MIAMI – Down by 16 at one point, trailing for the entire second half and staring squarely at what would have been a four-game losing streak in the NBA, the Miami Heat were in serious trouble.
That is, until Dwyane Wade got a fortunate bounce that the Heat desperately needed.
Wade’s jumper with 21.9 seconds left hit the front of the rim before falling to give Miami its only lead of the second half, and the Heat ended the game on an 11-0 run to rally past the Memphis Grizzlies, 100-97, on Sunday night.
“Dwyane’s uncanny,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “He can play absolutely horrible stretches of basketball and have the quickest memory, and all of a sudden get to the last two minutes and he has incredible confidence. ... Sometimes when you don’t know where to go, that’s always a great option, having a Hall of Famer.”
Chris Bosh led the Heat with 22 points, Gerald Green added 16 – three of them on free throws after Memphis’ Matt Barnes fouled him behind the arc with 1:32 left – and Luol Deng scored 15 markers for Miami. The Heat trailed, 75-59, late in the third quarter before coming back.
Wade got Miami within one on a drive with a minute left, then got the night’s biggest shot to fall one possession later.
“I knew the ball’s going to be in my hands ... and I was able to get a couple things to go,” said Wade, who scored 14 for Miami.
After the game, he wrapped Grizzlies guard Mario Chalmers – the former Miami starter who made his return to the arena that he called home for his first seven full NBA seasons – in an embrace they both enjoyed.
Chalmers wasn’t surprised at Wade’s heroics.
“I’m used to seeing things like that,” Chalmers said.
In Oklahoma, Kevin Durant fired 31 points as he powered the Thunder to a 104-98 overtime victory over the Utah Jazz at the Chesapeake Energy Arena.
Durant shot 10-for-17 from the field to go with six assists and five rebounds. Guard Russell Westbrook scored 25 points as the Thunder (16-8) won their fifth consecutive game, the longest active streak in the NBA.
“This was like a playoff type of game because this team made adjustments,” Durant said after the Thunder beat the Jazz for the second time in three days.
“They made the proper adjustments. They have a really, really good coach, and they play hard. We knew it was going to be tough. We knew they weren’t going to come in and play the same game.”
Guard Rodney Hood led the Jazz (10-12) with 23 points, while guard Gordon Hayward scored 22 points. The two combined to shoot 16-for-35. Guard Alec Burks added 21 points, and forward Derrick Favors contributed 14 points and 10 rebounds.
In other results, Phoenix held off Minnesota, 108-101, while Toronto clobbered Philadelphia, 96-76.
Back in Miami, Jeff Green scored a season-high 26 points for Memphis, while surprise starter Barnes finished with 13 points and 13 rebounds.
Chalmers, playing against Miami as an opponent for the first time since being traded to Memphis last month, finished with 12 points for the Grizzlies – including a three-point play midway through the fourth to put his team up 89-79.
“We had a great chance to win,” Memphis coach Dave Joerger said. “We had all kinds of open shots but we didn’t make them. We needed to make one shot in the final two and a half minutes. We didn’t. They needed to score in about six straight possessions, and they did.”