Heat Melt Down Bucks

Ray Allen's self-admitted brainlock cost the Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday night as they dropped a 95-92 decision to the Miami Heat.

After Terry Porter made one of two free throws to give Miami a 95-92 lead with 11.4 seconds remaining, Haywoode Workman and Allen both passed up the potential tying 3-pointer and missed on driving attempts.

"My brain got so locked on just scoring," Allen said. "I knew we needed three to tie coming out of the timeout."

Workman was the first to miss a layup attempt, and the loose ball went in and out of P.J. Brown's hands to Allen near 3-point territory. Instead of trying a 3-pointer, Allen took off for the basket and missed a pull-up as time expired.

"I didn't even look at the clock," Allen admitted. "In the same situation in other games, 15 seconds seems like an eternity. The 13 we had went by just like that."

Jamal Mashburn scored 21 of a season-high 25 points in the first half to help Miami win its fifth straight game, and Allen scored eight of his 25 in the fourth quarter to whittle down the Heat's 15-point lead.

Bucks coach George Karl told Workman to take the quick two if his perimeter players were covered.

"I thought the last eight minutes was a gutty effort," Karl said. "We've been close against Miami, Indiana and Orlando, but that's not good enough."

Alonzo Mourning dominated inside with 23 points and four blocks to help hand the Bucks their fourth loss in the past five games. Milwaukee lost despite shooting 50.7 percent.

"I was yelling three (to Allen)," said Workman, who scored 15. "In that situation you're just trying to get off a shot because you can't see how much time is on the clock."

Heat coach Pat Riley gained his 938th career victory to tie Red Auerbach for third place on the all-time coaching vctories list. He needs six wins to tie Bill Fitch for second place.

"There's no one in this league who's going to outshoot the Bucks," Riley said. "That's a tough team to play against without much time to prepare. I felt we got caught a little bit but the only thing that matters is we got a win."

Three jump shots by Allen sandwiched around four straight free throws by Glenn Robinson cut Miami's 15-point lead to 94-90 with 1:57 left. After a wild flurry of shots, Allen tapped in a Robinson miss to pull Milwaukee to 94-92 with 15.4 seconds left.

Michael Curry intentionally fouled Porter, who made one of two to keep Milwaukee within three.

Dan Majerle, held scoreless Saturday and throughout the first three quarters Sunday, scored Miami's first eight points of the fourth quarter on two 3-pointers and a fast-break dunk to boost Miami's lead to 84-69.

Mashburn scored 15 points on 7-of-9 shooting to lead the Heat to a 27-26 lead after the first quarter.

Workman and Allen ended the second quarter with layups to cut Miami's lead to 54-49.

After Workman's jumper concluded a 10-2 Bucks' run to draw even at 61 with 6:25 left in the third, Mourning took over. He blocked two shots and scored nine points during Miami's quarter-ending 15-4 spurt to stake the Heat to a 76-65 lead heading into the final quarter.

"We're not perfect, we broke down defensively on the shooters," Mourning said. "Fortunately, our defensive lapses didn't hurt us."

Notes: Miami has defeated Milwaukee in 22 of their last 23 meetings. ... The Heat shot a season-high 54.8 percent but Milwaukee was the first team to shoot above 50 percent all season against Miami. Only Utah has now held every opponent under 50 percent. ... Mashburn's 3-pointer in the first quarter extended Miami's NBA record with at least one trey to 410 straight games. ... Tim Hardaway has at least five assists in his last 28 games. ... Dell Curry, the league leader in 3-point percentage, made one of three.

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