Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Streak drawing notice
Wade and Fizdale mention former team in comments
MILWAUKEE, Wis. — Dwyane Wade brought up the Heat’s winning streak after his Chicago Bulls defeated the Sacramento Kings on Monday night, as did Memphis Grizzlies coach David Fizdale after his team defeated the San Antonio Spurs.
“We’ve been playing good basketball. We’re not playing Miami Heat basketball where they’ve won 11 straight, but we’re playing good basketball,” Wade said.
For his part, Fizdale joked after his team defeated the Spurs that he has to deal with his friend, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, holding the upper hand when it comes to recent success.
“Miami has won 10 in a row,” he said, before being corrected that the Heat’s streak had reached 11. “I have to hear that crap all the time.”
And yet even amid the praise from his former shooting guard and assistant coach, Spoelstra said the Heat’s 11-game winning streak hardly stands as a picture of perfection.
Spoelstra, in fact, said he was the one at fault for the late-game sloppiness that almost cost the Heat a 7-point lead in the final 33.6 seconds of their 115-113 victory Monday night over the Minnesota Timberwolves at Target Center.
“That,” he said, “was really more of a coaching issue on my part.”
First there was a bad pass from rookie forward Okaro White with 24.9 seconds to play, with White inserted six seconds earlier to remove Hassan Whiteside’s foul shooting from the equation. Then there was a bad pass from forward James Johnson, one of a season-high six turnovers, tying for most by a Heat player this season, with 18.9 seconds to play.
A pair of missed Andrew Wiggins shots later, the Heat survived.
“I didn’t have us prepared for the scheme at the end of them trying to trap instead of foul, which I thought was very clever,” Spoelstra said, as the Heat turned their attention to their game tonight against the Milwaukee Bucks, the second stop on this fourgame trip. “I just didn’t handle it right in the timeouts.
“We got into two awkward possessions. You do have to credit them. I don’t want our guys feeling bad. We had a 7-point lead. I’ve got to do my job.” of 8 from the field, with five rebounds and four assists in his team-high 39 minutes.