HOUSTON -- With his knees wrapped in ice and a blood-soaked patch on his lip, Dwyane Wade shuffled down the hallway inside Toyota Center toward the Houston Rockets' locker room to get stitches.

"I [blanking] hate playing in Houston," Wade said to Rockets trainer Keith Jones, forcing a smile through the swelling upper lip.

At least this time Wade didn't need to leave in a wheelchair. In 2007, Wade suffered a season-ending shoulder injury, the primary reason he's less than fond of the building. Instead, Wednesday's incident turned the adrenaline from an injury into an anger-filled burst that continued the Heat's remarkable road winning streak.

Wade became the first player since Kobe Bryant in 2007 to score 40 points on back-to-back nights by leading the Miami Heat to a 125-119 victory over the Rockets. He finished with a season-high 45 after putting up 40 on the New York Knicks on Tuesday night in Miami.

The Heat finished off December with a 10-0 record away from home and 15-1 overall, the first team in league history ever to go 10-0 on the road in a calendar month.

Fifteen of Wade's points came in the last 10 minutes when he played with an unmistakable edge after Rockets guard Aaron Brooks ripped open his lip when he fouled Wade from behind on a breakaway dunk attempt.

Wade was face down on the court, blood dripping on the floor for a couple minutes. After a few more minutes to stop the bleeding, the officials ruled Brooks had committed a flagrant foul. It was a bit of a controversial call from the Rockets' point of view because it came so late, because there was no video review and because it proved to be a significant turning point.

The Rockets and the crowd's perspective was that Wade's blood forced the officials to upgrade the foul after it was initially whistled a standard foul on the floor.

However, Brooks appeared as though he'd swung his arm at Wade's head and blindsided him, entirely missing the ball in the process. Had there been no flagrant, the Heat would've likely been the ones fired up.

"I wasn't trying to hurt him," Brooks said. "It was a bad attempt at the ball but it was definitely intended for the ball."

It was a two-point game when the foul was committed, and Wade made it costly. He made both free throws and then, after getting the ball right back after the flagrant, Wade drove and scored for what turned into a 3-point play. It was a 5-point Wade possession that catapulted the Heat to a lead they'd never give up.

"Certain fouls are hard and certain fouls are a little too much," Wade said. "At the end of the day, you've got to know the player. Aaron is a good guy, he's not a dirty player."

After the game, lead official Dick Bavetta issued a statement to explain the call. He said that the delay in making the ruling was to see if the Heat wanted to call a timeout. Then he said there was no video review because it wasn't a flagrant-2, which by league rules requires a review. Bavetta also said all three officials felt it was a flagrant foul.

For the sake of record-keeping and transparency, the veteran official's explanation was appreciated. But in reality, it really wasn't needed. By the time Bavetta was explaining himself, Wade had long since issued his own formal reply.

As has been the case so often in his career -- and even earlier this month in New York -- a hard foul on Wade led to a flurry of scoring. He channeled his reaction by aiming at his opponent. He was helped by the fact that the defensively challenged Rockets didn't have anyone who could contain him as he attacked time and time again.

"I was in a zone, I was very angry, I wasn't looking at anybody," Wade said. "My teammates know me, they know at times like that I focus a little better. So I decided to get a little aggressive at that moment."

Wade finished the game 17-of-24 from the field, with most of his baskets coming in the paint, where the Heat converted 23 of their 28 attempts and shot 58 percent overall.

"We don't take for granted his talent and his gift and his competitive nature; he's one of the ultimate competitors in this league," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.

"You don't see it much in professional sports," Spoelstra added. "The majority of athletes, when they get angry, they lose their focus, their composure and their poise. He's one of the very few that the exact opposite happens. He was angry after that hit, he was bleeding. You could see after that point an absolute laser-like focus."

LeBron James scored 20 points and had nine assists, while Chris Bosh added 21 points. But in the tight fourth quarter it was all about Wade, his teammates sensing how the hit was driving him.

"I already knew what goes on when he sees blood," James said. "I knew exactly what was about to happen, he was going into attack mode."

It was a quality win for the Heat. Houston was on a five-game win streak and had won its last eight at home. The Rockets played the game at their pace, racking up 23 fast-break points and scoring 28 points off turnovers to become the first team in December to crack 100 points on Miami.

But the game still went the visitor's way, mostly because of Wade. That earned him the Heat's own brand of appreciation afterward.

With the locker room nearly empty, Wade was the last player into the shower after being delayed by the stitches procedure and talking to the media.

"C'mon man, hurry up," James barked. "We're trying to get out of here."

Dimes past: Dec. 14 | 15 | 16 | 17-19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25-26 | 27 | 28 | 29

Zach Harper and the TrueHoop Network bloggers chatted with fans and gave their in-game opinions throughout Wednesday's games -- all in Daily Dime Live.