Advanced Search

Related News

Home » Sports » Basketball

Wade helps Heat scorch the Thunder

Source: Agencies | January 20, 2009, Tuesday | Print Edition
DWYANE Wade scored 32 points to help the Miami Heat ease to a 104-94 triumph over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday, the victory bringing a quick end to a two-game winning streak for the NBA's worst team.

Wade, the league's leading scorer, also had 10 assists as five of his teammates scored in double figures.

"That might have been one of, if not our biggest, character win of the season," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said after his team completed a seven-game road swing.

"We had so many banged-up warriors coming into this. On our last game of the road trip, this was one we really needed."

Wade made sure they got the win, scoring 18 points in the game's first 10 minutes, then silencing a Thunder comeback in the fourth quarter.

"I took it upon myself to come out and be aggressive and not allow us to have any letdowns," Wade said. "Coaches told me to go out and win us a game. We had to."

He did so with his points and assists in the fourth quarter, connecting on two consecutive jumpers after Oklahoma City had pulled within five on back-to-back three-pointers by Kevin Durant.

Udonis Haslem added a season-high 15 rebounds and 11 points with Yakhouba Diawara, who replaced an injured Shawn Marion in the Heat lineup, finishing with 14 points.

Mario Chalmers and Jamaal Magloire each had 13 and Daequan Cook scored 11.

Durant had 31 points and Jeff Green added 22 points for the Thunder, who fell to 8-34. They beat Utah and Detroit in their last two games.

In the league's only other game, Amare Stoudemire scored 31 points and Steve Nash had a season-high 18 assists as the Phoenix Suns beat Toronto 117-113 on Sunday for their ninth consecutive victory over the struggling Raptors in Toronto, Ontario.

Jason Richardson added 17 points, Shaquille O'Neal and Matt Barnes each had 16 and Leandro Barbosa scored 14 for the Suns.

Anthony Parker led Toronto with 26 points, Joey Graham scored a career-high 22 and Chris Bosh had 20 points and 11 rebounds as the Raptors lost their fifth straight.

A Stoudemire dunk with 3:18 left made it 114-109, but a putback dunk by Jamario Moon and Parker's layup drew Toronto within a point.

Parker missed a 3-pointer with 37 seconds left and Nash converted a driving layup to seal the win.

Basketball



 

Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

沪公网安备 31010602000204号

Email this to your friend