It was a clear black night, a clear white moon.
The Houston Rockets visited the Miami Heat, and it came down to the final possession.
Eric Gordon missed a 3-pointer, and the Heat held off the Rockets 101-99 on Thursday night for their first three-game winning streak of the season.
The Heat was fortunate for the Gordon miss, the Rockets were unfortunate to lose their All-Star point guard Chris Paul in the second quarter to a strained left hamstring.
Paul will undergo an MRI on Friday to determine the severity of the injury.
James Harden scored 35 points for the Rockets, whose five-game winning streak was snapped.
“If somebody else hit it, we would deal with it,” Wade said. “But it wasn’t going to be James Harden.”
Josh Richardson scored 22 points to lead the Heat who were up by two double-digit leads in the game before rallying at one point.
The Rockets though without Paul made it close with the help of their three-point shooting. Rockets attempted their 54th 3-pointer with Gordon’s miss.
The Rockets set an NBA record with 26 makes from 3-point range in Washington on Wednesday, and connected on another 18 in this one. The 44 made 3s in a two-game span are second-most in NBA history over such a stretch.
Houston led by 16 early, then had liftoff using a 13-1 run to erase an 11-point deficit in the fourth.
Hassan Whiteside didn’t record a blocked shot, ending a 26-game streak going back to last season.
The beat goes on.
Rockets return home to host San Antonio on Saturday. The Heat host Milwaukee on Saturday.
