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Heat-Hawks: 56k | 300k |
Eddie Jones scored 23 points and Lamar Odom added 21 for Miami (37-38), which caught Milwaukee and New Orleans for fourth place in the Eastern Conference. The magic number for its first playoff berth since 2001 is four.
"Winning gives you confidence," said Heat coach Stan Van Gundy, whose team has won nine of its last 10 games. "Confidence will not come from anything. Winning breeds confidence. Any type of accomplishment breeds confidence, not anything else."
Miami trailed, 96-88, with 3:29 remaining. The Heat refused to give in and quickly tied the game on a three-point play by Odom, a 3-pointer by Jones and a driving bank shot by Odom at the 1:18 mark.
"I'm not going to watch us lose," said Odom, who scored 11 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter. "I'm just going to make good plays. I got myself in a good rhythm."
Atlanta self-destructed down the stretch by not hitting a shot and committing four costly turnovers.
"Our execution down the stretch hasn't been very good," said Hawks guard Bob Sura, who committed two of the four turnovers down the stretch. "When other teams turn things up defensively, we have to be able to answer."
Odom fouled out, and Stephen Jackson made 1-of-2 free throws to give Atlanta a 97-96 lead with 1:02 remaining. Wade, who had been benched for his poor defense, came on for Odom and immediately answered with a strong drive that gave Miami the lead for good.
"It made me feel good to hit the basket," Wade, one of six Heat players in double figures with 10 points. "I feel great."
Jackson missed a 3-pointer and Sura threw away a pass before Rafer Alston made two free throws with 9.9 seconds to go. Jason Terry and Chris Crawford missed 3-pointers in the final seconds for the Hawks.
"We had two or three good chances at the end, but came up short," said Crawford, who scored 22 points. "We had three turnovers and in the last two minutes, and you can't win ballgames doing that. Unfortunately, that pretty much cost us the game."
The Heat led, 47-32, after Rasual Butler hit a 3-pointer with 2:53 remaining in the second quarter before the Hawks went on a 10-2 run.
Jackson scored 29 points for the Hawks, who received no points from their bench and went 2-2 on their four-game homestand.
