Wade pulls Miami level

Heat guard turns the screw on Hornets with first threes this year to force Game 7

Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade shrugs off the attentions of Charlotte Hornets guard Courtney Lee to shoot during the second half in Game 6 at the Time Warner Cable Arena. The Heat won 97-90 to take the series to a Game 7 decider in Miami.
Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade shrugs off the attentions of Charlotte Hornets guard Courtney Lee to shoot during the second half in Game 6 at the Time Warner Cable Arena. The Heat won 97-90 to take the series to a Game 7 decider in Miami. PHOTO: REUTERS

CHARLOTTE • When the Miami Heat needed someone to step up at crunch time on Friday, Dwyane Wade delivered.

As a result, the Heat have forced a deciding Game 7 in their first-round National Basketball Association Eastern Conference play-off series against the Charlotte Hornets.

He scored 23 points and hit two crucial baskets in the final minute as the Heat held off the Hornets 97-90 to even the series 3-3.

Game 7 is scheduled for today in Miami.

His three-pointer with 46 seconds remaining gave the Heat a 93-88 lead, and, after a Hornets basket, he hit a fall-away 18-footer with 19.5sec left to push the lead back to five.

He also hit a three-pointer with 3min 5sec remaining to give the Heat a 90-81 lead, before the Hornets rallied and got as close as two.

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra continued to call Wade's number down the stretch, and for good reason.

"Dwyane feels most alive when the competition is at its highest, when games feel like this," Spoelstra said. "He was brilliant on both ends. I've seen him enough over the years that it just becomes about winning plays, whatever those may be.

"It's born out of great competition. It brings the absolute best out of him."

The 13-year veteran guard had not hit a three-pointer since December, but was looking to step up in any way he could with the game - and the series - on the line.

"A lot of the games have been like this, the two teams are very equal," Wade said. "It takes special performances and big shots to win. Coach put the ball in my hands and I had to make some tough shots.

"Tonight, in Game 6, I trust my team-mates, I love them, but if we were going to lose I was going to go out shooting."

Wade's performance overshadowed a brilliant evening by Charlotte's Kemba Walker, who finished with 37 points.

Walker single-handedly kept the Hornets in the game as he scored 12 straight Hornets points during their late comeback.

He brought the Hornets as close as 90-88 as the Heat went three straight possessions without scoring.

Miami had been held to fewer than 90 points in each of the three previous games - all Charlotte wins. They came ready to play offensively on Friday, shooting 60 per cent from the field in the first half and led by as many as 13.

Wade said his three-pointer with 3:05 left was the catalyst for everything he did in the final minute.

"The first one, they gave me," he said. "There were like four seconds on the shot clock and I was able to line it up and get it to go. Then once I saw the first one fall, it's like with all scorers, the basket gets bigger.

"At that point, I was just playing basketball. It was about getting the first one to fall. After that went in, that was it."

Hornets coach Steve Clifford didn't like his team's defence in the first half, noting that the Heat seemed to get all the 50-50 balls.

The Hornets were outrebounded 46-31.

Still, Clifford knew the biggest reason his team lost. "With the game on the line, Wade did what he has done for years," the coach said. "He showed why he's been one of the great competitors and great winners in the league for a long time. Hats off to them. They played better than we did."

REUTERS

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Sunday Times on May 01, 2016, with the headline Wade pulls Miami level. Subscribe