Heat squeak past Thunder in thriller

MIAMI – Dwyane Wade was exhausted. Erik Spoelstra was nauseous. Goran Dragic was already sore when the game ended.

And the Miami Heat weren’t complaining in the least, not after winning the most back-and-forth game so far in this NBA season.

Wade scored 28 points, including two free throws with 1.5 seconds left that put Miami ahead to stay and the Heat defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder, 97-95, on Thursday night in a wild back-and-forth game that featured 38 lead changes and 11 ties.

“Like a playoff atmosphere,” Wade said. “For our young team, that hasn’t been in many of these kind of games, it was great.”

Chris Bosh scored 16 points and Dragic added 14 for Miami, which survived when Russell Westbrook’s 3-point try from the right wing bounced off the backboard as time expired.

“Back and forth and back and forth,” Bosh said. “These are the games you want to play in.”

In other results, Denver nipped Toronto, 106-105; Orlando downed Utah, 103-94; San Antonio routed Memphis, 103-83; Portland stopped Indiana, 123-111; and Boston zapped Sacramento, 114-97.

Back in Miami, Westbrook and Kevin Durant each scored 25 for Oklahoma City, which misfired on a pair of 3s in the final 10 seconds. First, Durant missed and Bosh grabbed the rebound, calling time with 7.7 seconds remaining. That set up the possession where Wade drove, drew a foul on Serge Ibaka and put Miami ahead for good.

“I shoot 47 percent from 3 and I got a wide-open look,” Durant said. “I just missed it.”

Westbrook then missed the finale, leaving him scoreless in the game’s final 16 minutes.

“We got some shots that we usually make,” Westbrook said. “We just missed them.”

No other NBA game entering Thursday had more than 25 lead changes this season – and in Wade’s 13-season career with the Heat, no Miami game ever had more than 31.

It was theater, all the way to the end.

“My stomach’s in knots,” Spoelstra, the Heat coach, said. “These guys love it. They love it. This is what you play for.”