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Cavaliers-Heat: 56k | 300k |
Brian Grant added 19 points, Rafer Alston 16, Eddie Jones 15 and Caron Butler 12 and 10 rebounds for the Heat (40-39), who won their 11th straight home game and improved to 3-0 this season against the Cavaliers, whom they face at Gund Arena on Saturday.
Miami trailed 79-76 before scoring the first six points of the fourth quarter to take the lead for good. The edge was 89-86 before the Heat embarked on an 11-0 run, taking a 100-86 advantage on a 3-pointer by Alston with 3:19 left.
"The last two minutes of the third quarter, they were winning and we said, 'Let's go,'" Wade said. "As a team we got up real quick and it shows the confidence that we have."
"Whenever I mention Carmelo (Denver Nuggets rookie Carmelo Anthony), I always mention Dwyane," James said. "He has had a good season, producing and leading his team to the playoffs."
The Heat are in fifth place in the Eastern Conference, one game behind fourth-place Milwaukee (41-38). They started the season 0-7 and 5-15 under coach Stan Van Gundy, who got the job when Pat Riley stepped aside just before the start of the season.
"It feels great," said Van Gundy, whose team has not been in the playoffs in three years. "It has been a long time. To come from where we did, these guys deserve a tremendous amount of credit."
"(We) definitely had a lot of fun," said Odom, whose team set an attendance record with 20,213 fans at AmericanAirlines Arena. "It felt like a playoff atmosphere and we need to try and work to get better and have momentum going into the playoffs. You want to play your best basketball now."
James collected 24 points, eight assists and seven rebounds and Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Lee Nailon added 18 points apiece for Cleveland (32-47), which lost its seventh straight game.
"This season has been like a roller-coaster for us," said James, whose team went just 17-65 last season to land the top overall draft pick. "Overall we have succeeded, and we shouldn't be fighting for an eighth seed next year."
The Cavaliers again were without point guard Jeff McInnis, who aggravated an ankle injury at Memphis on Wednesday.
"I'm not disappointed because I know the reason why we lost," first-year Cavaliers coach Paul Silas said. "If we had a full team and we're reaching this point right now, then I would surely be disappointed."
The Cavaliers shot 57 percent (31-of-54) through three quarters but connected on just 26 percent (5-of-19) in the final period. Miami shot 53 percent (9-of-17) in the final 12 minutes and 48 percent (35-of-73) overall.
