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Wade hits for 24 in fourth as Heat drown Knicks

Mar 1, 2009 - 4:53 AM MIAMI (Ticker) -- Dwyane Wade can wear a Band-Aid again. Ironically, the New York Knicks have the bruises to show for it.

Wade was a one-man show Saturday, scoring 24 of his 46 points in the fourth quarter as the Miami Heat posted a 120-115 comeback victory over the Knicks.

Wade tied his own franchise record for points in a quarter and added 10 assists and eight rebounds for the Heat, who outscored the Knicks, 37-17, in the final period to steal the win.

Sporting a bloodied lip and nasty scowl, Wade went around, over and through the Knicks to take what he wanted - a win. Miami had lost four straight and six of its last seven against New York entering Saturday's play.

"I was just angry," Wade said. "When I'm angry, I attack. And that's what I did and then my teammates followed. It was one of our best wins of the year."

Wade, the league's leading scorer, has been a prolific scorer since the All-Star break but had some more motivation in this one.

Midway through the final quarter, Wade took an inadvertent elbow from Knicks rookie forward Danilo Gallinari, who forced the Heat's superstar to the bench to get stitches on his lip.

"It was the Gallinari hit," Wade said. "We tried to come out in the third and get it going but they made their run. But after the Gallinari hit a switch came on, and we all turned a switch on.

"So, we thank him. It was a blessing in disguise, even though I'm going to be hurting for a couple of days."

Wade returned with gusto, capping a 17-0 run with a jumper from the left elbow. The bucket forced New York to call timeout and allowed Wade to scream, "This is my house."

And it certainly was, although both Wade and coach Erik Spoelstra thought that the coach's technical after Gallinari's elbow the impetus.

"I thought when (Spoelstra) got the tech, that was really the turning point for our team, for me as well, because that showed me a lot ... sticking up for us," Wade said. "I'm glad he got that tech."

"I clearly lost a little bit of my composure," Spoelstra said. "We did not like the way a lot of the calls were going at that point."

The outburst came one night after the NBA banned Wade from wearing a Band-Aid with his name on it as a fashion statement. He responded by providing a legitimate need for the medical aid while handing the Knicks a punch to the gut.

Wade shot 16-of-29 from the field and 12-of-12 from the line for Miami, which trailed by 15 points after three quarters.

Nate Robinson scored 29 points for New York, which has lost three straight hard-fought games.

Robinson lost his cool at the start of the fourth, when the Knicks started to lose their control of the game.

The tiny hot-headed guard took a flurry of bad shots, forcing New York coach Mike D'Antoni to pull him from the game for a short spell.

While the Knicks couldn't hold it together, Wade made a deep 3-pointer and two free throws to finally tie the game at 103-103 with 4:46 left.

He then capped the decisive run with the aforementioned jumper and added two free throws after a timeout by New York to forge a three-point advantage. At the 2:43 mark, Wade converted a three-point play to push the lead to 112-107.

New York then tied the game on a three by Larry Hughes, who has combined to score 42 points in his last two games.

Wade's jumper with 39 ticks left gave Miami the lead for good and, after one free throw by David Lee, the Heat's superstar added a driving dunk to forge a three-point lead. The Knicks could not mount a comeback - even after a timeout.

Point guard Chris Duhon and Lee botched a pick-and-roll, as Lee was not paying attention when Duhon fired the pass. After Miami's empty possession, Robinson misfired on a contested 3-pointer with three ticks left that would have tied the game.

"We have to give Dwyane Wade credit," Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni said. "I mean that guy is incredible, and we couldn't even put two guys on him to stop him, so it's a lot of his doing, but at the same time we just quit making shots and lost the game."

Wade joined Olympic teammates LeBron James and Kobe Bryant on the list of NBA superstars who have had memorable games against New York this season. Bryant scored 61 points, while James netted 52 and near triple-double.

"Dwyane Wade is Dwyane Wade," Robinson said. "You see what he can do. He is an unbelievable player. One of the best in the league. Top five easy."