John Wall, Nene combine to grab win for Washington Wizards over Miami Heat – NBA Recap
The Miami Heat suffered a loss to the Washington Wizards at the American Airlines Arena 86 – 84. The Heat and Washington went toe to toe for 4 quarters before John Wall found Nene who sank his hook shot to give the away side a memorable win.
Nene had 11 points in the game while Wall finished with a double-double at 13 points and 13 assists, as well as 6 rebounds. Cartier Martin stepped up in a big way for the Wizards too, scoring game high 22 points and Kevin Seraphin netted 17.
The Heat played without star duo LeBron James and Chris Bosh while Dwyane Wade left the game early due to an injured finger. Afterwards the Heat failed to find enough in their tank to dispose off Washington, who are stuck at the wrong end of the Eastern
Conference standings.
"It's unfortunate that we were unable to find a way to come out with a win at the end because the group really competed and really got after it. They showed a lot of mental toughness and resolve ... It's a shame. You wanted those guys in the locker room
to be able to finish it off." Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra said.
Wizards head coach Randy Wittman wasn’t too thrilled with his side’s offence, but believed they were pretty good at defence to hold off Miami.
"It wasn't our finest offensive (performance) but we stuck in there. I thought our defence was pretty solid all night. We didn't collapse when we struggled to score points."
In the absence of Miami’s Big Three, Mario Chalmers and Mike Miller stepped up. Chalmers scored 16 points and had 6 assists while Miller came off the bench for 16 points and 10 rebounds in a double-double effort.
Dexter Pittman had 12 points.
Washington started off stronger and established an advantage after the first quarter. The Heat were unable to claw if off in the second period and went into halftime trailing the visitors.
Miami showed some resilience after the break as they chased down the Wizards and were neck and neck heading into the final period. However, when Nene hit right at the death the Heat had no answer, bowing out for the 86 – 84 loss.
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