MIAMI — Michael Beasley tied his
career high with 28 points, Dwyane Wade added 19 while sitting out the
entire fourth quarter and the Miami Heat won at home for the first time
in more than three weeks, topping the Toronto Raptors 115-95 on Tuesday
night.
Beasley added 11 rebounds for the
Heat, who snapped a four-game home slide. Dorell Wright had 16 points
and eight rebounds off the bench for Miami.
Chris Bosh scored 28 points on
9-of-13 shooting for Toronto, but grabbed only two rebounds in 32
minutes. Andrea Bargnani added 14 and Hedo Turkoglu scored 12 for the
Raptors, who fell to 4-11 on the road.
The Heat came in losers in 10 of 15
games after a 6-1 start, and with a 28-point home loss to Memphis on
Sunday still fresh in their minds. A team meeting was held after
Sunday's game, then again Monday, with players and coach Erik Spoelstra
saying Miami simply needed to get back to what was successful earlier
in the season.
For one night, it worked.
Miami's night started auspiciously,
with the word that Mario Chalmers — who had been the starter at point
guard for every game in his Heat career, all 104 in the regular season
and seven more in last season's playoffs — would be coming off the
bench and Carlos Arroyo would get the start.
Arroyo responded, matching his season high with 12 points. Chalmers finished with six points and eight assists in 27 minutes.
Other than that, everything seemed right again for the Heat.
Miami held an opponent under 100
points for the first time in seven games, held the Raptors to 45
percent from the floor and 2 of 11 from 3-point range, had a 45-32 edge
in rebounding and erased a slight early deficit by outscoring Toronto
67-48 in the middle two quarters.
Beasley scored 14 of his points in the second quarter, helping the Heat take a 60-50 lead into the break.
And in the fourth, Miami put it away.
The Heat, who never led by more than
two points in either of their two previous games, saw their cushion
swell past 20 for just the third game this season and first since
taking a 28-point lead against Denver on Nov. 6. Wright had a dunk for
a 97-76 lead, the start of him scoring seven straight Miami points, and
another slam off a miss by Beasley put Miami up 102-80 with 8:02
remaining.
Notes
After shooting 9-of-30 in his
last two games, Beasley made his first five shots. … Wade is two
attempts shy of tying Alonzo Mourning for the most free throws taken in
Heat history. Mourning attempted 3,986 in his time with Miami. … The
Raptors are 8-0 when holding teams under 100 points, 3-16 when not. …
Toronto coach Jay Triano will participate in the 2010 Vancouver Olympic
torch relay Thursday. … Miami tied a season best with 60 first-half
points. … Bosh didn't get a rebound until the third quarter.