"It was [expletive]," Wade said of the controversial call.
With the Heat down by one with 7.6 seconds to go, Baron Davis made a desperation pass in fear of getting called for a five-second violation. Wade stole the ball in midair and threw the ball towards Udonis Haslem, who was in position for a wide-open dunk. Referee Courtney Kirkland inadvertently exhaled into his whistle as Wade fell into him and onto the scorers' table.
The Clipper crowd cheered when it appeared that Wade had stepped out of bounds after gaining possession. Ultimately, the officiating crew granted Wade with the steal and gave Miami the possession on an in-bounds pass. For Miami, the breakaway scoring opportunity was lost, and the win would have to come by harder.
The Clippers wisely used a foul the team had to give, giving Miami another in-bounds pass with just 2.9 seconds to play. The ball was given to Wade, and once the L.A. defense collapsed on him, he was forced to throw up a desperation three at the buzzer that did not even hit the rim."We won the game," Wade said. "And they took it away from us."
Under League rules, the Heat has no path to protest this call.
"Yeah, it's tough," Haslem added. "But there's a lot of things we could have done differently before that last play."
Haslem is right. The Heat once had a six-point lead in the final quarter, before letting L.A. go up by as many as eight just minutes later. Miami should not have lost to a 3-13 Clippers team without Chris Kaman. This should not have been a one-point game for Miami, it should have been a double-digit win for the Heat.
Shawn Marion did not look like the star he is. He looked like a ghost. The four-time NBA All-Star shot just one-for-six from the field for five points and turned the ball over five times. Marion did have nine rebounds, but Erik Spoelstra needs Marion to be more than a rebounding force.
Daequan Cook shot just 3-of-11 from the field in 21 minutes off the bench. Cook is a streaky shooter, so missing shots will be part of the game for him sometimes. However, Cook can drive to the rim as the defense is running towards him. If Cook just took a step or two closer to the basket, his percentages of making the shot would have gone up exponentially.
Miami's interior defense may have done enough to slow down Amare Stoudemire and Shaquille O'Neal, but it let rookie Al Thornton and newcomer Zach Randolph do everything they wanted to last night. Thornton had 27 points on 8-of-14 shooting and 11-of-14 from the free-throw line. Randolph, meanwhile, also added 27 points with 13 rebounds. Marcus Camby added 12 points and 12 rebounds, a double-double.
Spoelstra went with his lineup from Friday's win against the Suns, with Joel Anthony starting at the five. Anthony had three rebounds and two blocks in 19 minutes. Anthony was kept on the bench due to early foul trouble, a frequent obstacle for the 6-foot-9 center this season.
Michael Beasley played very well as a reserve last night, finishing with 24 points on 10-of-16 shooting from the field and three-of-four shooting from downtown in 27 minutes. Beasley scored 17 points in the second-quarter, two shy of the franchise record shared by Tim Hardaway and Sherman Douglas. I would have liked to see more of Beasley in the second half, who only got 10 minutes of playing time after intermission. He had his foul trouble, but his scoring would have helped Miami in the fourth quarter.
Haslem continued to appear more comfortable as a power forward. The Miami native had 18 points, six rebounds and three blocks in 42 minutes for the Heat. Wade was sensational (again) with 26 points on 12-of-21 shooting to go along with 11 assists, six rebounds and three steals. Mario Chalmers added 11 on four-of-nine shooting for the Heat, again one game below .500.
Miami starts the last month of 2008 Monday against the Golden State Warriors at 10:30 p.m. The Heat will then finish up its five-game West coast swing against the Utah Jazz Wednesday at 9 p.m.
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