Heat Spur to Victory

After Tony Parker scored a career-high 55 points, the former Finals MVP landed awkwardly after going up for a layup with just under two minutes to play in the first quarter and will miss the next two to four weeks of play.

That is bad news for the Spurs, who were already undermanned with Manu Ginobili out after his Olympic injury. But for the Miami Heat, it got above the .500 mark for the first time this season, snagged its first road win and beat the Spurs in San Antonio for the first time in over a decade.

Even before Parker sprained his ankle, Erik Spoelstra got his team to put together an 18-0 run in the first quarter that got Miami to jump to a 24-9 lead. The young Heat team never relinquished its lead, despite some mini-runs by San Antonio throughout the game.

Dwyane Wade was nothing short of spectacular. The Finals MVP for the Heat side is back. A few days ago, he said he was out of rhythm, but he seemed in a very good rhythm last night. The six-foot-four guard out of Marquette had 33 points on 14-of-25 shooting, grabbed 10 rebounds, had nine assists, three steals with just one foul. Wade was also very active on defense, deflecting passes and contesting shots. Because of Wade's leadership, the rest of the team played active defense. That's a good sign from Miami's vocal leader. Wade's only blemish was his three turnovers, but the rest of his team only committed five. By comparison, the Spurs had 14 mishaps.

While Wade seized the spotlight on national television, Michael Beasley did not disappoint. The rookie out of Kansas State had 20 points, converted on all 10 of his free-throw attempts, grabbed eight rebounds and blocked two shots. Beasley looked very mature and calm in his first nationally-televised game. The one particular moment that stood out to me was in the third quarter. After Mario Chalmers blocked a layup shot by forward Ime Udoka, Beasley got the ball in transition. He had Wade by his side. Instead of trying an alley-oop, Beasley just gave Wade a soft bounce pass for a dunk. You will not see many 19-year-old's doing that, but Spoelstra has sent the right message to this kid.
The other rookie in the starting lineup, Chalmers, also played well. Although he did not look for his shot, he did a good job as a facilitator. The rookie out of Kansas had seven assists on the night. But the most pleasant surprise for Chalmers was his active defense. Parker never got anything easily in the first quarter, and that was due in large part to Chalmers.

An average fan would not have been able to notice Miami's past woes at the point guard position. Chris Quinn came off the bench to score 15 points in just 17 minutes. Quinn made the San Antonio defense pay for leaving him open. Quinn connected on five three-pointers, which was especially helpful with the absence of James Jones. It will be interesting to see what Spoelstra will do with Marcus Banks, who missed last night's game with a hip injury. If Quinn and Chalmers continue to be a solid one-two punch, Spoelstra may be faced with a bit of a dilemma.

Udonis Haslem (again) over-preformed at the five. The 6'8" center registered a double-double, with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Haslem made the occasional mistake of fronting Tim Duncan, but Haslem had a very strong night overall. It seems as if Marion, though active, is looking out-of-place in this offense.

In addition to Quinn, another bench hero was Daequan Cook. Following a late San Antonio run that got the lead down to 89-80 with over two minutes to go, Wade drove into the lane and kicked it out to Cook for the nail in the coffin. Cook finished with 10 points on four-of-eight shooting in 28 minutes.

The Heat will have no time to savor this win, with another road game against Chris Paul and the New Orleans Hornets at 8 p.m. on NBATV.