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Heat aim to stop slide against surging Bobcats

Apr 2, 2009 - 9:32 PM By Matt Becker Stats Senior Writer

Miami (39-36) at Charlotte (34-41) 7:00 p.m. EDT

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (AP) -- Led by MVP candidate Dwyane Wade, the Miami Heat are in the thick of the playoff race in the Eastern Conference. They haven't looked much like a playoff-bound team lately, though.

Wade looks to help the Heat break out of their funk and move closer to a postseason berth Friday night when they visit the Charlotte Bobcats, who are also trying to inch closer to a playoff spot.

Miami (39-36) can cut its magic number to clinch a playoff berth to one with a victory over the Bobcats (34-41), but winning hasn't come easy for the Heat lately.

Miami, which is battling with Philadelphia for the fifth seed, has lost four of five and seven of 10. The Heat had won six of their previous eight, averaging 116.1 points in those contests.

In Wednesday's 98-96 loss to Dallas, Miami led by 11 late in the third quarter but could not hold on. Trailing by one with the ball and less than 10 seconds to go, coach Erik Spoelstra opted not to call a timeout and rookie Mario Chalmers was called for a charge.

"We've got to keep fighting," said Wade, the league's scoring leader with 29.8 points per game. "We knew we'd be struggling at times. Everybody wants to jump over the hurdle but you've got to walk before you run."

Adding to Miami's troubles is its poor play away from home.

The Heat opened a stretch of four of five games on the road Wednesday with their third consecutive road loss. They've dropped seven of eight away from Miami and have lost four straight in Charlotte by an average of 12.5 points.

The Bobcats have won nine of 12 at home.

Charlotte is 1 1/2 games back of eighth-place Chicago in the East, but missed an excellent chance to move closer to the Bulls its last time out.

After an impressive 94-84 win over the West-leading Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday, the Bobcats suffered a 111-109 double-overtime loss to Boston on Wednesday. Charlotte, which led by 12 with 8:48 remaining, also blew leads in the last 30 seconds of the fourth quarter and both overtimes.

"We had a great opportunity to beat the defending champs in their own building," said Gerald Wallace, who is averaging 21.3 points and 10.7 rebounds in his last three games. "We've got to put this game behind us."

Wednesday's loss snapped a three-game winning streak for the Bobcats, who are trying to make their first postseason appearance in the franchise's five-year history.

Charlotte's defense was crucial to its winning streak, holding opponents to an average of 88.0 points and 40.6 percent shooting. But it had trouble slowing down the Celtics, who shot 53.2 percent from the field.

The Bobcats should have better luck shutting down a Miami team averaging 90.3 points on 42.2 percent shooting during its road skid.

Charlotte will likely also benefit from having Wallace in its lineup. He had 34 points in a 100-97 victory over Miami on November 1 but missed the last two meetings - both losses.