Heat Make It Nine-Straight With 96-84 Win Over Hornets

Dwyane Wade scored a game-high 32 points, as the Miami Heat won their ninth straight game after defeating the New Orleans Hornets, 96-84.

Chris Bosh finished with 23 points and 11 rebounds, while LeBron James added 20 points and seven assists for Miami, which last won nine in a row from March 20 to April 7, 2010. Wade has scored 30-plus points in each of the last three games.

"They really dictated the game to us," Miami head coach Erik Spoelstra said. "They slowed the tempo down. We couldn't get into a flow with consecutive stops and get out into the open court. We didn't let that frustrate us."

Hornets' blog At The Hive pinpoints what exactly cost New Orleans the game. And to be honest, I can't believe theydidn't notice it either.

It's pretty obvious what lost us the game- Miami's decision to keep LeBron James in against our second unit. And it's not like that was some new strategy Erick Spoelstra cooked up for the Hornets game. The Heat have been employing that tactic all season long. We either failed to recognize it or simply ignored it in favor of sticking with out regular rotations. And it cost us.

David West ended with a team-high 26 points to go with 12 rebounds for the Hornets.