|
|||||||
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
|||||||
|
|||||||
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
|||||||
Tickets at Ticket Master
Dwyane Wade ignored the pick being set by Brian Grant, drove past two defenders, began his leap from the middle of the lane and slammed the ball home.
All Carmelo Anthony could do was shake his head, a refrain repeated time and again on Saturday night.
Wade outplayed his more-heralded rookie classmate, scoring 28 points -- including an array of fourth-quarter dunks that helped seal the Miami Heat's 97-81 win over the Denver Nuggets on Saturday night.
``Every night I get on the court, I like to prove that the rookie class is more than two guys,'' Wade said. ``Just because I'm playing against one of them doesn't mean I'm trying to go out and outplay them; I want to outdo them by my team getting the victory.''
He came through on both counts.
Lamar Odom had 12 of his 21 points in the third quarter for Miami, and added a game-high 13 rebounds. Wade shot 13-for-24 and had 16 of his points in the second half, during which Miami outscored Denver 57-36.
ADVERTISEMENT
``Dwyane was tremendous. Gosh, some of the stuff he did tonight was amazing,''
Heat coach Stan Van Gundy said. ``But what it turned into was our best defensive
effort of the year. ... They weren't missing open shots. We were really into
them.''
Anthony finished with 16 points, ending a streak of nine straight games with at least 20 points, and shot just 3-for-20 -- his worst effort since the third game of the season.
``I went 3-for-20,'' Anthony said. ``There's nothing I can say about that.''
Anthony's field goal percentage has tended to dip considerably on the second of back-to-back games. The rookie who carried Syracuse to last year's NCAA title entered Saturday shooting just 37.5 percent in the second of back-to-backs, 7.5 percent lower than his shooting in all other contests.
His first shot Saturday, a long 3-pointer from the wing, was all net -- but he missed 14 of his next 15 attempts.
``We had to try to make the young fella take tougher shots,'' said Heat forward Caron Butler, who guarded Anthony for much of the game. ``That's all that was on my mind. I wasn't thinking about offense or anything. I had to do whatever I could just to make it difficult for Carmelo. That was my main goal.''
He succeeded, as Anthony was visibly frustrated throughout the game, even flinging his headband into the stands during the third quarter.
AP - Feb 21, 9:10 pm EST
More Photos
``Give a lot of credit to Miami's defense,'' said Denver coach Jeff Bzdelik,
whose club is 2-6 in its last eight road games. ``They got up into us and we
got very random. We tried to compete individually and not collectively.''
Denver finished with just seven assists, and shot 25 percent in the second half.
``Terrible,'' Anthony said.
Miami trailed by as many as seven early in the third quarter and was down 54-48 with 9:03 left before a 22-6 run put the Heat in control. Odom had 10 points during the burst, during which Miami held Denver without a field goal for more than six minutes.
Udonis Haslem had 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Heat in 24 minutes. Eddie Jones added 11 and Rafer Alston 10 for the Heat, which improved to 8-25 when trailing at halftime.
Andre Miller scored 15, former Heat guard Voshon Lenard had 14 and Nenescored 10 for the Nuggets.
Notes
Miami beat Denver for the 14th time in the teams' last 17 meetings. ... Wade
has reached double figures in 25 of his last 26 games, including 10 straight.
... Denver is now 24-6 when leading at halftime. ... Miami improved to 11-4
in games where its best lineup -- Wade, Jones, Caron Butler, Brian Grant and
Odom -- were the starting five. ... The Heat were without reserve forwardMalik
Allen (back spasms).