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 The Miami Heat reserve guard worked hard to make it occur.
"He probably took 1,000 shots yesterday (in practice)," Heat coach
Erik Spoelstra said. "That's leadership. He came in there and
sweated to make it better."
Allen's perspiration and determination led to fourth-quarter
domination.
He scored 14 points in that period to help the slumping Heat break
out of its malaise — at least for one game — with a 113-104 win
over the Houston Rockets at AmericanAirlines Arena.
Allen finished with excellent shooting numbers: 7-for-11 from the
floor, 4-for-6 on 3-pointers and 7-for-7 from the foul line.
Miami closed the game on a 15-2 run, frustrating Rockets coach Kevin
McHale.
"We had a five-point lead (late in the game), but we didn't cover
Ray on an out-of-bounds play," McHale said of Allen's corner
3-pointer. "We substituted to go small, but I don't even know what
we did.
"We didn't play very well down the stretch. I have no idea what
happened."
Allen was asked how he got open on his key 3-pointer.
"It's 18 years for me now (in the NBA)," he said. "I never know how
I get open, but when I do, I have to be ready to shoot."
The Heat, who entered Sunday having lost five of six games, also got
24 points each from forward LeBron James and guard Dwyane Wade.
Forward Chris Bosh added 18 points and eight rebounds, and Wade led
the team with seven assists.
Houston guard James Harden scored a game-high 30 points. He made
seven of 16 shots from the floor, including five of 12 3-point
attempts, and he converted 11 of 12 from the foul line.
Still, Harden said he was not satisfied.
"I missed a couple of layups and open 3s," he said. "They got a
couple of easy points, and that kind of stopped us right there."
Rockets center Dwight Howard had 21 points, 14 rebounds, five
assists and two blocked shots. It was his third double-double in a
row and his 45th in 66 games.
He, too, was disappointed in how the game finished.
"We got stagnant and stopped doing what was working in the first
three quarters," Howard said of the Rockets' offense. "We stopped
moving the ball. We took some tough shots instead of just moving the
ball."
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The Rockets (44-22) also got 15 points and a game-high four steals
from guard Patrick Beverley.
Miami (45-19) trails the Indiana Pacers by two games in the loss
column in the battle for the best record in the Eastern Conference.
Houston, which lost its third consecutive game, is in fourth place
in the Western Conference.
The Heat never trailed in the first half despite allowing Houston to
shoot 73.3 percent from the floor in the first quarter.
Miami led 32-28 after a first quarter in which James had 11 points
and the team shot 50 percent from the field. Normally a weak
rebounding team, the Heat had five offensive rebounds compared with
none for the Rockets.
The Heat led 57-54 at halftime. They were up by as many as 11 points
in the second quarter before the Rockets rallied.
Houston's shooting cooled off in the second quarter, when it made
42.9 percent from the field, but the Rockets did a better job on the
boards, grabbing five offensive rebounds to one for Miami.
Houston took its first lead of the game in the third quarter and was
up 81-79 heading into the fourth.
The Rockets wound up hitting 49.3 percent of their shots, while
Miami made 51.3 percent.
NOTES: Heat C Greg Oden made his second start of the season, and he
finished with no points and six rebounds in 12 minutes. ... Rockets
F Chandler Parsons drew the ultimate praise from Heat coach Erik
Spoelstra. "He's a little bit position-less," said Spoelstra, whose
team is based on that versatility. "He's an X-factor guy because he
can shoot it, he can get you off the dribble, and he is great off
the ball on his cuts." ... New York Daily News writer Frank Isola
claims to have an anonymous source in the camp of Heat F LeBron
James. That source, Isola wrote, believes James will look at the New
York Knicks as a free agent this summer now that they hired Phil
Jackson to run the franchise. ... Next up, the Heat go on a two-game
road trip — Tuesday against the Cleveland Cavaliers and Wednesday
against the Boston Celtics. ... The Rockets return home to play the
Utah Jazz on Monday and the Minnesota Timberwolves on Thursday.
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