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High-scoring Wade leads Heat over Bobcats

Dec 9, 2008 - 4:37 AM By Christopher Stock PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

MIAMI (Ticker) -- Dwyane Wade scored 41 points to lead the Miami Heat past the Charlotte Bobcats, 100-96, on Monday.

Rookie Mario Chalmers added 15 points and Shawn Marion scored 13, including a crucial runner during crunch time, for the Heat, who have won four straight games.

"Five would be better and six would be even better than that," Wade said of his team's winning streak.

Wade made 12-of-22 from the floor and 15-of-19 from the free-throw line for his third 40-point game of the season. The All-Star also grabbed seven rebounds.

"Wade was great," Bobcats coach Larry Brown said. "He's playing at such a high level. He's a great player. When he's making his jumper, it makes it even tougher. He gets to the line so easily."

Jason Richardson scored 24 points and Emeka Okafor scored 19 to lead Charlotte, which lost its third straight.

"We played really well," Richardson said. "We did a lot of things right. If the ball went our way, we could have had this win."

Wade brought the crowd to its feet with a one-handed monster dunk on Okafor with four minutes left in the game to tie it at 86-86.

"It felt good, of course," Wade said. "I had to be aggressive, he's a shot-blocker. If I went in there with a layup, it might be out of bounds so I decided to turn it over and I shocked myself a little bit."

Raymond Felton hit a long jumper to again tie the game at 88-88 with 1:45 left, but Wade would knock down two free throws to give the Heat the lead back.

Then, Charlotte's D.J. Augustin hit a three, but the Bobcats' advantage would be short-lived as Marion converted a bucket with 1:01 left to give the Heat a 92-91 lead.

"I was just cutting and (Wade) found me," Marion said. "Sometimes, I'm really good at moving without the ball. It was just a breakdown on their defense and fortunately we got a good bucket out of it."

With 40 seconds left, Augustin missed a three and Wade was fouled on the rebound. Wade made one of his two free throws.

Jason Richardson was fouled with 32 seconds left but missed both free throws, allowing the Heat to take a 95-91 lead after two free throws by Yakhouba Diawara.

"Anything could have happened if I had made those free throws," Richardson said.

Felton hit two free throws after Wade fouled him on a shot with just over 24 seconds left. Udonis Haslem was fouled on the other end but made 1-of-2 from the line for a 96-93 lead.

But Augustin missed a wide-open layup and Haslem knocked down two free throws to close out the game for the Heat.

"These kinds of games here are good to win, especially for a young team," Wade said.

Charlotte led 20-12 after a 3-pointer by Richardson, but Miami would take a 47-38 lead and get a couple of big baskets late in the half as Chalmers slammed home a one-handed dunk.

Moments later, Wade faked out the defense with a layup on a fast break as Miami led 51-48 at halftime.

"At the end of the half, we were up by nine," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "The last four minutes of the first half, we were on defense for about three of them."

Okafor scored 12 in the third quarter as Charlotte went on a 16-4 run and took a 68-66 lead heading into the fourth.