Whiteside leads Heat past Trail Blazers

Hassan Whiteside collected 28 points and 11 rebounds as the visiting Miami Heat took down the Portland Trail Blazers 118-108 Tuesday night. Dwyane Wade came off the bench for 22 points and nine rebounds, and Josh Richardson scored 18 points for the Heat, who ended a three-game losing streak.

CJ McCollum scored 33 points, and Jake Layman added a career-high 25 points with eight rebounds for the Trail Blazers, who saw the end to an eight-game home win streak. Richardson had 16 points, and Miami shot 60 percent from the field in running up a 62-55 halftime lead. Layman scored 16 points on 7-for-9 shooting, and McCollum added 15 for Portland.

Miami pushed the difference to 73-60 early in the third quarter. The Heat's edge was 94-79 heading into the final period. Portland started the fourth quarter on a 21-7 run. A pair of 3-pointers by McCollum helped pull the Blazers to within 101-100 with 6:55 left.

After Miami's James Johnson and Portland's Meyers Leonard traded treys, Whiteside scored on a hook to give the Heat a 106-103 lead with 4:47 remaining. Johnson sank a pair at the line to up Miami's advantage to 108-103 with 3:59 to play. McCollum scored on a runner to cut it to 108-105, but Whiteside's dunk made it 110-105 with 2:28 left.

Johnson scored on a post-up to hike Miami's lead to 112-105 with 1:27 to go. Damian Lillard hit one of two at the line to trim the deficit to 112-106, but Whiteside made two foul shots to give the Heat a 114-106 advantage with 40.7 seconds to play.

Layman dunked for the Blazers, but Richardson sank a pair at the line to make it 116-108 with 38.4 seconds remaining. Miami jumped to a 16-9 lead four minutes into the game. The Heat increased the margin to 24-15 but settled for a 34-30 advantage after one quarter, Richardson leading the way with 14 points.

Miami went into the half ahead by seven points. --Field Level Media