Whiteside shines as Heat rally to ground Rockets

How hard is it to erase a 21-point, third-quarter deficit in the National Basketball Association?

The Miami Heat (1-1) are coming from a 102-92 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

How wild was it?

Houston never recovered from the third quarter collapse, allowing the Heat to score another 34 points in the fourth while the Rockets could only manage to score 14 on their own. “There were a few moments of silence”. “That’s all I got to say”. “But it’s harsh reality… and it just comes out the way it comes out”. However, it was announced by the team after the game that Whiteside had received four stitches above his left eye but is expected to be just fine.

The Rockets played without center Dwight Howard, who sat out because of a sore back. The former MVP candidate has scored at least 20 points in all three games this season and is still an extremely solid fantasy producer when he is able to take the floor, but given his age and mileage, coach Erik Spoelstra will likely find opportunities to rest him throughout the regular season in order to keep him healthy for the playoffs.

Consecutive 3-pointers from guard Patrick Beverly and guard Jason Terry negated the early Miami comeback and helped Houston open the second quarter with 10 unanswered points.

Haslem’s fiery speech – replete with a few profanity from the tri-captain and a couple bottles getting angrily spiked into the red locker room carpeting for emphasis – led to a Miami turnaround, the Heat outscoring Houston by 41 points in the final 23 minutes and rolling past the Houston Rockets 109-89.

Kent Bazemore scored 20 points as Atlanta held off host Charlotte for the second time in three days.

“Just never count us out”.

The first half was a blowout.

And Spoelstra celebrated his 45th birthday. The Heat then turned the game around.

The Heat bench also contributed nicely in this one.

“[Chris Bosh], Luol [Deng], Goran [Dragic], [Josh] McRoberts, Amar’e [Stoudemire] they couldn’t have been happier enjoying their teammates success and that’s a quality of good teams”.

When Wade is hitting threes, you know it’s a good day. Wade also chipped in 20 points and eight assists, many of those to Whiteside.