Dwyane Wade turns back clock, leads Heat past Thunder in thriller

Alec Brzezinski

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Dwyane Wade turns back clock, leads Heat past Thunder in thriller image

Dwyane Wade turned back the clock Thursday as the Heat outlasted the Thunder 97-95 in Miami.

Wade scored a game-high 28 points on 11-of-21 shooting. He also grabbed four rebounds, dished out four assists and held Russell Westbrook to a manageable 25 points.

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Things haven't been easy for Wade, 33, this season, but he has scored 58 points combined in his last two games.

“My job is to come in every day and help this team win," Wade said on TNT. "I like to see our young guys come in and step up in a big way, which is something they did tonight."

First-round pick Justise Winslow is one of those young guns and even though he was held to two points, he held Kevin Durant to 25 points and made life difficult for the 2014 league MVP.

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Heat coach Erik Spoelstra was still stressed after the game, which featured 38 lead changes — the second-most in the NBA in the past 10 seasons.

"My stomach's in knots," Spoelstra said, via NBA.com. "These guys love it. They love it. This is what you play for. Thursday night, at home, in Miami. The guys don't even feel the type of anxiety or pressure that we do. It's excitement for them."

Miami (11-6) has the talent to make a deep postseason run, but will need to keep veterans Wade and Chris Bosh fresh to extend its season into June.

Here's what else happened around the NBA on Thursday:

Raptors get caught looking ahead toward clash with Warriors

In case you haven't heard, Stephen Curry and the undefeated Warriors are headed to Toronto on Saturday. It appears the Raptors (12-8) were fully aware when they took the floor Thursday against the Nuggets, a game they lost 106-105. DeMar DeRozan led Toronto with a game-high 34 points on 14-of-26 shooting, but the Raptors got little from anyone else. The Raptors need to figure out their shooting woes if they're going to hand Golden State (20-0) its first loss of the season.

Will Barton, a possible candidate for Sixth Man of the Year, led Denver with 22 points. Nuggets center Joffrey Lauvergne scored 14 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in just 24 minutes.

Highlights

Westbrook throws one down with authority:

Durant got in on the act as well:

Raptors guard Kyle Lowry hit a half-court shot at the buzzer ... to lose by one:

It turns out Gregg Popovich can enjoy an interview:

Stud of the Night

Spurs small forward Kawhi Leonard scored 27 points on 9-of-13 shooting in a 103-83 win against the Grizzlies. Leonard made a career-high seven 3-pointers as he continues to lead the Spurs on both ends of the court. He also grabbed eight rebounds, made two steals and had a block.

Dud of the Night

Pacers star Paul George came into Thursday on fire, but he left Portland's court with just 11 points on 4-of-17 shooting. The poor outing also included five turnovers in a 123-111 loss to the Blazers.

What's next (all times Eastern):

Suns (8-11) at Wizards (7-9), 7 p.m.: Both teams have disappointed to start the season, but they can electrify a crown on any given night. Phoenix's backcourt duo of Brandon Knight and Eric Bledsoe has been in top form.

Cavaliers (13-5) at Pelicans (4-15), 9:30 p.m. (ESPN): This game may look like a mismatch when glancing at the records, but the Cavs are coming off a home loss to the Wizards and the Pelicans are starting to get healthy. Plus, who doesn't want to watch LeBron James and Kevin Love square off against Anthony Davis?

Alec Brzezinski