Heat overcome Cavs in OT

Antoine Walker scored 20 points and was 6-of-8 from three-point range for the defending world champions, who remain the four seed in the Eastern Conference playoff race and moved 1 1/2 games ahead of the idle Washington Wizards in the Southeast Division.

Shaquille O’Neal also scored 20 points and pulled down eight rebounds, while Udonis Haslem had 15 points.

LeBron James had a game-high 35 points and nine rebounds for the Cavaliers, who fell 3 1/2 games behind Detroit in the Central Division. Cleveland also surrendered the No. 2 seed to idle Chicago. Although the teams are tied with identical 45-31 records, the Bulls hold the tiebreaker.

Larry Hughes, Aleksandar Pavlovic and Drew Gooden all added 14 points for Cleveland.

Gooden’s put-back, with 2:25 left in the extra frame, gave the Cavs their first lead since the second quarter, 87-85.

Kapono answered, however, with his big three. The sharpshooter buried the triple from the right wing to put Miami back on top, 88-87, with 1:23 left.

After Alonzo Mourning erased Pavlovic’s layup attempt, Haslem connected on a pair of free throws at the other end to give Miami a 90-87 advantage with 37.2 ticks left.

Jason Williams then came up with a big steal and hit 1-of-2 from the line to seemingly seal things.

James did manage another three but Miami knocked down three free throws in the waning seconds to seal things.

The Heat entered the fourth quarter with a comfortable 13-point cushion but the whistles started to go Cleveland’s way early in the frame and the Cavs quickly got back into it. Donyell Marshall’s three from the left corner capped a 7-0 burst that made it a 75-70 game with 5:54 left in regulation.

Walker finally stemmed the tide by drilling his sixth three of the night on the ensuing possession and Kapono then stuck another three, with 3:49 remaining, to make it 83-72.

Less than 20 seconds later, the three-point parade continued when James knocked down another to give the Cavs some hope, 83-75.

A pair of free throws by James, with 2:03 on the clock, then made it a two- possession game, 83-77.

Miami couldn’t buy a bucket the rest of the way and Cleveland continued to climb back in it at the line. The Cavs went to the charity stripe on three straight possessions and made every freebie, the last two by James deadlocked things at 83 with 42.4 ticks left.

After James Posey missed a running left-handed layup, the Cavs had a chance to win things with 10.9 seconds left. But, inexplicably, James didn’t drive to the basket and settled for a desperation three at the buzzer that came up empty.

Game Notes

Miami was 11-of-26 from long range and Cleveland managed just 4-of-16...Miami is now 16-22 on the road this season...The Cavaliers fell to 27-11 at home.