 Miami's Eddie Jones beats Milwaukee's Mark Pope to the hoop . Glenn James NBAE/Getty Images 56k | 300k |
The Bucks took an 84-82 lead on a free throw by Tim Thomas with three seconds left and Miami put the hands in the ball of Eddie Jones, who scored 29 points and made the winning shot against Seattle on Tuesday.
Jones ran through two screens and caught the inbounds pass. He turned to shoot but found Mason right in his face and stumbled, resulting in a traveling violation.
"Put that on me, there is no way I should have traveled," said Jones. "I was going so hard to get the ball, my momentum took me. I know I had him. It's my responsibility to make the play down the stretch."
Mason had eight points and 10 rebounds and got the last laugh against Miami coach Pat Riley, who did not re-sign the free agent forward during the offseason.
"I just wanted to be 4-0," Mason said. "It didn't matter who we were playing. I just want this team to improve. (Miami's) going to keep fighting no matter who is on the floor for them."
Milwaukee improved to 4-0 for the second time in club history. It opened the 1971 season with seven straight victories.
Cassell had 11 points and nine assists, but made just 3-of-15 shots. Ray Allen scored 22 points despite 7-of-20 shooting.
Jones made 12-of-25 shots as Miami's main offensive weapon in place of Alonzo Mourning, who is suffering from food poisoning and did not make the trip. Jones also filled Mourning's shoes in other ways, collecting a career-high five blocks.
"What we need from Eddie is a complete game," Riley said. "He had a great game. We really miss 'Zo."
Miami was outrebounded, 47-42, and outscored in the paint, 34-28, without Mourning's presence.
Robinson scored 11 points during a 22-10 third-quarter run that turned a halftime tie into the Bucks' largest lead, 64-52.
But the Heat closed the third with 11 straight points led by rookie Tang Hamilton, who scored all six of his points during the spurt. Jones added five, including a 3-pointer at the buzzer to make it 67-66.
"When we got the lead, we weren't focused," Milwaukee coach George Karl said. "I'm hoping it can be attributed to the early season. We won with defense tonight but we had some lapses that let them get right back in the game."
Milwaukee never surrendered the lead and opened an 81-72 cushion with 4:28 left when Robinson completed a three-point play followed by a 3-pointer from Cassell.
Jones drained a jumper with 1:36 remaining to bring Miami within 83-78 and blocked a 3-pointer by Cassell to spark a fast break that resulted in a layup for Rod Strickland, who had 13 points and five assists.
Brian Grant made two free throws with 39 seconds to go to pull within one and Strickland robbed Cassell on the other end for a chance at the lead.
Miami inexplicably did not give the ball to Jones and Strickland missed a wild layup to set up Thomas' free throws.
Grant has not stepped up his game in Mourning's absence and had just six points and four rebounds. Anthony Carter had 11 points, 11 assists and three steals for the Heat.