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Heat expect better play despite streak
The Miami Heat have won 12 games in a row, a franchise record. They have the best record in the Eastern Conference and lead their division by six games. Still, the locker-room consensus is they can get a lot better.
The 116-102 victory Monday over Atlanta followed a familiar ！ and slightly disturbing ！ pattern. Miami survived a lackluster first half, trailed at halftime and needed a second-half burst to pull away.
"Would I like us to play more dominantly throughout? Yeah," Heat coach Stan Van Gundy said. "But you know what? The other team's trying to win, too. That's the biggest problem I find in coaching. If everybody else would quit doing that, it would make it a lot easier."
During the 12-game run, Miami has trailed at halftime eight times. The Heat have been outscored 606-605 in the opening half before wearing teams down and pulling away by an average of 9.6 points after the break.
Against the Hawks, Miami used a 13-0 third-quarter run fueled by Dwyane Wade to transform a six-point deficit into a seven-point lead that it protected the rest of the way. Wade had six points during that spree, and had assists to set up the other seven.
"We don't try to do it that way. It's just the makeup of our team right now," said Wade, who's averaging 27.8 points and 10 assists in his last four games. "When it's time to dig in, we dig in. And that's a good makeup to have, especially for a team with eight or nine new guys."
Shaquille O'Neal, the most notable new guy, is thrilled with how the Heat has put this streak together ！ especially since two of the wins were 2-point, come-from-behind affairs against Sacramento and then Kobe Bryant's Los Angeles Lakers.
Against the Kings, Miami rallied from 12 down with 5:17 remaining. And then in the Christmas showdown with the Lakers ！ O'Neal's team for eight years his trade to Miami during the summer ！ the Heat survived a 42-point outburst from Bryant and pulled out a win in overtime.
"When you look at the guys we have on paper, it can't happen," said O'Neal, who's averaged 25.7 points in his last seven outings. "A lot of people probably thought it wouldn't happen, especially last week. Going out there to Sacramento, a lot of people thought we'd overlook that game or Sacramento was too tough. And then people probably thought we'd overlook that game on Christmas, especially with that guy coming out as hot as he was. But my guys have got a lot of poise."
Entering Tuesday, the Heat's 23 wins ranked second-best in the NBA. They held a 5 1/2-game lead over Cleveland for the conference's best record and a six-game cushion over Orlando and Washington in the Southeast Division. They were 17-2 against conference rivals ！ easily the best of any East team.
"It's hard to win three in a row," said Van Gundy, whose team is off until a Thursday trip to Detroit, which beat Miami 78-77 last month. "It's hard to win games back to back, and then you've got people gunning for you."
Perhaps the most impressive part of the winning streak is the schedule. The off days Tuesday and Wednesday mark the first time the Heat have a two-day break between games since Dec. 1-2.
The 12 wins came in a 22-day stretch, and while some welcome this respite, others would prefer to keep riding the wave.
"I just want to keep it rolling, to be honest with you," guard Eddie Jones said. "Let's keep going. I hate the fact that we have a couple days in between. ... I know we're not invincible, but we're really confident right now."
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