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The Miami Heat didn’t have its best players, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, available but the defending NBA champions did have Chris Bosh when it mattered most. |
Bosh buried the go-ahead triple with 1.1 seconds left to cap a 23-point, nine-rebound effort yesterday, lifting the visiting Heat to a gritty 88-86 victory over the San Antonio Spurs in a battle between the Eastern and Western Conference best.
“It’s always special to have an impact on the game,” Bosh said of his game-winner. “I knew I’d have the opportunity to be more aggressive with LeBron and Dwyane out, but we did a great job of spreading the love evenly.”
The Heat overcame the absence of the reigning league’s most valuable player James because of a right hamstring strain, along with ankle-injured Wade and point guard Mario Chalmers, to earn just its third win in 25 visits to San Antonio. “It’s about Miami Heat pride,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “It doesn’t matter who is in uniform or not. Our guys came in with great passion and it became a dogfight. Everybody who played contributed in a big way.”
Miami (58-15) swept the two-game-season series against Spurs (55-18), to move three games ahead of the West leaders for the NBA-best overall record and home-court advantage throughout the playoffs. Ray Allen scored 14 points, Norris Cole added 13 while Mike Miller contributed 12 for Miami, winners of two in a row since its 27-game winning streak — the league’s second-longest — was snapped on Wednesday by Chicago.
“We knew we had a few guys out but we didn’t play as though there was a void,” Allen said. “Everybody hunkered down and focused in on doing their job. It was probably one of the more satisfying wins because we didn’t have our best guys on the floor and CB hit a great shot to win the game.”
Miami trailed 86-83 after Spurs Tim Duncan drilled a jumper with one minute 21 seconds to play. Cole, then, stopped Tony Parker (12 points) on a drive and made two free throws with 32 ticks remaining, drawing the East leaders within 86-85. Already agreeing not to call a timeout, the Heat pushed the ball up-court after Duncan missed a turnaround 10-foot jumper with 11.9 seconds left.
Allen looked to launch a jumper but found Bosh trailing on the play. The All-Star forward calmly stroked his third three-pointer of the night from the top of the key and let out a primal roar of approval. “Chris came in on the trail,” Spoelstra said, “and that’s probably a better look than anything we could have diagrammed.”
Duncan had 17 points with 12 rebounds, Kawhi Leonard also had 17 and 11 boards for the Spurs, who without Argentine ace Manu Ginobili because of a right hamstring strain, had their seven-game home winning streak come to an end. “They played great tonight,” Leonard said. “LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Mario Chalmers didn’t play but their guys stepped up tonight and their coach had them prepared to play.”
Elsewhere, New York Knicks beat Boston Celtics 108-89, helped by Carmelo Anthony’s 24 points and 10 rebounds, and Chris Copeland’s 22, as the Knicks extended their season-high winning streak to eight after beating the visiting Celtics. Raymond Felton netted 18 points while J R Smith finished with 15 and 12 boards for the Atlantic Division-leading Knicks, who took the season series for the first time in nine seasons. Jeff Green tossed in 27 points while Paul Pierce had 24 and 15 rebounds for the Celtics, who trailed by 17 at halftime en route to their sixth loss in the last eight games.
Luol Deng dropped in 14 of his 28 points in the final quarter, and Jimmy Butler and Nate Robinson added 16 apiece, as Chicago Bulls rallied from 13 down to extend their winning streak to 18 over Detroit Pistons. The Bulls won the close game 95-94. Rodney Stuckey scored 25 points and Greg Monroe added 18 with 10 boards for the visiting Pistons, who last beat the Bulls on December 23, 2008.
New Orleans Hornets beat Cleveland Cavaliers 112-92, with Venezuelan Greivis Vasquez scoring 25 points, and Ryan Anderson hitting five threes en route to 23. It was the visiting Cavaliers’ season-high eighth straight setback. Kyrie Irving led the Cavaliers with a game-high 31 points after missing the past eight contests because of a left shoulder strain.
Toronto Raptors, meanwhile, crashed to their sixth loss in their last seven games as Washington Wizards handed them a 109-92 thrashing. Bradley Beal came off the bench to score 24 points, including six threes, with John Wall adding 18 points and 10 assists. Lithuanian native Jonas Valanciunas topped visiting Toronto with 18 points and 10 rebounds.