Miami reserve strength pays off

MIAMI -- The Miami Heat found a bench, so the Charlotte Bobcats lost a game.

Heat coach Pat Riley turned Ricky Davis (23 points) and Jason Williams (11 points, eight assists) into reserves Tuesday night, and those two ripped up the Bobcats, particularly during the third quarter, for a 110-90 victory at American Airlines Arena.

The loss was the Bobcats' fourth straight. Had they won, the Bobcats (6-8) would have gone up 3-0 in the season series, clinching a potential playoff tiebreaker. Instead, the Heat improved to 4-10. The final meeting between these teams will be March 22 in Charlotte.

Gerald Wallace finished with 16 points for the Bobcats, and Raymond Felton added 14 points, seven assists and six rebounds.

Any chance Charlotte had of winning evaporated during the final two minutes of the third quarter, when the Heat spread an 11-point lead to 24. All 13 of Miami's consecutive points came from its bench, with Davis scoring five and Daequan Cook four.

The Bobcats trailed 55-43 at the half, after doing little to contain Shaquille O'Neal (15 points). He made seven of his nine shots from the field, mostly dunks over Emeka Okafor or Primoz Brezec.

Wallace was the only Bobcats player getting anything done offensively during the first quarter. He made four of Charlotte's field goals, and the rest of the team was a combined 2-of-12. Felton particularly struggled, missing his first five shots. Two of those were desperate heaves to avoid shot-clock violations.

It didn't help that the Bobcats committed six first-quarter turnovers.

Miami spread its lead to 12 early in the second quarter on Davis' 3-pointer, then Felton scored five points within the span of three minutes to trim the deficit to five with about four minutes left.

Then Davis scored five points in the half's final 44 seconds to push the margin back to 12.

Wallace showed no ill effects from the calf strain that kept him out of Saturday's home loss to the Boston Celtics.