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Heat end long trip with 104-94 win over Thunder
2009-01-18
OKLAHOMA CITY - Dwyane Wade had 32 points and 10 assists to help the Miami Heat beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 104-94 Sunday night to end an extended road trip on a positive note. Wade went on a scoring flurry early and then came back in to stave off a fourth-quarter rally by the Thunder. He capped the night by methodically taking apart Oklahoma City's defense with a series of passes to his teammates. Yakhouba Diawara scored 14 points after starting in place of the injured Shawn Marion, and Jamaal Magloire and Mario Chalmers each added 13 points for Miami. Udonis Haslem had 11 points and 15 rebounds. Kevin Durant led Oklahoma City with 31 points, Jeff Green scored 22 and Russell Westbrook added 14 points and eight rebounds. The Heat finished 4-3 on their 12-day road trip and will host Boston on Wednesday night in their first home game since Jan. 5. Durant hit back-to-back 3-pointers to get Oklahoma City back within 86-81 with 9:45 to play, and that prompted Heat coach Erik Spoelstra to call timeout and put Wade back in. The NBA's scoring leader made consecutive jumpers from the same spot on the left wing to stabilize Miami and then used a pump-fake to set up Chalmers for a buzzer-beating 3-pointer that extended the lead to 93-85. He added two more assists on 3-pointers by Daequan Cook and Chalmers that pushed the lead into double digits, and sealed up his 10th double-double when he found Magloire open for a right-handed jam that made it 103-88 with just over 2 minutes left. Wade scored 18 points in the first 10 minutes, sinking an assortment of jumpers and layups and even answering Durant's missed right-handed jam with a successful dunk at the other end. When he returned after a 6-minute rest to start the second quarter, Miami scored six straight points and opened a 47-38 lead after Chalmers sped along the left baseline for a reverse layup. Wade and Oklahoma City's Desmond Mason had to be separated after the two exchanged words following Wade's 3-pointer in the closing minute of the first half, his only basket of the second quarter. Most of his damage from then on came when he was creating opportunities for his teammates. After shooting 9-for-15 in the first half, Wade was 5-for-13 after the break but had four big assists in the fourth quarter. Diawara, who was making only his fifth start with Miami, hit a pair of 3s in a 10-3 spurt for Miami that pushed the lead to 75-61 midway through the third quarter. That created enough distance that Wade took a quick breather at the start of the fourth quarter, but he still needed to come back in the game. Notes:@ Marion also missed two games in November with a strained left groin. ... Thunder F Joe Smith missed his fourth straight game with a sore left knee. ... The crowd was sprinkled with fans in Kansas State jerseys, marking Heat first-round pick Michael Beasley's closest return to his college campus. ... Miami G Chris Quinn's streak of consecutive free throws was snapped at 21 when he missed the second of two tries in the first quarter. ... Haslem needs five more rebounds to tie Grant Long, a Thunder broadcaster, for third in career rebounds for Miami with 3,281.
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