The Miami Heat might have won 11 in a row, but on Saturday night they pulled of a kind of victory that every team in NBA lives for.
Down by five with thirty seconds left on the clock, the Big Three of Miami decided that weren’t going to lose.
Dwyane Wade slipped in two free throws with 7:09 seconds left on the clock and the other two parts of the trio converged on Kirk Hinrich, the man who was driving towards the basket
for the layup that could have ended the Miami Heat’s red hot winning streak.
He fell on the court. No foul was called by the officials and Miami pulled off one of their most sensational wins all season long.
LeBron James, booed every time he touched the ball, scored 32 points, 7 rebounds and six assists and Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh chipped in with 20 apiece as the Miami Heat escaped
with a single-point win over John Wall-less Washington Wizards.
With the Wizards feeling hard done by the referees after the match, the self proclaimed King said.
"It's the law of verticality. He went straight up; I went straight up," said James, explaining the final play. "The Miami Heat getting a break? I don't think so."
In a game which witnessed Miami Heat making unusual error in handling and shooting the ball, the Wizards played as hard as they have done all year. The lowest ranked team that has
now lost seven in a row, kept a tight leash on the much fancied Heats, the entire match and it took some frenetic play and a lucky call down the stretch for Miami to hold them off.
The Wizards had an air of determination about them as they grasped the court of the Verizon Center. They gave Miami a taste of their own medicine coming into the match as they launched
a vicious assault on Miami’s ring. The Heat defense was caught in its strides as the Wizards blew away with a 7-2 run.
Miami responded back with an 11-3 run, that saw James and Wade scoring from downtown. The Wizards however were unstoppable in the first frame as they jumped off to 15-2 in little
over three minutes to race at 25-15 advantage with 2:12 left in the initial buzzer.
The Wizards ended the first quarter with a lead of six points and they quickly turned it into 9 in the second. The Heat however kept clawing at the Wizards, but every time they came
close the Wizards did just enough to pull away again.
It was towards the end of the second quarter, James decided he had enough and slammed the ring with thunderous dunk to initiate a nine point unanswered run. It was James again who
capped that run with another ring slammer as Miami not only shaved off their deficit but also surged ahead by a single point with 2:33 to go till the midway mark.
Andray Blatche though turned the tide gain in Wizards favor as he nailed four consecutive points to lead his team to the change room with a 47-46 advantage.
The match continued its topsy-turvy trend into the second half as both the teams reeled off one spurt after another. The match was tied at 72 before Andray Blatche made a jumper at
the buzzer to hand a two point advantage to the Wizards going into the final quarter.
The Wizards really stepped on the gas to start the final frame and made inroads into the Miami defense with a 6-0 run to take an eight point advantage. The run was culminated by a
James Jones Jump shot, but the Wizards continued to up the ante and carried their advantage midway through the quarter.
With 5:38 left on the clock, Chris Bosh slipped in charity throw to give way for a 10-5 run that brought Miami within striking distance at 86-89. Juwan Howard though retaliated with
a jumper to ensure that Wizards hold a four point edge entering the last minute of the game.
Miami were not done yet, as the team from the South Beach staged a superb comeback and chipped away the deficit with 17 seconds remaining, starting when Bosh made two of three free
throws after getting fouled while attempting a 3-pointer. Then came James Jones' two free throws after he made a steal on Nick Young’s inbounds pass. But with 12.6 seconds remaining Mario Chalmers committed a third personal foul to give away two free throws.
Hinrich only managed to convert one out of two and at the same time gave the Heats a break to find the net one last time. Wade responded, as he converted two free throws and then
arrived moment that defined the match.
Hinrich in an attempt to pull off a winning shot drove down the lane but found a human wall created by James and Bosh who shrugged him away to send their team into wild celebrations.
Nick Young led Washington’s charge with 30 while Hinrich finished with 13 points and 12 assists. Andray Blatche notched up 20 points and 12 rebounds after a two game lay off, and
JaVale McGee had four blocks in a surprisingly energetic defensive performance by a team that had allowed at least 100 points in all but one game of its losing streak.
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