Wade's winning shot lifts Heat over Bobcats 96-95

[December 29, 2011]  CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- Dwyane Wade hit a bank shot over Gerald Henderson with 2.9 seconds left to lift the Miami Heat to a 96-95 victory over the pesky Charlotte Bobcats on Wednesday and remain unbeaten.

After Henderson hit a 3-pointer from the right wing to put the Bobcats up by one with 12 seconds left, the Heat called time and had Wade bring the ball up. He drove to the left side and banked the shot over Henderson, then turned to Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton seated courtside and imitated Newton's Superman touchdown celebration by pretending to rip open his shirt.

D.J. Augustin's 3-point attempt off a side inbounds play didn't fall and D.J. White's putback at the buzzer rolled off the rim as time expired.

LeBron James scored 35 points and Chris Bosh chipped in with 25 as the Heat overcame a sluggish first half in front of 19,614, the largest crowd ever to see a Bobcats game at Time Warner Cable Arena.

James and Bosh combined to score 35 points in the second half. They had plenty of help from the Bobcats, who turned the ball over 12 times on 25 third-quarter possessions.

Henderson led the Bobcats with 21 points, while Augustin had 20. Boris Diaw had a terrific game as well with 16 points, 16 rebounds and eight assists.

The young Bobcats seemed to feed off the crowd early on and certainly weren't intimidated by the Eastern Conference champions.

The Bobcats jumped out to an 11-0 lead and led by as many as 16 points in the first half against a Heat team that hadn't trailed for more than 14 seconds in their first two games.

They got plenty of open looks, using a pick-and-pop to free up center Diaw for 3-pointers from the top of the key. Augustin was fearless in the first half, showing no signs of a sprained ankle from Monday night by hitting on 3 of 4 3-pointers in the first half for 16 points as the Bobcats took a 60-45 lead into the locker room.

And even without an established big man, the Bobcats outrebounded the Heat 25-14 in the first half.

The Heat looked out of sync and frustrated early on.

James got pickpocketed by Derrick Brown in the halfcourt set and later threw up an air ball on a turnaround jumper after posting up low against Corey Maggette. The other two-thirds of Miami's Big Three also struggled, with Bosh getting rejected in the paint by rookie Bismack Biyombo and Wade hitting just 2 of 8 from the field.

[Associated Press; By STEVE REED]

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