by ldh2013 » Mon Jul 11, 2016 8:35 am
MIAMI -- Chris Bosh watched his first 3-pointer bounce once, twice, three times, four times before finally dropping into the net. . His next try, from almost the same spot, swished. And the third one essentially saved the Miami Heat. A threesome of 3-pointers -- he had never made that many in an NBA quarter, say nothing of his 79-second span Sunday night -- highlighted a run where Bosh scored 13 straight Miami points, and the Heat beat the Charlotte Bobcats 99-98 to extend their winning streak to 10 games. The Heat led for the final 1:20, the time remaining when Boshs third 3 put Miami up 93-91. Charlotte had held the lead for the previous 23:21. "It kind of just happened," Bosh said. "I was wide open so I figured I would take a step back and in the words of our late teammate Mike Miller, let it fly. That was really it." LeBron James led the Heat with 26 points, Bosh finished with 22, Dwyane Wade scored 17 and Mario Chalmers added 12 for Miami, which has beaten the Bobcats 14 straight times. Kemba Walker scored 27 points for the Bobcats. Gerald Henderson scored 17, and Al Jefferson finished with 16 points and 13 rebounds for Charlotte. "Its disappointing because I felt we had them. We outplayed them," Henderson said. "They just came up with the plays at the end of the game that championship teams tend to do." The Bobcats outscored Miami 25-14 in the third quarter and led by 14 points with 9:14 left. And then Miami scored 34 points in the final 8:20, which works out to a 196-point pace over a full regulation game. The Heat made 11 of their final 13 shots, with Boshs 3s leading the way -- Wade getting the assist on all three of them. "It started with us," Bobcats coach Steve Clifford said. "Instead of playing possession by possession, we made mistakes. They started going to the basket and we couldnt get them under control." James was highly effective again, scoring his 26 on only 13 shots and while dealing a balky back that has bothered him all season and flared up Friday in Toronto. James got treatment Saturday, received more Sunday until the start of pregame warmups, and played 38 minutes. "I dont think we did anything bad in the game," James said. "We defended. They hit some tough shots. We didnt turn the ball over, I think we had only 14 turnovers, they didnt have a bunch of offensive rebounds, they didnt have many fast-break points. Just one of those games where youve got to gut it out. And well take it." The Heat were down 12 when James re-entered the game with 8:04 left. He quickly got a three-point play to cut the lead to 79-70, and things got interesting. A 3-pointer from James with 6:18 left cut the lead to six. He made a pass to Chalmers for another 3 about 90 seconds later, getting Miami within three. Soon, the Bosh long-range display began. "Chris stepped up big," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "Once he hit the first one, the second one, you could tell he wanted it." Charlotte scored the first six points of the second half, then opened things up with a 16-8 run. The Bobcats made five straight shots, all jumpers from an average of 18 feet, while the Heat missed their final five of the quarter and trailed 73-61 entering the fourth. Things werent decided until the final seven-tenths of a second. Walker was fouled while shooting a 3 with Miami up four. He made the first two free throws, tried to miss the third intentionally, but his shot bounced in and time expired one pass later. "We didnt think we had it," Walker said. "This is the NBA. Guys can score and be back in the game in a heartbeat. Thats what they did." Miami led by 10 twice during the first half, before the Bobcats put together an 18-7 run and took a one-point halftime lead. Wade was credited with his second block of the night on the final play before halftime, the swat being No. 676 of his career, the most recorded by an NBA player standing 6-foot-4 or shorter. Dennis Johnson was the holder of that distinction, getting 675 blocks in 1,100 games. Sunday was the Wades 679th game. NOTES: During one stoppage in play late in the first half, James shot a pair of 3-pointers that bounced off the rim, noteworthy because he shot them left-handed (he writes with his left hand, but plays with a dominant right hand). ... Michael Kidd-Gilchrist returned to the Charlotte lineup after missing one game with plantar fasciitis in his right foot. . The Nuggets leading scorer, Lawson is characterized as day to day by the team. Hes averaging 17.9 points and 8.9 assists. Lawson suffered the injury late in Denvers win Sunday at Sacramento. . Halak is slated to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1. The Islanders now have a two-month window in which to negotiate a new contract with the keeper before he is free to negotiate with the other 29 NHL clubs. . -- A second straight complete game was not needed from C.A year after almost losing her life in a gruesome racing accident, former Formula One test driver Maria de