Blast of Heat withers Wolves' perfect '09

Minnesota's five-game winning streak was stopped, in part, because the team couldn't stop Miami star Dwyane Wade. He scored a game-high 31 points and has eight assists.

By JERRY ZGODA , Star Tribune

Last update: January 14, 2009 - 10:45 AM

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MIAMI 99, WOLVES 96

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Perfect no more.

Sounds like a strange thing to say about the Timberwolves, doesn't it?

Their five-game winning streak -- all since the calendar flipped to 2009 -- ended Tuesday night at Target Center, where Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat came in from the cold and won 99-96 with a finishing flourish.

Ahead by 13 points in the second quarter and by five with 4 minutes, 23 seconds left, the Wolves allowed 13 of the game's final 18 points, including the last four. Miami's Olympian, All-Star and television commercial personality countered Randy Foye's scoring and the Heat won the game at the free-throw line and by protecting the basketball a trifle better when it mattered most.

Wade scored 31 points to Foye's 29, and the Heat outscored the Wolves 30-9 at the free-throw line and converted two unsuccessful Timberwolves attempts to push the pace in the final three minutes into four points that helped win the game.

"We're still confident," Wolves forward Rodney Carney said. "We won five in a row. We can start anew."

The Heat turned Kevin Love's off- balance, flipped outlet pass into a steal and a Wade slam dunk that ended a 7-0 run and put the Heat ahead 93-91 with 2:50 left. Moments after Foye's fifth and final three-pointer of the night gave the Wolves a 96-95 lead with 1:55 left, Sebastian Telfair tried to turn a Wade turnover into a quick-strike basket and threw a lead pass intended for Carney out of bounds.

"That's just the way we play now," Foye said. "We get the ball out quick. Obviously, sometimes there will be mistakes. [Wolves coach Kevin McHale] didn't say too much about it because that's the way we play."

McHale second-guessed himself for leaving starters Al Jefferson, Ryan Gomes and Telfair on the bench until 2:48 remained while he stuck with reserves Love, Rodney Carney, Brian Cardinal and Mike Miller, a crew that had helped the team build a 43-30 lead midway through the second quarter.

"The second group was rolling; matter of fact he could have let 'em stay out there," said Jefferson, who needed seven stitches at halftime to close a gash over his right eye and scored in single digits (nine) for the first time since Dec. 1. "I've got nothing to say when the guys on the court are playing well and I'm on the bench."

Jefferson was stripped off the ball with 34 seconds left, a turnover Shawn Marion turned into a pair of free throws that put the Heat ahead to stay at 97-96 with 22 seconds left. Rookie Michael Beasley got an offensive rebound off a missed free throw, and Foye thought he was fouled by Wade when his desperation three-pointer missed at the final buzzer.

"I tried to do what he did to me in the first half," said Foye, who also had eight assists and five rebounds. "I thought I got hit. He's a great player, an All-Star. At the same time, I'm trying to advance my game. It'll come. You see it, slowly but surely."