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Heat-Rockets Preview

Jan 15, 2010 - 4:18 AM By KATE HEDLIN STATS Writer

Miami (19-18) at Houston (22-17), 8:30 p.m. EDT

Dwyane Wade hopes to continue playing through his wrist pain. If he shoots as well as he did his last time out, coach Eric Spoelstra has no problem with that plan.

On Friday, Wade and the Miami Heat look to snap Houston's eight-game winning streak at the Toyota Center, where the Rockets are coming off a triple-overtime victory.

Wade scored 35 points and shot 66.7 percent (10 for 15) - his highest percentage of the season - in Miami's 115-102 win at Golden State on Wednesday, avoiding a three-game losing streak. Wade also made all 15 free throws, the most he's ever made in a game without a miss.

The performance may have momentarily quieted concerns about Wade's sprained wrist, which he aggravated in the Heat's loss to Utah on Monday when he was held to a season-low 13 points.

"I felt like it made me focus a little more," Wade said of the injury. "I shot the ball pretty well. I tried to focus a lot more on my shot because when you have a wrist you can't bend all the way, your shot can come up short a lot. I made sure I did my job and put it over the rim and followed through with it."

Wade may be more inclined to stay on the court to support Miami (19-18) during a season-high six-game Western Conference road trip, which concludes Saturday against Oklahoma City. Wade is averaging 26.3 points during the first four games and shooting 50.7 percent.

"If he can go and he feels like he's not going to hurt the team he'll play," Spoelstra said. "He'll play hurt as long as it won't jeopardize him getting injured or the team."

The Heat are likely going to need another brilliant performance from Wade against Houston if they hope to hope to snap the Rockets' current run at home.

Miami has only one win in its last six visits to Houston. While Wade is averaging 30.3 points in his last four visits to the Toyota Center, he and the Heat have lost the last three.

The Rockets (22-17) showed once again how tough they are at home Wednesday, prevailing in 120-114 in triple overtime against Minnesota despite blowing a double-digit lead.

It was Houston's first three-overtime game since a win over Atlanta on Feb. 22, 2004.

Aaron Brooks scored a career-high 43 points and Chuck Hayes had a career-best 17 rebounds in the victory. Houston led most of the way, but Corey Brewer hit a half-court shot at the buzzer to send the game into overtime.

"This was one heck of a game," Hayes said. "I'm just happy that after three hours, we were able to come out on top."

The Rockets held the Timberwolves to 38.7-percent shooting after allowing opponents to shoot better than 50 percent in each of the previous three games.

It was another fantastic performance by Brooks, who is averaging 25.0 points in the last eight games. He was 6 of 9 from 3-point range Wednesday and had five assists and only one turnover in close to 60 minutes.

However, Brooks has never started in a game against Miami. He's averaging 4.3 points in three career games against the Heat.