Wade leads Heat rally past Bobcats, 100-96

MIAMI(AP) It's only an 8-second snippet, but it perfectly shows what Dwyane Wade meant to the Miami Heat on Monday night.Fourth
quarter, 4:10 remaining, Heat down by two. Wade leaps over two players
to snare a defensive rebound with his outstretched right hand. He turns
around, dribbles upcourt, splits two defenders near the top of the key
and drives the lane for a thundering dunk over Charlotte's Emeka Okafor."It was just winning time,'' Wade said after the Heat's 100-96 victory over the Charlotte Bobcats.Yep, he was just about unstoppable again.Wade
scored 41 points, 10 in the final 8 1/2 minutes to lead the Heat back
from a seven-point deficit for their fourth straight win - extending
Miami's longest streak since the 2006-07 season."He took over the game,'' Charlotte's Jason Richardson said.He's been doing that with regularity so far this season.Adding
to his NBA-best scoring average, Wade was 12-for-22 from the floor,
15-for-19 from the line, and added eight rebounds for good measure as
the now-requisite cries of "M-V-P'' serenaded him from the stands. He
even found Shawn Marion for the basket with 1:01 left that put Miami
ahead to stay and gave the Heat just their second win in the last eight
meetings with Charlotte."This team never goes away, kind of like
us,'' Wade said. "They're young, youthful and athletic. We knew it was
going to be a battle. We just had to stop them on the defensive end.''Mario Chalmers scored 15 points and Marion finished with 13 for Miami.Richardson
scored 24 for Charlotte, but missed two free throws that would have
tied the game with 32.3 seconds remaining. Okafor added 19 points and
12 rebounds for the Bobcats, who were without their
second-leading-scorer Gerald Wallace, who was in Alabama to mourn the
death of his grandmother."Anything could have happened had I made those free throws,'' Richardson said.Without Wallace, the Charlotte bench did its part to pick up the slack.D.J.
Augustin scored 14 points and Adam Morrison added 13, including a long
3-pointer from the left wing with 6.7 seconds left that drew the
Bobcats to 98-96.But Wade sealed his night - and the win - with two free throws a half-second later."What
I was really encouraged by was the end of the game,'' Heat coach Erik
Spoelstra said. "We did a lot of things technically not right ... but
at the very, very end, I felt we won that game defensively.''Charlotte
missed six straight shots in the latter stages, including one trip
where Yakhouba Diawara simply smothered Richardson and forced him into
a bad miss as the shot clock expired."We played well enough to
win,'' Charlotte coach Larry Brown said. "We missed a layup, some free
throws, tough things happened. But Wade was great. He's playing at such
a high level.''It was Wade's seventh game of at least 35 points already this season - most in the league.He
also got the benefit of a late whistle, raising Charlotte's ire: Jared
Dudley was called for a block with 1:30 remaining against Wade, who
made both free throws to put Miami up 90-88.Augustin hit a
3-pointer with 1:11 to play that gave Charlotte a 91-90 lead, but Wade
coolly brought the ball down on the ensuing possession, looked over a
soft double-team to find an open Marion, and the Heat never trailed
again."Hey, I was just cutting and he found me,'' Marion said.
"I'm really good at moving without the ball, it was just a breakdown in
their defense and we got a bucket out of it.''Charlotte had just
three turnovers - which Miami turned into exactly zero points - in the
first half, a major reason why, even though Wade had piled up 22 points
at the midway point, the Heat went into the locker room leading only
51-48.Wade got his scoring total up to 31 after the third
quarter. Problem was, his teammates only contributed six points in the
period, combining to shoot 3-for-11, and the Bobcats led 68-66 entering
the fourth.They extended the margin to seven, but left Wade just enough time to take over."He's a superstar,'' Augustin said.Notes:
Rappers Lil Wayne and Bow Wow sat courtside, and University of Miami
standout Jack McClinton - a good friend of injured Heat forward Dorell
Wright - also was in attendance. ... Heat center Jamaal Magloire needed
seven stitches to repair a cut right elbow in the first half, after he
took a tumble while fighting for a rebound. ... Bobcats reserve Alexis
Ajinca scratched his right cornea in the first half, after scoring four
points in his only 2 minutes of playing time.