Miami suffered it’s second overtime loss in as many nights, losing to the Los Angeles Clippers, 95-89.
Chris Paul led LA with 27 points and 11 assists, and Blake Griffin and Caron Butler each tossed in 20 for the Clippers.
LeBron James led the Heat in a losing effort with 23 points and 13 rebounds. Mario Chalmers hit four three pointers, finishing with 18 points.
First Period:
In what is proving to be a game played in transition, the teams each scored several baskets on the break, with both Blake Griffin and LeBron James delivering highlight reel dunks in a hard fought and entertaining first period.
The Clippers took a 6-3 lead when Chris Paul threw up a no look pass to an airborne Blake Griffin, who was in the process of jumping over Mario Chalmers for a resounding dunk.
The Heat came back with a 9-0 run, including a three pointer by Mario Chalmers, a fast break dunk by LeBron James, and a finger roll courtesy of Dwyane Wade.
Blake Griffin then went on a personal seven-point run, with two dunks, a short jumper and a free throw to put the Clippers up, 13-12.
The teams then traded chances for several minutes, the period ending with Miami up, 24-21. Blake Griffin had three dunks, scoring 11 points on 5-of-8 shooting. LeBron James put up 10, and Mario Chalmers hit two three-pointers for the Heat.
Second Period:
The Miami Heat held the Los Angeles Clippers to 37 percent shooting from the field in the first half, heading into the locker room with a five point lead.
Blake Griffin had 16 and CP3 added 14 for the Clippers. Miami was led by Dwyane Wade and Mario Chalmers, with 11 points each.
Miami scored six of the first eight points of the period, but Griffin hit his first three pointer of the season on his first attempt as the shot clock was expiring to bring the Clippers back to within two, at 30-28.
For a moment, Griffin looked a little unsteady on his feet after taking an inadvertent elbow from Udonis Haslem in the nose. After a spot of blood was cleaned off, Griffin looked ready to play again.
Chris Bosh hit a three pointer to put the Heat up by 11, 39-28 with four and a half minutes to play in the third, their biggest lead of the evening.
The Clippers put together an eight point run to close the Heat lead to three at 39-36 with three to play, capped by ex-Heat player Caron Butler hitting two free throws.
After a Wade layup, Chauncey Billups made his first three-pointer of the evening after missing on his first three attempts to bring the score to 41-39.
Haslem put the lead back at five, 45-40 by tipping in a Shane Battier miss with 28 seconds to go in the half.
With six seconds to play, Billups made his second three pointer of the night to bring the Clippers back to within two, but Chalmers hit his third of the night with 0.2 seconds to play to put the score at Heat 48, Clippers 43.
Third Period:
Chris Paul leads all players with 25 points and nine rebounds with Blake Griffin pitching in 18 for the Clippers. LeBron James and Mario Chalmers have 15 each, while Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade have each chipped in 13 to lead Miami.
Through three quarters, this game has been marked by fierce competition and a decided lack of any serious run one way or the other. So far, the game high run has been eight, by the Clippers in the second quarter to cut the Miami lead from 11 to three.
The two teams traded baskets for the first six minutes of the half, with the lead alternating between four and six points until Chris Paul hit a jumper from the top of the key to bring the Clippers to within two, at 60-58.
LeBron James had the answer at the other end, hitting a layup and getting fouled in the process, but he could not complete the three point play, missing his free throw attempt, and the lead remained at four.
Caron Butler cut the Heat lead to two, 65-63 with a three pointer as the shot clock expired with just over two minutes left in the third.
Chris Paul tied the score a minute later at 65 with a 16 footer. James answered with a layup at the other end, and CP3 again answered, this time with a layup and a foul, putting the Clippers up, 68-67.
The period ended with the Clippers on top by one, 70-69.
Fourth Period:
Heat rookie Norris Cole had a scary moment going for a high steal on a pass in the Clippers zone, landing on his shoulders and head, but he rejoined the action without a time out.
Chris Paul led the Clippers with 27 points and 10 assists. Blake Griffin added 18 and Caron Butler 17. Miami was led by LeBron James, who scored 23 with 11 rebounds.
The lead changed hands several times in the fourth period, with hard play on both sides of the court. Miami had several chances to ice the game, but could not capitalize on their free throw shooting, only hitting 59 percent by connecting on 20-of-34 attempts.
Dwyane Wade put the Heat up two, 78-76 on a free throw. The Clippers tied it up on the ensuing possession when Chris Paul made a physics bending pass for his 10th assist of the evening to DeAndre Jordan for the easy layup.
Jordan then prevented the Heat from taking the lead, blocking his fifth shot of the game on a Shane Battier layup attempt.
Paul hit a fadeaway jumper to put the Clippers up two, 80-78. LBJ hit one of two foul shots at the other end to cut the lead in half. Dwyane Wade also hit one of two foul shots to tie the game at 80.
After two free throws by James, Caron Butler hit a three to put the Clippers back up by one, 83-82.
Chris Bosh tied it by hitting one free throw of two with two minutes remaining.
Billups was fouled on a three-point attempt with 27 seconds remaining in the game, and showed the Heat how it’s done, hitting all three of his free throws, putting the Clippers up 86-84.
LBJ was fouled on a screen, but didn’t get the finger roll to drop, and needed to sink both his foul shots to tie. He made the first, but the second bounced out. During the fight for the loose ball, Wade threw it into Paul as he was falling out of bounds, saving possession for the Heat.
On the next possession, James was again fouled driving to the basket, but missed his first and made his second, tying the score at 86.
Chris Paul had a chance to ice the game at the buzzer, but missed the floater, and the teams headed to overtime.
Overtime:
Caron Butler and DeAndre Jordan made baskets for the Clippers for a 90-86 lead, and Miami played the first 200 seconds of overtime without a point.
Mario Chalmers finally broke the drought, nailing a three from the corner to cut the lead to one, 90-89.
Blake Griffin got the ball to drop with a layup on the next possession, extending the lead back to three.
The Heat had trouble fouling the opposition after the inbounds pass, and DeAndre Jordan slammed it down to build a 94-89 lead. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra was ejected in the ensuing mayhem, and Caron Butler hit the free throw awarded on the technical foul to ice the game, 95-89.