Nets Lose Control In Second Half, Suffer 12th Straight Loss To The Heat
MIAMI (AP) — Dwyane Wade scored a season-high 34 points, LeBron James added 21 points and the Miami Heat rallied from a 14-point deficit to beat the Brooklyn Nets 102-89 on Saturday night.
Ray Allen scored 13 and Norris Cole finished with 12 for the Heat, who won their sixth straight and remained atop the Eastern Conference. Miami held the Nets to 30 points in the second half.
Andray Blatche scored 20 points for Brooklyn, which had won five in a row. Gerald Wallace had 13 points, Joe Johnson added 12 and Deron Williams finished with 10 points and 12 assists.
The Nets were 10 for 31 from the field in the second half and lost to Miami for the 12th straight time.
Wade added seven assists and shot 14 for 20 for Miami. He reached the 30-point mark for the first time this season when he took an alley-oop pass from Allen and slammed the ball for a 90-81 edge with 5:14 left.
He added a 10-footer on Miami's next possession for the Heat's first double-digit edge of the game, helping the reigning NBA champions move to 8-0 at home this season.
Miami has made a living off fourth-quarter comebacks this season, already winning six games where it trailed at some point in the final 12 minutes.
The latest Heat rally came a quarter earlier than usual.
Down 73-65 with 4:41 left in the third after trailing all night long, Miami ran off 10 straight points, and needed just 93 seconds to make it all happen.
Wade scored to get the Heat within two, then had a steal and dunk that tied the game. James had another steal-and-slam to give the Heat their first edge, 75-73 with 3:08 left in the period. James set up Mike Miller for a left-corner 3-pointer with 1:51 left for an 80-75 edge, capping a 15-2 Miami burst.
And then Miami slammed the door with defense.
Brooklyn had just one field goal in the first 9:06 of the final quarter, missing 10 of 11 shots in that stretch as Miami — despite shooting 5 for 16 over the same stretch — pulled away.
The Heat won by 30 the first time these teams met this season. It took the Nets only a few minutes to show this matchup would be much different.
Midway through the first quarter, Brooklyn was already holding a 15-4 lead. James had two fouls by the end of the quarter — the second coming on the offensive end in the final seconds — and the Nets were up 24-16 after the opening 12 minutes, holding Miami 10 points below its first-quarter average for the season.
Brooklyn continued to control the game in the second, going up 35-21 early in the quarter and still leading by 13 after Heat coach Erik Spoelstra got whistled for a technical foul, apparently upset with a no-call where Wade was knocked to the floor on a drive.
The Heat seemed sparked by Spoelstra's technical, getting within five, but the Nets survived a brief Miami flurry and took a 59-50 lead into halftime, helped in large part by Johnson connecting on three jumpers in the span of about a minute.
NOTES: Players from both teams wore red-and-white shooting shirts in recognition of World AIDS Day, and coaches wore red ribbons to commemorate the day as well. ... The Nets have not won in Miami since Feb. 1, 2008. ... James has scored at least 20 points in all 15 Miami games this season. ... The Nets are now 7-3 against last season's playoff teams.
(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
