SAN ANTONIO _ In such a critical juncture in the season, the Miami Heat went into San Antonio and took down the hottest team in the NBA.
Goran Dragic came off the bench to score 22 and the Heat, again without Justise Winslow or Rodney McGruder, snapped the Spurs' nine-game win streak with a 110-105 victory at AT&T Center on Wednesday night.
The Heat (35-36) stay a game and a half ahead of the Orlando Magic for the Eastern Conference's No. 8 seed after the Magic beat the New Orleans Pelicans earlier Wednesday. They also kept pace with the Brooklyn Nets following the Nets' comeback victory against the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday night, returning to one game behind Brooklyn.
Miami wins a regular-season game in San Antonio for only the fourth time in franchise history and sweeps a two-game season series from the Spurs for only the third time (1996-97, 2012-13).
Dragic scored 20 of his 22 points in the first half as all four Heat reserves to play were in double figures _ James Johnson 13, Hassan Whiteside 12 and Dwyane Wade 11. Dion Waiters had 18 to lead the starters, and Bam Adebayo scored had 15 rebounds.
Josh Richardson, who scored 15, made the key defensive play, stealing the ball from DeMar DeRozan with 10 seconds left with DeRozan surging to the basket after blocking Richardson. Kelly Olynyk sank two free throws to seal it.
Dwyane Wade banked in a left-handed floater with 1:23 left to push the Heat lead to 108-103. Rudy Gay scored inside to bring it back down to three. After a Waiters miss, Gay had a chance to tie it and he missed a 3.
The Spurs' win streak was most impressive because many of the victories came against top teams. San Antonio had beaten the Oklahoma City Thunder, Milwaukee Bucks, Denver Nuggets and, on Monday, the Golden State Warriors during the run. They had LaMarcus Aldridge, Patty Mills and Marco Bellinelli all score 17.
The Heat first built their lead in the second quarter, going into halftime leading 62-47 after winning the period, 38-25. The lead had momentarily reached single digits during a Spurs third-quarter run, but Wade hit a half-court shot at the buzzer to the third to put the Heat up 90-78 heading into the fourth.
The Heat complete their current four-game road trip with games in Milwaukee against the Bucks on Friday and at the Washington Wizards on Saturday.
