Dec. 7--MIAMI -- Who knew? Who knew you were allowed to go a full week without a loss being added to your record?
Apparently, this is a brave new world, with the Heat extending its winning streak to three with Saturday night's 105-99 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder. Before Saturday, you had to go back to April 2007 for the Heat's previous three-game winning streak. Since then, the only NBA team not to win at least three in a row is Minnesota.
"We don't want to stop, either," coach Erik Spoelstra said. "We have to maintain our focus and continue to move forward.
"Sometime in the spring, you're going to look around this arena and it's going to be tough to get a ticket."
The Heat couldn't have handpicked a better opponent, with the team formerly known as the Seattle SuperSonics now 2-19. Only four teams in the history of the league have gotten off to worse starts.
By playing a bad team coming off a Friday loss in Orlando, the Heat was able to withstand an uneven performance that saw it lose a 15-point lead, with a 20-5 Thunder run to start the final period leaving it tied at 90.
"It was encouraging to see we were able to put them away at the end," Spoelstra said.
Had teammates followed the lead of guard Dwyane Wade, this one would have been over in short order. Wade had 15 points in the first quarter, 25 by halftime and 35 through three quarters on the way to 38.
"We've got to continue to keep on the pedal," Wade said.
The Heat's individual high in its previous 40 games against the Sonics/Thunder had been 32 by Steve Smith on Feb. 17, 1994.
"If he doesn't get 38, we don't win this game," Spoelstra said.
Wade was supported by the 15 points and 14 rebounds of power forward Udonis Haslem, who became the first Heat player with three consecutive games of 13 or more rebounds since Shaquille O'Neal did it in November 2004.
Small forward Shawn Marion added 15 points, 12 rebounds and four blocked shots, his high as a member of the Heat.
"Both of 'em were fantastic," Spoelstra said of his forwards.
The Heat was limited with the minutes of rookie forward Michael Beasley, who was poked in the eye in the first half and complained of blurry vision when he re-entered.
"I'm still seeing double," he said after playing 13 minutes.
Ira Winderman can be reached at iwinder man@SunSentinel.com
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