Heat beat Raptors again
Associated Press
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TORONTO — Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh scored 30 points each and the Miami Heat beat Toronto 113-101 Friday night, their seventh straight win over the Raptors.
LeBron James had 26 points and nine assists and Mario Chalmers added 14 points as the Heat won for the second time in two nights after beating Dallas at home on Thursday.
DeMar DeRozan scored 28 points and Andrea Bargnani had 27 for Toronto. Amir Johnson had 12 points and 12 rebounds and Jose Calderon had 16 assists, one shy of his season high, but the Raptors lost for the sixth time in eight games.
Miami came in having lost six of eight away from home, but improved to 16-11 away from American Airlines Arena.
MAVERICKS 100, MAGIC 98
ORLANDO, Fla. — Dirk Nowitzki banked in a jumper with 5.9 seconds left and scored a game-high 28 points to lead Dallas past Orlando.
Jameer Nelson scored 24 points to lead the Magic. Ryan Anderson added 21 and Dwight Howard finished with 19 points and 15 rebounds.
The Mavericks trailed by 15 points in the third quarter before rallying in the final period, aided by a plethora of turnovers by the Magic. Jason Terry had 10 points in the quarter and 17 in the game. Delonte West and Shawn Marion each added 15.
Orlando had 16 turnovers, which led to 20 points for the Mavericks. The Magic lost to Dallas for the sixth straight time at home.
KINGS 104, JAZZ 103
SALT LAKE CITY — DeMarcus Cousins scored 27 points, including the winning free throw with 3.8 seconds left, to help Sacramento end a four-game losing streak.
The win snapped Utah’s seven-game home winning streak, while the Kings won on the road for only the fifth time this season. Al Jefferson led the Jazz with 27 points. Gordon Hayward added 19, but couldn’t get his driving layup to fall, and Utah’s tip-in attempt was too late.
Cousins left briefly to get stitches under his left eyebrow.
Marcus Thornton added 26 points for Sacramento.
Utah’s rookie guard Alec Burks outplayed former Brigham Young star Jimmer Fredette, but Burks’ late turnover gave the Kings a chance to win it. They went to Cousins, who was fouled, and made one of two free throws.
NETS 102, WARRIORS 100
OAKLAND, Calif. — Gerald Green tied the score with a thundering one-handed dunk from the baseline, then added a go-ahead basket moments later and New Jersey rallied from 19 points down in the second half.
Gerald Wallace had 24 points and 18 rebounds for the Nets, who ended a six-year losing streak at Oracle Arena. Wallace scored 10 points over the final 6 minutes of the game and blocked Charles Jenkins’ potential tying shot just before time ran out.
Kris Humphries added 20 points and nine rebounds while Deron Williams had nine points and a season-high 20 assists to help New Jersey to its third win in four games.
David Lee had 27 points and six rebounds for Golden State.
CLIPPERS 98, TRAIL BLAZERS 97
LOS ANGELES — Chris Paul made a driving layup with 5 seconds to go, lifting the Clippers past Portland for their season high-tying fourth straight victory.
Paul, Blake Griffin and Randy Foye led six Clippers in double figures with 20 points each. Caron Butler and DeAndre Jordan had 12 each, and Nick Young added 10.
J.J. Hickson led the Blazers with a season-high 29 points and 13 rebounds.
The Clippers trailed by two when Paul got the ball to Foye, who hit a 3-pointer with 47 seconds left to put the Clippers ahead 96-95. Jamal Crawford made a 22-footer with Foye’s hand in his face and Portland led by one with 13 seconds left.
Paul dribbled around before driving to the basket for the winner. Wesley Matthews missed a jumper in the waning seconds for Portland.
WIZARDS 97, 76ERS 76
WASHINGTON — Cartier Martin tied a career-high with 20 points in his second game under a 10-day contract, and Washington built a big lead and held on to it for a change, breaking a five-game losing streak.
The loss knocked Philadelphia out of first place in the Atlantic Division, one game behind Boston. The 76ers began the day tied with the Celtics, who beat Minnesota.
The Wizards had blown double-digit leads in their last three home games, but this time they didn’t let up.
Lou Williams and Thaddeus Young scored 14 apiece for the 76ers, who have lost six of nine.
