But it was a result the Heat coach relished.
After spending a morning team meeting cautioning his players against playing at Phoenix's pace, the Heat did just that in racing past the Suns 117-113 Monday night at the US Airways Center.
Concerned about his team being run off the court at the close of its 10 day, six-game trip, Riley offered a simple statistic to his players in advance of the game: 16-1.
That was Phoenix's record, entering the night, when scoring 100 or more.
"We had a math test," Riley said.
Then Riley's players crunched their own numbers, with a high-octane approach that added up to the team's first winning streak of the season.
While the overall ledger still shows the Heat with a 6-15 record after its 2-4 trip, the game was a revelation.
Apparently the Heat has enough offense to run with the best.
The problem was that it had been hidden at the end of the bench.
While guard Dwyane Wade led the way with 31 points, his third consecutive 30-point outing, it was the contribution of guard Chris Quinn and forward Dorell Wright that helped put the Heat over the top.
Back in the starting lineup, perhaps for good, Wright closed with 16 points and 12 rebounds.
Forced into action by the sprained right ankle that has sidelined starting point guard Jason Williams, Quinn scored 12 on 5-of-7 shooting.
Factor in 18 points from center Shaquille O'Neal and 21 from power forward Udonis Haslem, and the Heat had enough to compete with the likes of Steve Nash, Amare Stoudemire and Shawn Marion, aided by Nash's 4-of-13 inaccuracy.
Riley coached in desperation mode, utilizing only seven players, with Ricky Davis and Alonzo Mourning the only reserves to see action.
His players responded with 48 minutes of intensity, closing with a 46-29 rebounding advantage.
That the Heat played at such an efficient offensive level for so long surprised even it coach.
"We can play occasionally at their pace," he said before the game. "We need to stop them, that's what we need to do."
The Heat stopped Nash — albeit with the guard closing with 14 assists — and that proved enough.
While he wasn't the focus of the attack, O'Neal shot 7 of 10, an oversized complement who was somewhat complimentary of the new equal-opportunity approach.
"It works pretty good, I hope," he said. "So we'll see in the next 20 games. The first 20 we were 5-15. That's terrible. We'll see."
The challenge now is to make more of an impact during a home run that includes five of the next six at AmericanAirlines Arena.
"We've got to find out exactly where are as a team, get back into this thing," Riley said.
SETTLING THE SCORE
The NBA corrected a scoring error from Sunday's victory against the Clippers, when two free throws converted by Mourning erroneously were credited to Wade.The scoring transcript released after Sunday's game had Wade converting two free throws with 8:56 to play in the fourth quarter, but Wade was not in the game at the time.
The mistake is easily explained, with Mourning wearing No. 33 and Wade No. 3.
The revised box score reflects Wade with 33 points, instead of the 35 first recorded. Mourning, who questioned the box score as soon as he glanced at it in the Staples Center locker room, is now credited with eight points instead of six.
kaynak : NBA
