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Wade catches fire late, Heat beats Magic, home streak at 13

By Paul Levine Mar 19, 2012, 5:44 GMT

Los Angeles - Dwyane Wade caught fire late and the Miami Heat stayed white hot at home.

Wade dropped in 14 of his 31 points in the final quarter and the Heat stretched its home-court winning streak to 13 Sunday night, beating the Orlando Magic 91-81, in a Southeast Division collision.

'We needed a jolt of energy and I decided I was the one who was going to bring it,' said Wade, who connected on seven-of-12 floor shots in the final period. 'I wanted to be aggressive and my teammates did a good job of finding me in different places.'

Chris Bosh scored 23 points while LeBron James finished with 14 points, 12 rebounds, seven assists and five steals for Miami (33-11), which owns the NBA's best home record at 19-2.

'It feels great establishing that home-court dominance and making this place a difficult place to play,' Heat forward Udonis Haslem said. 'It can only be a positive for us in the long run.'

Dwight Howard powered for 18 points and 11 rebounds, Quentin Richardson buried five threes en route to 15 points for Orlando, which shot just 39 per cent and committed 20 turnovers.

'Give them credit, their defence is terrific and was again today. They dominated us,' Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. 'Just a lot of bad shots we had to take.'

The Heat entered the fourth quarter ahead 67-63 before Wade went to work. The All-Star guard scored 12 of his team's 14 points, mostly on layups and short jumpers.

When James threw a nifty bounce pass to Bosh, resulting in a three-point play, Miami had an 84-73 cushion with three minutes 46 seconds remaining.

After Howard made two free throws, Wade found Shane Battier for a three-pointer, but Richardson countered at the other end, pulling the Magic to within 87-78.

Wade, however, knocked down a 20-foot dagger with one minute 31 seconds left and the Heat completed the four-game season series knotted at two apiece.

'Dwyane certainly made some great plays down the stretch,' Heat coach Erik Soelstra said. 'He was very aggressive tonight and we need that.'

Elsewhere: LA Clippers 87, Detroit Pistons 83 (OT): Chris Paul poured in nine of his 19 points in overtime along with a season-high 15 assists and nine rebounds, carrying the Clippers past the visiting Pistons.

Greg Monroe had 23 points with 15 rebounds for the Pistons, who fell to 1-3 on their five-game road trip.

Utah Jazz 103, LA Lakers 99: Paul Millshap scored 24 points, rookies Alec Burks and Enis Kanter added career-highs of 17 apiece off the bench, and the Jazz, minus leading scorer Al Jefferson because of a family death, won its third in a row while snapping the Lakers' 10 game home-winning streak.

Andrew Bynum had 33 points with 11 rebounds, while Kobe Bryant scored 15, but missed 17-of-20 shots, including the game-tying three-pointer with one second left as the Lakers had their five-game winning streak stopped and dropped to 19-3 at Staples Center.

Oklahoma City Thunder 111, Portland Trail Blazers 95: Russell Westbrook scored 28 points, Kevin Durant had 26 and the Western Conference-leading Thunder halted a rare two-game home slide by routing the Trail Blazers.

Atlanta Hawks 103, Cleveland Cavaliers 87: Joe Johnson scored 28 points, Jeff Teague added 18 and the visiting Hawks beat the Cavaliers for the sixth straight time.

Sacramento Kings 115, Minnesota Timberwolves 99: Marcus Thornton scored 24 points, Isaiah Thomas added 18 and the Kings pulled away to hand the visiting Timberwolves their third straight loss despite 21 points and 11 rebounds by Kevin Love.

Memphis Grizzlies 97, Washington Wizards 92: Rudy Gay scored five of his season-high 27 points in the final 24 seconds, Spaniard Marc Gasol added 16 points with nine rebounds, and the Grizzlies dropped the Wizards to 4-18 on the road despite 25 points from John Wall.

Phoenix Suns 99, Houston Rockets 86: Michael Redd came off the bench to score a season-high 25 points, lifting the Suns over the .500 mark for the first time this year (23-22), after beating the visiting Rockets for their fourth straight win.

Argentine Luis Scola netted 18 points for the Rockets, who were without ailing starting guards Kevin Martin (shoulder) and Kyle Lowry (bacterial infection).

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