NUGGETS 99, BOBCATS 88
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Arron Afflalo scored 12 of his team-high 19 points in the second half and added 11 rebounds as Denver held off Charlotte.
The Nuggets entered in a three-way tie for seventh place in the Western Conference standings with Houston and Utah and in need of a victory against the worst team in the league.
They got it behind a balanced effort as Ty Lawson had 14 points and 10 assists, while Corey Brewer added 17 points off the bench on 7-for-11 shooting, and Kenneth Faried had 12 points.
Gerald Henderson had 21 points to lead the Bobcats, who have lost six straight games and remain the only team in the league with fewer than 10 victories.
BUCKS 121, CAVALIERS 84
CLEVELAND — Brandon Jennings scored 28 points and Milwaukee routed Cleveland.
Ersan Ilyasova, who missed Tuesday’s game because of back spasms, scored 20 points while Mike Dunleavy added 16 and shot 4 for 5 on 3-pointers. Jennings and Ilyasova didn’t play in the fourth quarter.
Rookie Kyrie Irving scored 29 points to lead Cleveland before leaving in the fourth quarter with a sprained right shoulder. Irving was 11 for 20 from the field, including 6 for 6 on 3s.
Milwaukee, which trailed New York by 2 1/2 games for the East’s final playoff spot coming in, took the lead for good early in the first quarter. The Bucks scored the first 16 points of the second period and steadily built the lead throughout the game. Milwaukee’s biggest margin was the game’s final score.
HAWKS 100, KNICKS 90
ATLANTA — Joe Johnson scored 28 points and Willie Green carried the Hawks in the fourth quarter, leading Atlanta past former coach Mike Woodson and the New York Knicks.
Green scored 15 of his 20 points in the final period, including a 3-pointer from the corner that stretched Atlanta’s lead to 94-84.
Woodson, who coached the Hawks from 2004-10, returned to Philips Arena for the first time as the Knicks interim coach. His team wasn’t at full strength, forced to go without injured starters Amare Stoudemire (back) and Jeremy Lin (left knee).
Carmelo Anthony led the Knicks with 36 points and rookie Iman Shumpert matched his career high with 25. Still, the Knicks lost for only the second loss in 10 games under Woodson.
CELTICS 100, TIMBERWOLVES 79
MINNEAPOLIS — Kevin Garnett had 24 points, 10 rebounds and four assists in his return to Target Center and Boston outmuscled Kevin Love and Minnesota.
Paul Pierce had 21 points and nine rebounds, and Rajon Rondo had 17 assists for the Celtics, who have won four in a row and six of their last seven.
Love had 22 points and 11 rebounds but succumbed to Garnett’s physical defense in a battle between the face of the Timberwolves past and present.
Luke Ridnour had 15 points and eight assists, but the Wolves turned the ball over 21 times to see their playoff hopes take a hit. They entered 2½ games out of the eighth spot in the West.
ROCKETS 98, GRIZZLIES 89
HOUSTON — Goran Dragic scored a season-high 25 points and Courtney Lee added 17 as Houston beat Memphis at home for the 12th straight time.
Houston led by six with 1:22 remaining before Marcus Camby made two baskets sandwiched around a layup by Rudy Gay to extend the lead to 97-89 about a minute later.
Dragic has been starting at point guard with Kyle Lowry out with an illness. Friday’s performance extended his streak of double digit scoring games to a career-high 14 in a row.
Gay had 20 points to lead Memphis, which started a span of seven games in nine days on Friday.
The Grizzlies haven’t won in Houston since April 2006.
BULLS 83, PISTONS 71
CHICAGO — Luol Deng scored 20 points, Joakim Noah added 19 points and 12 rebounds, and Chicago beat Detroit for the 14th straight time.
The Bulls scored the final eight points after the Pistons closed within four with just under 5 minutes left and improved their league-best record to 42-11 even though star Derrick Rose and Richard Hamilton remained sidelined by injuries.
Rose missed his ninth straight game because of a right groin injury, but the Bulls improved to 14-5 without the defending league MVP.
Brandon Knight scored 16 points for Detroit, and Tayshaun Prince had 14. Greg Monroe added 14 points and 10 rebounds.