Wade ignites Heat in OT win

Published: Monday | January 5, 2009



New Jersey Nets' Josh Boone (left) and Vince Carter (right) defend as Miami Heat's Dwyane Wade drives to the basket during the fourth quarter of an NBA basketball game in Miami on Saturday. The Heat won 101-96. - AP

MIAMI (AP):

Dwyane Wade scored 29 points and made three key blocks in the closing minutes as the Miami Heat overcame a 16-point deficit to beat the New Jersey Nets 101-96 in overtime in the NBA on Saturday night.

Wade did it all in the Heat's biggest comeback victory of the season.

The superstar went up high for two blocks on 7-footer Brook Lopez, including one in overtime, and swatted a jumper by Vince Carter into the stands in the final minute of regulation. Wade's three-point play with 37.2 seconds left in overtime stretched Miami's lead to 96-88.

16 points trail

Trailing by 16 points in the first quarter, the Heat rode a season-high 19 points from Yakhouba Diawara and 17 points from Michael Beasley. Miami's biggest previous comeback was from 15 down against Indiana on December 22.

Keyon Dooling had 23 points and Carter had 20 for the Nets.

At Atlanta, Mike Bibby made a three-pointer with 1.5 seconds remaining and Josh Smith scored a season-high 29 points for Atlanta Hawks to beat Houston Rockets 103-100.

Joe Johnson had a season-high 14 assists, the last when he drove from the perimeter and into the left side of the lane before passing to Bibby for the winner.

Six straight wins

The Hawks won their sixth straight at home, improving to 15-2 this season at Philips Arena.

Reserve Carl Landry scored 18 points and Yao Ming had 16 points and 15 rebounds for Houston, which have dropped two straight and five of seven.

At Indianapolis, Danny Granger scored 13 of his 35 points in the fourth quarter in Indiana Pacers' second-straight victory, 122-117, over the Sacramento Kings.

T.J. Ford had 16 points and seven assists and Troy Murphy added 12 points and 13 rebounds.

Kevin Martin led Sacramento with a season-high 45 points, making 13 of 24 shots and a career-high seven three-pointers. The Kings are 1-8 in their last nine games.

At Charlotte, North Carolina, Gerald Wallace scored 24 points, Boris Diaw added 21 and Charlotte Bobcats snapped a three-game losing streak with a 102-92 win over the Milwaukee Bucks.

The NBA's lowest-scoring team took advantage of Milwaukee centre Andrew Bogut's absence because of back spasms to avenge a Friday loss in Milwaukee.

Jefferson score

Richard Jefferson scored 19 points for Milwaukee.

At San Antonio, Tony Parker hit a high-arching 15-footer at the buzzer and San Antonio Spurs won 108-106 over the Philadelphia 76ers after blowing an early 21-point lead.

Parker finished with 15 points and 10 assists to help the Spurs win for the seventh time in eight games. Tim Duncan led San Antonio with 26 points on 11-of-15 shooting.

Andre Miller led Philadelphia with 28 points on 12-of-14 shooting.

At Chicago, Randy Foye scored 21 points and Al Jefferson added 18 points and 14 rebounds to help Minnesota Timberwolves win consecutive games for the first time this season, beating the Chicago Bulls 102-92.

Derrick Rose had 22 points for Chicago, which have lost six of their last seven games.