Miami snaps nine game losing streak to send Washington back under .500 again.

Michael Jordan hip checks Vladamir Stepania in the chest to create more space.

by Fred Schiebel, Head Writer


MIAMI -- The Life of (Pat) Riley ain't what it used to be.

Riding the worst stretch in his coaching career, his Miami Heat pulled out of their collision course with the bottom of the Eastern Conference, if only for a night, defeating the Washington Wizards 90-85 in front of a crowd of 20,118 at the American Airlines Arena, finally putting an end to their neverending nine game losing streak. It was only their fourth win in fifteen tries.

"Finally," Riley said. "We've deserved to win a couple other times before this, but the ball didn't bounce our way. Hopefully this will give us some momentum to start digging ourselves out of this deep hole."

"If you have anything in you, you just continue to fight," Heat forward LaPhonso Ellis said, who had 19 points and seven rebounds in the victory. "You won't see any white flags. There is a sense of urgency to get things going in the right direction."

The Wizards appeared to be wanting to reverse their course back to the wrong one. Basking in the glow of reaching .500 last game against Philly, they came out with another half-hearted attempt at playing defense, letting the offensively-challenged Heat shoot 71 percent in the first quarter.

"They're one of the worst teams in the league on that end," Doug Collins fumed. "But we'll make any team look like a dynasty, for at least a quarter or two."

Riley decided to double team Michael Jordan from the opening tip. Judging from his first basket it appeared the strategy would have no effect, as he hit his first fadeaway jumper with Eddie Jones and Malik Allen draped over him on the baseline. At the end of the period however he had only hit one of five from the field, and the Wizards found themselves down five, 26-21.

The Heat lead extended to nine by the end of the second quarter half, 48-39. Richard Hamilton had 12 points at the break, Jordan 10. Eddie Jones had them both beat, with 14. Ellis, Jordan's man, had 12 points -- hitting all five of his shots.

The Wizards then decided to try to give defense a chance, holding Miami to 33 percent from the field in the second half. Still, the Heat were resilient and held onto most of their advantage, despite Washington shooting 59 percent in the third period. Down the stretch in the fourth quarter the Wizards came close to catching them. Jordan hit two fadeaways in a row -- one on the baseline over Ellis as the shot clock expired, the other on a fastbreak over a scrambling Ellis and Allen defensive gangup, to cut the deficit to a single point, 81-80.

Jordan missed his next two jumpers, and Jones hit a turnaround shot over Hamilton to extend the lead to three. Jordan penetrated to score, but on the other end couldn't keep Ellis in front of him, and was forced to foul with 55.3 seconds left in regulation. Ellis hit both free throws, dimming the Wizards' prospects considerably.

After a timeout, Hamilton missed a jumper, but rookie Kwame Brown got the offensive rebound, passing it to Chris Whitney, who missed the three pointer. Miami took possession, with Jones scoring on a 24 foot right wing three to increase their buffer to six, 88-82, with 16.1 seconds left, sealing the deal.

Jones finished with 29 points, hitting 11 of 18 shots, outdueling Jordan despite no one playing up this particular matchup. Jordan was still solid, leading the Wizards with 24 points. Hamilton scored 20 points.

"They're a real hungry team at the moment, and a hungry team is a dangerous team," Jordan said. "We've channeled that same hunger ourselves. I tried to communicate that to our guys, but it seemed to fall on deaf ears."

Maybe they're deaf from all the yelling he did during their own six game losing streak.