MINNEAPOLIS -- The Miami Heat have learned this season to overcome many different obstacles.

Miami is now trying to learn how to deal with success and an offense that can overshadow its typically strong defense.

Goran Dragic scored 33 points, including a career-high seven 3-pointers, and Hassan Whiteside had 19 points and 13 rebounds as the Heat beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 115-113 on Monday night to extend their winning streak to 11 games.

Dragic made his first seven 3-point shots and went 13 of 17 from the field for the game. He added nine assists for Miami, which has the longest current winning streak in the NBA and is one behind the season-high, 12-game streak by the Golden State Warriors.

"We've gone through just about everything else; how to play with a ridiculously bad record, how to play with adversity, how to play through injuries, how to play without making excuses," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "Now we have to be able to play to our identity when you're dealing with a little bit of success, and not let human nature sink in. The guys are gaining a ton of confidence offensively."

Rodney McGruder added 15 points for the Heat (22-30).

The offensive success, such as Miami hitting a season-high 15 3-pointers on Monday, is heralded by Spoelstra.

But the coach doesn't want his team to forget the importance of defense, such as when they held after two shots by Andrew Wiggins were off the mark in the final minute to preserve the win.

"Look, I'm not such a tyrant that I don't want that," Spoelstra said of the team's confidence offensively. "I want these guys feeling good about themselves offensively.

"But our identity, when you put that Miami uniform on, is to defend, to do the little things, to make tough, physical plays and to take pride in that and not to give a 60 percent half to a team no matter how talented they are.

"We're very fortunate tonight. But if we continue to just bring this kind of game, it won't be good enough to win."

With 22 seconds remaining, Wiggins stole the ball and drove for a layup. He added a free throw for a three-point play to close the gap to 114-113.

Wiggins got another steal but missed a jumper with 10 seconds left.

Whiteside went to the free-throw line and made one of two to set up the Timberwolves' final possession.

Wiggins' jumper at the buzzer went off the rim as Miami held on.

"We locked in," Whiteside said. "We've had so many close games, we're mentally tough. We came in with a mental toughness and we got the win."

Karl-Anthony Towns scored 35 points, Wiggins had 27 and Ricky Rubio contributed 14 points and 13 assists for the Timberwolves (19-33), who lost their fourth game in a row.

The Heat's 40-point first quarter and 71-point first half were the most by a Timberwolves opponent this season.

"I have to do a better job to get our team to play better defense," Timberwolves coach Tom Thibodeau said. "We have to prioritize it and it has to be important to everybody. You can't win like this, you can't.

"I think there's an understanding of what we're trying to do because there's times it's done well. There's no consistency to it, there's not an urgency to it."

The Heat's budding confidence from their streak showed early with a 40-point first quarter. Dragic had 11 points and four assists in the quarter, and Whiteside added nine points and five rebounds. Miami shot 69.6 percent from the field in the first quarter and was 6 of 8 from 3-point range.

Dragic scored 21 points in the first half by going 8 of 9 from the floor and 5 of 5 from beyond the arc. He was just one of the hot shooters as Miami shot 60.9 percent from the floor in the opening half, including 11 of 14 from beyond the 3-point arc in building a 14-point lead.

"The rim looks good," Dragic joked. "First quarter, the 3-pointer was really easy. There's no contest. Credit to my teammates, they were finding me on the open shot. Then it's just one of those nights. I felt really comfortable shooting the ball."

Wiggins hit Minnesota's first three shots of the third quarter as the Timberwolves closed within five points after an 11-2 run. The Heat regained a 10-point advantage, but Wiggins had 13 points in the quarter as Minnesota sliced the deficit to five to end the third quarter.

While the Timberwolves closed within a basket several times in the third quarter, they never led in the game.

"It was one of our worst defensive nights," Wiggins said. "We made shots, had good offense, had good ball movement, but we didn't get stops to win."

NOTES: Miami re-signed F Okaro White on Monday and waived F Derrick Williams. White is averaging 4.0 points and 2.4 rebounds in 10 games with the Heat this season after finishing with three points and one board against the Wolves. ... Minnesota rookie PG Kris Dunn was active but missed his third straight game with a hand injury. ... Miami continued to be without Fs Justise Winslow, Josh McRoberts and Chris Bosh. The Heat have now had 211 games missed this season due to injury or illness, the most in the NBA. ... The Timberwolves continue a season-high, six-game homestand on Wednesday against Toronto. The Heat's four-game road trip makes its way to Milwaukee for a game on Wednesday.