For three quarters, the Heat played Phoenix at the preferred pace, took a comfortable lead in the race and had its defensive energy in a good place.

Then the Suns went to their ace.

Steve Nash scored 25 of his game-high 30 in the second half and carved up the Heat's defense late to lead the Suns to a 104-96 victory Tuesday night atAmericanAirlines Arena.

The Heat (3-1) led by 12 points midway through the third quarter and had stymied the Suns' offense most of the game. But for as well as the Heat started, the Suns got hot at the finish.

Phoenix used a 15-4 run in the fourth quarter to pull ahead and prevent the Heat from matching the franchise's best start at 4-0. Nash led five Suns players in double figures and also dealt out eight assists.

Dwyane Wade scored 23 to lead the Heat -- which missed 18 of its 23 shots in the fourth quarter, when it was outscored 29-15.

``They got to their game better than we got to our game in the second half,'' Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of the Suns, who switched to a zone defense to stifle Miami. ``Nash just turned it on. They kept on getting stronger and stronger and stronger.''

Meanwhile, Miami fizzled.

``It was tough,'' said guard Mario Chalmers, who defended Nash well in the first half but couldn't keep up with him in the second. ``He got where he wanted to go because everything was a pick-and-roll. He hit some difficult shots in the second half. We've got to do a better job with our pick-and-roll defense.''

Nash's play-making helped Amare Stoudemire and Grant Hill finish with double-doubles. Stoudemire had 16 points and 11 rebounds and Hill finished with 10 points and 12 boards. Jason Richardson scored 10 of his 14 points in the fourth quarter.

The Heat countered with 18 points and 10 rebounds from Quentin Richardson and 10 points and 13 rebounds from Udonis Haslem, who had his third consecutive double-double off the bench. Jermaine O'Neal, in his first game since breaking his nose Sunday, had 14 points but only two rebounds. Michael Beasley had 12 points.

The Heat entered the game leading the league in field-goal percentage defense and defensive three-point percentage. Opponents had shot 38.6 percent from the field and only 21.6 percent from beyond the arc against Miami.

The Suns came in leading the league in scoring at 117.3 points per game while shooting an NBA-best 52.4 percent from three-point range. The Suns shot 50.6 percent from the field and 39.1 percent from three-point range Tuesday. After missing 14 of their first 21 threes, they extended their lead with consecutive threes from Nash and Richardson to pull ahead 95-88 with 4:11 left in the game.

The Heat had no answer. But the slide began late in the third, when foul trouble among starters forced the team to use reserves Carlos Arroyo, Dorell Wright, James Jones, Joel Anthony and Haslem for an extended time.

That group struggled to score. Even when Wade, Richardson and O'Neal returned, the Heat failed to end the drought.

Early on, things played out just as the Heat had planned, with Miami dictating the pace with its defense.

The Suns missed 11 of their first 19 shots and were held to their fewest points in a quarter this season when the Heat led 26-23. Miami maintained that defensive pressure and also held the Suns to their lowest first-half output and led 52-44. Nash had three turnovers and two assists.

But the Suns began their march back after the Heat took a 68-56 lead with 7:15 left in the third. Whereas the Suns attacked with Nash penetrating to find open teammates, the Heat settled for jumpers against an effective zone.

``We didn't make a conscious effort to put the ball on the floor and make plays,'' Spoelstra said. ``We had a good rhythm up until that point. We just didn't attack from there. From the pace of the game, it looked like we were a little bit fatigued.''

Join the discussion

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. In order to post comments, you must be a registered user of MiamiHerald.com. Your username will show along with the comments you post. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

     Showing: Oldest first Newest first Most-recommended first Least-recommended first

@Nyx.AuthorDisplayName@ wrote on @Nyx.PostedAtTime@:

@Nyx.repliedToText@

@Nyx.replyAnswerText@

Reply to this Comment @Nyx.Recommender@ @Nyx.AbuseReporter@