Late House Call Propels Heat Past Thunder 108-103

At long last, the Miami Heat had their Big Three (Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh) in their starting lineup for the first time in roughly two weeks.

Specifically, the trio made their long-awaited appearance Sunday afternoon as Miami visited the Oklahoma City Thunder at Ford Center.

With the Heat being nearly at full strength as were the Thunder, this matchup promised to have star power and offensive firepower for 48 minutes.

The former certainly delivered as did the offensive display for the most part; however, none of the stars figured into the final outcome of this one as Eddie House scored five late points in the fourth quarter, helping Miami outlast Oklahoma City 108-103.

The first quarter was pure firepower as both teams combined to score 73 points, with the Thunder taking a three-point lead. Things were much slower in the second as Miami outscored Oklahoma City and took a 64-61 lead into their locker room at the break.

The Thunder outscored the Heat by three in the third, tying the game at 85-all going into the final period.

Wade gave Miami their largest lead by spinning away from Russell Westbrook for a jumper which made it 98-90 with 5:51 left to go, completing a 13-2 run.

But Wade, for some reason, was upset about after the Thunder’s Serge Ibaka blocked his shot attempt on the Heat’s next possession and drew a technical foul, as a result, after Jeff Green got a fast-break layup at the other end that would start a 13-4 Oklahoma City run.

Westbrook and Kevin Durant each hit a pair of free throws to cut the Thunder’s deficit to one and they had a chance to take the lead after Bosh’s missed jumper on a failed attempt to draw a foul against Durant.

Durant came around a screen and drained a jumper with 34.3 seconds left on the game clock to put the Thunder ahead 103-102. Wade missed a jumper, but Mike Miller grabbed the rebound, kicked it out to James who passed it to House for the game-winner that put Miami ahead for good at 105-103.

Wade led all Heat scorers with 32 points, along with 9 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals but also committing 9 turnovers while James added 23 with 4 rebounds, 13 assists, 4 steals and 3 blocks. Bosh chipped in 20 with 7 rebounds, an assist and a block.

The Thunder were led by Durant with a game-high 33 points (including three 3-pointers), along with 10 rebounds, an assist and 4 steals while Green added 23 with 11 rebounds, an assist, 2 steals and a block. Westbrook chipped in 21 with 7 rebounds, 10 assists, 2 steals and a block.

Miami (33-14) plays again on Monday when they return home to host the Cleveland Cavaliers while Oklahoma City (30-17) remains at home to host the New Orleans Hornets on Wednesday.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

Enjoyed this post?
Subscribe to Slam Dunk Central via RSS Feed or E-mail and receive daily news updates from us!

Submit to Digg  Stumble This Story  Share on Twitter  Post on Facebook  Post on MySpace  Add to del.icio.us  Bark It Up  Submit to Reddit  Fave on Technorati

Leave a Reply