Clippers Sail By Heat

The Miami Heat had trouble on the free throw line for the second staight game against the new look Los Angeles Clippers and lost 95-89 in overtime Wednesday night at the Staples Center. Blake Griffin put in his first three field goals to give the Clippers an early 6-3 lead. Miami came back with nine unanswered points to take a 12-6 lead just five minutes into the game. Los Angeles responded with seven straight points taking a 13-12 lead. The Heat led after one quarter 24-21 as LeBron James scored 10 points. Chris Bosh hit a three-point shot with 4:53 left in the second quarter to give Miami an 11-point gap at 39-28. Mario Chalmers nailed a three-pointer at the buzzer as the Heat were up 48-43 at halftime. Chalmers and Dwyane Wade led the team after 24 minutes with 11 points each. The Clippers pulled ahead on a 10-4 spurt at the end of the third quarter to lead 70-69. Late in the fourth quarter, Chauncey Billups was fouled taking a three-point shot by James with 24 seconds left. Billups converted on all three foul shots for a Los Angeles 86-84 lead. After being fouled while driving to the hoop with 16 seconds remaining, James made only one of two free throws to pull within one point. He was fouled again with five seconds left and again put in one of two foul shots to tie the contest at 86-86. The game went into overtime as Chris Paul missed a running jump shot down the lane at the buzzer. Los Angeles got the first two baskets of overtime from former Heat player Caron Butler and DeAndre Jordan. Chalmers pounded a three-point shot from the right side at 1:24 to close it to one, but then Griffin made a lay-up at 1:07. Jordan leveled a slam dunk with five seconds left, then Miami head coach Eric Spoelstra was ejected from the game. Butler made the technical foul shot for a Los Angeles 95-89 lead. The Heat only made one field goal in the last 12 minutes and 30 seconds of the game. Miami continues their road swing as they face the Denver Nuggets on Friday.