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Miami Heat falls to Los Angeles Clippers, suffers second straight overtime loss

LOS ANGELES – It’s a shame the Heat and Clippers play just once. Wednesday night at Staples Center was the NBA regular season at its best.

It was another late-night overtime game on the West Coast and another loss for the Heat, but the dynamics of Wednesday’s 95-89 defeat to the Clippers didn’t mirror Tuesday’s loss to Golden State. On Tuesday, the Heat just blew a 17-point lead, plain and simple. The back-and-forth physical nature of Wednesday’s marquee matchup at Staples Center felt like a playoff game.

“It was a good, physical game,” said Heat forward Udonis Haslem, who finished with six points and eight rebounds. “I can appreciate it. Didn’t nobody was going to back down and both teams came to play and lay it out on the court.”

The game was tied at 86 at the end of regulation but the Heat shot just 1 of 10 in overtime. The most glaring stat line of the game, however, was the Heat’s effort at the free-throw line. Miami was 20 of 34, including 9 of 16 from the line in the fourth quarter. The Heat outscored the Clippers 17-16 in the final period of regulation.

LeBron James, who had his 200th double-double, led the Heat with 23 points but was 9 of 17 from the line.

“I put a lot of the free throws on me,” James said. “It’s kind of a rhythm and it trickles down to everybody else. Just got to concentrate a little more up there and knock them down when you’re fouled.”

The Clippers (5-3) held the Heat to 39.5 percent shooting for the game and forced 18 turnovers. Chris Paul, playing his first game against Miami in a Clippers uniform, led Los Angeles with 27 points on 11 of 21 from the field. He also had 11 assists.

Paul scored 11 points and had five assists in the pivotal third quarter. The Heat led by seven in the period but the Clippers stormed back. Paul’s three-point play over Joel Anthony with 55.5 seconds left in the period gave the Clippers its first lead since the first quarter.

“We are great friends and we are going to have some great battles,” Paul said of playing against James. “We don’t necessarily guard each other but we are great competitors and as great of friends as we are we hate to lose to each other.”

It’s too bad for Heat fans that they won’t get a chance to see James try and return the favor this season. Because of the shortened season, the NBA cut out the Clippers road trip to Miami.

Of course, there’s always The Finals.

If Wednesday was any indication, it would be nice series. Hard fouls, midair collisions, bodies slamming into the court, rejections at the rim, charges and even a late ejection of Heat coach Erik Spoelstra provide an atmosphere normally reserved for when the Heat plays the other tenant of Staples Center.

“[Tuesday] we weren’t satisfied with the way we lost,” James said. “Tonight, when you play that game and it’s possession after possession, we played Miami Heat basketball. We defended, we gave ourselves a chance to win and we can be satisfied. You don’t like to lose but we’re not going to hang our heads with this one.”

Former Heat swingman Caron Butler drilled his third three-pointer of the game with four minutes to play to give the Clippers an 83-80 lead. He finished the game with 20 points, scoring 18 in the second half and overtime.

BY JOSEPH GOODMAN, JGOODMAN@MIAMIHERALD.COM

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