National Basketball Association News
Wade leads Shaq-less Heat to last-minute win
Nov 8, 2006, 3:55 GMT
Miami, FL - Dwyane Wade came off of a screen and roll, drew the defense, and dished the ball to a curling James Posey, who drained the go- ahead three with 19 ticks left to give Miami a 90-87 victory over Seattle.
The Heat accomplished the nail-biting victory without the services of Shaquille O'Neal, who sat out his second straight game with a left knee contusion. He missed Sunday's loss at Philadelphia.
Wade drained a pair of free throws to trim the deficit to 96-95 with 53.2 seconds left, then Ray Allen drove the lane and eventually made 1-of-2 from the charity stripe with 34.9 ticks remaining.
With 19 seconds left, Wade came off a hard ball screen and appeared poised to rise and fire a potential game-tying jumper. Instead he found Posey out of the corner of his eye and the sharpshooter delivered.
A jump ball was called on Seattle's next possession, and Earl Watson was whistled for a loose ball foul sending Wade to the line. The superstar calmly drained both to stake the Heat to a tenuous three-point edge.
Damien Wilkins had an open look from the left wing at the buzzer to tie the game, but the ball clanked off the back rim.
'He (Wade) is hoping that someone will rotate to his guy,' said Miami head coach Pat Riley. 'We were ahead by three and he just needed to stay home and force (Earl) Watson to throw up the flyer. We are very fortunate.'
Wade led all scorers with 31 points and Alonzo Mourning filled in for Shaq with 13 points and six boards. Antoine Walker tallied 12 points and Udonis Haslem added 11 in the victory, a nice bounce back from a tough loss Sunday against the Sixers.
Rashard Lewis led the SuperSonics with 23 points and Ray Allen added 18 in the defeat. Seattle fell to 0-2 on the road this season, and failed to find the offensive gusto that had made it the highest scoring team in the league so far this season.
'Offensively our production stopped. We didn't have that same aggressiveness from the other side,' said Allen. 'There is a trend developing where we leave a couple possessions out there and then they go down and go to the free throw line.'
Seattle held a 21-11 lead after one quarter, but Miami's offense woke up and the deficit dwindled before halftime.
The Heat used a 10-0 burst to draw within 38-36 late in the second stanza. Wade went glass for a bucket then Walker scored from in close before Wade found Dorell Wright off a perfect alley-oop pass. Mourning's finish from in close and Walker's tip-in finished the streak with 3:25 remaining in the half.
Seattle staved off the Heat's flurry and held a 46-40 edge at the half. Lewis had 10 points to pace the Sonics, while Wade needed 15 shots to score his 11 first-half points.
The Heat put the shackles on Seattle's potent offense in the third stanza. Miami took the lead for the first time in the stanza, 58-57, on Wade's streaking lay-in with 3:45 left, and the edge grew to 65-61 by the end of the quarter after Sonics head coach Bob Hill was whistled for a technical foul.
Game Notes
Miami won despite only shooting 39.7 percent from the floor.
Seattle made eight three-pointers and the rebounding contest finished even at 39-39.
The SuperSonics turned the ball over 23 times.
Miami has won two straight home contests since an embarrassing loss in its home opener to Chicago.
Lewis passed 9,000 career points.
© 2006 The Sports Network
