MIAMI _ Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra dug deep into his bag of tricks in this one.
He not only again went to zone defense, but double-teamed James Harden out of it.
He gave Hassan Whiteside his first fourth-quarter minutes since Dec. 2.
And he turned to Tyler Johnson during some of the game's biggest moments.
In the end, after an errant 3-point attempt by Eric Gordon just before the final buzzer, it moved the Heat to their first three-game winning streak of the season with a 101-99 decision Thursday night over the Houston Rockets at AmericanAirlines Arena.
Josh Richardson led the Heat with 22 points, with Harden pacing the Rockets with 35.
The Heat moved to an 11-point lead early in the fourth quarter, after previously trailing early by 16.
But by the midpoint of the fourth quarter, the Rockets moved within 90-89, with Harden by then past 30 points.
With the Heat 15 of 27 from the foul line to that stage, Harden then went to the line with 4:26 to play and converted a pair of his own to improve to 13 of 15 from the line and give Houston a 92-91 lead.
That's when the Heat not only went to their zone, but double-teamed against Harden with it, similar to the approach against Anthony Davis in Sunday's victory over the New Orleans Pelicans.
With Tyler Johnson scoring five straight points from there, the Heat stood up 96-92 when the Rockets called time with 2:45 to play.
That's when the Rockets went to a hack-a-Whiteside approach, with the Heat center converting one of two with 2:17 to play for a 97-92 lead.
P.J. Tucker then scored inside to draw the Rockets within 97-94, with Tyler Johnson fouled on a 3-point attempt with 1:51 left. With the Heat at 16 of 29 from the line to that stage, Johnson made two of the attempts, for a 99-94 Heat lead.
Fouled on a 3-pointer of his own, Harden then made the final two free throws to draw Houston within 99-96 with 1:36 to go.
Dwyane Wade countered with a pair of free throws for a 101-96 Heat lead, only to see Gordon convert a 3-pointer to draw Houston within 101-99.
But when Wade was off in the lane with four seconds to go, it put Houston in position to win or tie off a timeout with 3.8 seconds left.
That's when Gordon was off and the Heat extended their winning streak.
