fourth.
Whiteside had 10 points and five rebounds going into the fourth quarter, after the Heat had extended their lead to 10 in the third.
With Whiteside having an immediate impact upon entering in the second period, the Heat moved to a 47-46 lead at halftime, after previously trailing by nine.
Whiteside had eight points on 4-of-4 shooting, three rebounds and two blocked shots in playing the final 8:11of the first half.
That contribution and the 12 first-half points of Bosh were needed with Wade missing his first eight shots and closing the first half at that 1 of 11 from the field. Beyond Wade, the rest of the Heat shot a combined 18 of 35 in the first half.
While Wade missed his lone 3-point attempt of the first half, as a team the Heat went 1 of 8 from beyond the arc over the first two periods, compared to 4 of 9 by Dallas.
While the Heat moved closer to whole, with only Tyler Johnson and Chris Andersen out, the Mavericks were without two of their point guards, with both Deron Williams and Devin Harris sidelined.
That had J.J. Barea in Dallas’ starting lineup, offering nine first-half points.
The Heat stayed with Amar’e Stoudemire as their starting center, with Stoudemire offering a strong defensive effort early on.
The Heat have now won nine of the last 10 regularseason meetings, sweeping the two-game series for the fourth time in five years.
The game was the second stop on a three-game trip for the Heat that concludes Friday in Charlotte.