| Heat Come Up A Little Short In Comeback Attempt In Houston Authored by Michael Leffman - March 23, 2005 - 7:24 pm
Miami nearly pulled off an improbable comeback Tuesday night at the Toyota Center against Houston, after Damon Jones completed a four-point play, but a clutch Tracy McGrady free throw sealed the Rockets’ victory and ended the Heat’s 12-game winning streak.
A 15-2 run by the Rockets (40-27) that stretched into the opening minutes of the fourth quarter was stopped by Alonzo Mourning’s only basket of the game, a tip shot that left the Heat down six with 9:47 to play.
McGrady struggled again shooting 8-27 scoring 26 points, but nailed two clutch 3-pointers in the fourth, including one that put the Rockets up by 12 with fewer than six minutes to go.
The Heat clearly missed the play of starting power forward Udonis Haslem, who collected 16 rebounds last Saturday against the New York Knicks, and was forced to sit out tonight’s game because of a slightly separated shoulder. Michael Doleac started in place of Haslem, scoring six points and getting five rebounds in 24 minutes of playing time.
The Heat out-rebounded the undersized Rockets by one, 46-45, mostly due to the forceful play of Rockets’ backup center Dikembe Mutombo, who stepped-in and grabbed 15 rebounds, eight of them offensive, after starter Yao Ming got in foul trouble.
Much of the Heat’s woes can be attributed to turnovers. The Heat had 18 team turnovers. Shaquille O’Neil led the team with five, resulting in 16 points for the Rockets, and in-turn the Rockets gave it back 11 times for only five points.
The loss leaves the Heat at 52-17, still ahead in the home-field advantage race over Detroit by 8 ½ games. Their win Saturday night against the Knicks was the fastest any Heat team has clinched a playoff birth in history and leaves them nine wins shy of their all-time win record of 61 games.
The race at the bottom of the Eastern Conference for the eighth and final playoff spot is still wide-open with the Heat possibly playing anyone from Chicago, Indiana, Philadelphia, Orlando or New Jersey. Chicago is the only team currently with a record above .500.
This game in Houston was the last time the Heat will have to cross the Mississippi River, until the Finals if they make it that far. The schedule is pretty inviting with 13 games left and only five of those games are against above .500 teams.
Notes: Christian Laettner was not in the lineup Tuesday and was diagnosed with plantar fasciitis (an inflammation along the arch of the foot) on his right foot, an injury he had on his left foot earlier this season. He is expected to miss at least four more games... Center Wang Zhi-Zhi was activated off the injured list to replace Laettner... Rockets’ coach Jeff Van Gundy improved his record to 2-2 against his brother and Heat coach Stan Van Gundy... This was the eighth regular-season meeting between O’Neil and Ming, each has four wins apiece.
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