Villota was found dead in a hotel room in Seville on Friday -- with an autopsy showing that lingering injuries from her wreck likely caused her death. De Villota was 33. De Villotas sister, Isabel, said an autopsy indicated that she had died in her sleep around 6 a.m. local time due to "neurological damage" from her crash in July 2012. De Villota lost an eye in the accident but had since seemingly recovered from the wreck -- even driving again, writing a book about it, and recently getting married. Spanish police said her death was from "natural causes" and that there was no indication of foul play. They said De Villotas manager alerted staff at the Hotel Sevilla Congresos after her body was found. De Villota barely survived last years crash during testing for the Marussia F1 team in England, losing her right eye and sustaining other serious head injuries that kept her hospitalized for a month. De Villota, a Madrid native, was the daughter of Emilio de Villota, who competed in F1 from 1976-82. Her family used de Villotas Facebook page to say "Dear friends: Maria has left us. She had to go to heaven like all angels. I give thanks to God for the year and a half that he left her with us." F1 officials and drivers at the Japanese Grand Prix were stunned by her death. "My deepest condolences go to the de Villota family," said FIA president Jean Todt. "Maria was a fantastic driver, a leading light for women in motorsport and a tireless campaigner for road safety. Above all she was a friend I deeply admired." McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh said as the chairman of the Formula One Teams Association the "whole paddock is very shocked by the news that Maria is no longer with us. "She was an inspiration not just to women in this sport, but also to all those who suffered life-threatening injuries." Saubers Monisha Kaltenhorn, the first female team principal in F1, said, "If anybody represented strength and optimism, it was Maria. Her sudden death is a big loss to the motorsport world." Williams development driver Susie Wolff recalled how de Villota asked her to carry on for her and all women drivers following her accident. "She very much said to me after it, Its up to you to go out there and show them that it (a woman driver in F1) is possible," Wolff said. "She knew that women could compete at that level and thats why, after her accident and her not being able to do that anymore, she just wanted someone to know it was possible. She had such a spirit for life. . What she came through was a testament to her strength of character and her positive outlook on life." Marussia expressed its condolences. "It is with great sadness that we learned a short time ago of the news that Maria de Villota has passed away," Marussia said in a statement. "Our thoughts and prayers are with Marias family and friends at this very difficult time." Fellow Spaniard Fernando Alonso said: "Its very sad news for the world of motorsport as Maria was loved by everyone. Now, all we can do is pray for her and for her family." De Villota also had driven in the world touring car championship in 2006 and 2007 plus the Superleague open-wheel series. She was in Seville to participate in the conference "What Really Matters," whose mission is to inspire and teach young people "universal human values," in the words of the organizers. Organizers cancelled the conference on receiving news of her death and issued a statement "transmitting their care and support to the family and loved ones of Maria de Villota." De Villota was the first Spanish woman to drive an F1 car. Sport minister Jose Wert announced that she would be posthumously awarded Spains Gold Medal of Sporting Merit. Other leading figures of Spanish sports also expressed their condolences. Barcelona midfielder Andres Iniesta extended his sympathies to her family while top-ranked tennis player Rafael Nadal said it was "very bad news for the world of sport in general, for the Spanish sport especially." De Villota accident last year occurred while she was driving an F1 car for only the fourth time -- and first for Marussia -- and hit a support truck during a straight-line exercise near an airfield in England. An internal team investigation concluded the car was not at fault. She first drove an F1 car in 2011, a Renault at the Paul Ricard circuit in Marseille, France. Her death comes when de Villota seemed to be moving past her accident. She told Hola magazine in February she felt "free" and "back to being me" after returning to driving on normal roads. She returned to a F1 paddock for the first time in May at the Spanish GP. There she told the AP that she felt a mix of "adrenaline and also a little bit of sadness" on again being near the sport that almost cost her her life. In July, she married boyfriend Rodrigo Garcia. She was active in charity work and a member of the FIAs womens commission. On Monday, she was to present a book "Life is a Gift," detailing her ordeal following her driving accident. ' ' '