NBA- Beasley Leads Miami to Beat the Blazers 107-100
After two losses in a row, the Miami Heat rediscovered the taste of victory in their 107-100 game against the Portland Trail Blazers Tuesday night at the Rose Garden. The Blazers’ offense was just plain ineffective against the Heat, who imposed with incredible shooting from Michael Beasley and Dwayne Wade. With the win, the Heat are at 5th place in the Eastern Conference with a 10-7 record; the Blazers also boast 5th place in the Western Conference with a 12-8 record. The Heat held the lead throughout the game. The team entered aggressively, scoring 7 points in a row in the first quarter. Portland tried to respond with several baskets, and Brandon Roy’s two free throws cut the score to 19-15. But with 3:42 left in the quarter, Miami increased the lead to 10 points, 26-16. In the last moments, Portland reacted with a 12-6 run that brought the score to 32-28. The second quarter saw a great deal of back and forth between the squads, but Beasley came to the fore to dominate the period with a 13-point contribution. That, combined with a three-pointer from James Jones, brought the score to 60-50 at halftime in Miami’s favor. The third quarter saw more battling, but Miami never faltered. The Heat, with fantastic shooting and only 36 seconds left to play the quarter, took their biggest lead in the game, a 16-point advance that closed the third 88-72. The Blazers were more persistent in the fourth, but the Heat, via Beasley, Wade, and co. , kept their lead. Meanwhile, Roy, Andre Miller and Greg Oden made Portland’s major contributions. The Blazers managed to close the gap to 6 points with one of Roy’s three-pointers, but the effort wasn’t enough; the Heat responded with a powerful defense and four free throws from Wade. The last of these gave the Heat the victory, 107-100. At the end of the game, Portland coach Nate McMillan acknowledged that his team gave up too much to its opponent. “That’s the third straight game we’ve given up plus-30 points in the first quarter. We dug ourselves a hole. We can’t get close enough, and we can’t get stops. That’s something we haven’t done well the last three games . . . [opponents] are getting open looks and knocking their shots down,” McMillan said Miami coach Erik Spoelstra, on the other hand, praised his team’s performance, and particularly the incredible shooting by Beasley, who was unstoppable in the game. “It was a good step forward. A great bounce-back game coming off two losses. Beasley was terrific tonight. Some of the best plays Mike made were the ones when he had patience, waited to see how they were going to cover him. If they double-teamed he was making great passes to the outside. It shows you how far he has come,” Spoelstra stated. The best scorers for the Miami Heat were Michael Beasley with a season-high 27 points and 8 rebounds; Dwyane Wade with 22 points, 12 assists and 5 rebounds; Quentin Richardson with 20 points and 9 rebounds; and ultimately Jermaine O’neal with 14 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists. For the Trail Blazers the best scorers were Brandon Roy with 25 points, 5 assists and 5 rebounds; Andre Miller with 18 points and 6 assists; Juwan Howard with 14 points and five rebunds; and finally Greg Oden with 13 points and 20 rebounds.
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