LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh lead Miami heat to 125-119 win over Houston Rockets
Led by a brilliant night from LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, the Miami Heat overcame the Houston Rockets 125-119 at the American Airlines Arena in Miami on Sunday night.
All three superstars scored at-least 30 points and 10 rebounds to lift the Heat to their fifth-straight win. James led the way for Miami with 33 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. He was ably supported by Dwyane Wade, who added 30 points and 11 boards,
while Chris Bosh also played well to put up 31 points and 12 rebounds.
Mike Bibby went 4-for-5 from the three-point range to chip in with 14 points.
On a night where both teams shot close to 50 percent from the floor and lit up the scoreboard, the Rockets had a good showing from three of their own stars. However, Kyle Lowry, Kevin Martin and Luis Scola’s strong performances were overshadowed by their
Miami counterparts.
A disappointed Martin said after the game, "We gave everything we had. We just didn't execute well enough."
Miami dominated in the painted area with a 64–48 advantage and attacked the rim every so often to challenge the Houston Rockets into playing some hard-nosed defence. The Rockets seemed out of sorts and couldn’t contain Miami’s high profile scorers.
Rockets coach Rick Adelman said after the game, "We started man-to-man and Wade and James just ran by us. Then we went to a zone and we knew that was going to be a problem. Even then, we didn't put a body on people. We were trying to keep them from getting
the easy opportunities and we didn't do it."
Miami out-rebounded the Rockets 48–33 to win the battle on the glass, as the Heat cooled off a sizzling Houston team.
It was a close contest right from the start as both teams were unwilling to give up any advantage to the other side. A 9–0 run early in the first period gave the Heat a 14-10 lead, but Houston stuck around and didn’t allow the opposition to break-away from
them. Miami held a narrow one-point lead heading into the second.
The second quarter continued with the same pace, as shots kept falling on both sides of the floor. The Heat led 71-68 at the break; this was Miami’s highest first-half score in the last five years.
Miami went on a 6–0 run early in the third to take a seven-point lead, but the Rockets hit back with their own 8–0 run to erase the deficit and take a narrow one-point lead. Back-to-back jump-shots by Luis Scola then made it 93–85 in favour of the Rockets
with two and a half minutes left in the third.
Miami responded with eight unanswered point to even it out at 93–93 as the third period came to a close. The Heat picked up their defensive intensity in the fourth to overpower the Rockets and cement their foothold on the game. Lebron James made a jump-shot;
Mike Bibby hit a three-pointer, and James followed with another jumper to give the Heat a 10-point advantage with three and a half minutes to go in the game.
Houston fired off a 9-2 run to cut the lead down to just three points with less than a minute on the clock, but Miami kept their composure to hold off the Rockets and grab the win at home.
The Rockets trio of Martin, Lowry and Scola added 29, 25 and 28 points respectively on the night. Chase Budinger went 4-of-6 from beyond the arc to register 16 points in the contest.
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