LeBron James, Dwyane ‘clutch’ Wade carry Miami Heat over Atlanta Hawks, 89-86: NBA Recap
Dwyane Wade struggled to get going through most of the game, but the shooting guard stepped up to the occasion when it really mattered.
After LeBron James carried Miami Heat through the first three quarters and the early part of the 4th, Jeff Teague gave the Heat a mighty scare by scoring six consecutive points and then dished out an assist to Josh Smith, who knocked down a three to give Atlanta Hawks a 80-77 lead.
Miami bounced with an 8-2 run; resulting in a 85-81 advantage, but Jannero Pargo made a three point play to make it a one point game.
That was when Wade took over.
With 12 seconds to go, he handed a dish to Udonis Haslem, who redeemed his recent clutch struggles with a flush down the cup, and after Vladimir Radmanovic slipped in a layup to make it 86-87, D-Wade drew a foul from Kirk Hinrich. With 2.4 seconds left, he made both the shots from the stripe, putting Heat ahead by 3.
Atlanta had one last chance to take the game into overtime, but Pargo missed the three and the game ended at 89-86.
Wade finished the game with 18 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists while Chris Bosh had 9 points and 8 rebounds for Heat, who were led by 31 points and 11 boards from James.
"We needed one of these games," James, who was seen waving his hands to the crowd urging them to be quiet as Wade took the game winning free throws, said. "It's about time we had one of these games where we had to fight for every minute, all the way down the stretch. ... It was good for us to close this game out."
Atlanta, which came into the game riding hot on a three game winning streak got 23 points and 6 rebounds from Josh Smith and 16 from Teague.
Atlanta made an 8-4 start but then faced a 15-4 burst that took the Heat to 19-12. Miami pushed the lead to 25-17 going into the last one minutes of the first quarter, but the Hawks scored 5 points on a trot to make it 20-23.
Miami held on to the lead deep into the second, but a 13-5 run bridging the second and third quarter put the Hawks ahead at 47-43. A 10-0 Hawks run after the Heat had drawn level at 51 threatened to take the game from the hosts, but James orchestrated a 17-5 spurt to hand his team a 68-65 lead. James scored 10 points in that run as the teams headed into the last stanza all tied at 68.
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