Saturday, December 17, 2005
Heat 112, 76ers 105
PHILADELPHIA -- Dwyane Wade scored 32 points, and Shaquille O'Neal had 21 points and 13 rebounds to give Miami coach Pat Riley his third win this week. With James Posey hitting all three 3-point attempts in the first half, Gerald Fitch making a meaningful contribution off the bench and Antoine Walker sinking big 3s down the stretch, the Heat held off a late Sixers' rally to win their fourth straight game. NBA leading scorer Allen Iverson led the Sixers with 35 points but left the game briefly in the first half with a sprained thumb. Chris Webber scored 23 for the Sixers, who had their four-game winning streak snapped.
Nets 115, Nuggets 106, OT
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Vince Carter scored 34 points, and Richard Jefferson added 21, including five in overtime, as New Jersey beat Denver to snap a three-game losing streak. Jason Kidd added 15 points and 16 assists for the Nets, and forced overtime with a 3-pointer with 11 seconds left. Reserve Scott Padgett scored all of his 15 points on 3-pointers after halftime, and Nenad Krstic added 17 points and 11 rebounds for New Jersey. Andre Miller led the Nuggets with 22 points and 13 assists. Carmelo Anthony, who was held scoreless in the first half and was just 2-of-17 from the floor at one point, scored 20 points, including a stretch of nine straight over a 2:16 stretch of the fourth quarter.
Hawks 122, Knicks 111
ATLANTA -- Joe Johnson scored a career-high 36 points, and Al Harrington had 35 as Atlanta handed New York its fifth straight loss. The Hawks shot 63 percent from the field, best in the NBA this season. Atlanta entered shooting 43.6 percent as a team, 25th in the league. Jamal Crawford scored 23 points, and Stephon Marbury added 21, but he had a game-high six turnovers for the league's most mistake-prone team. Channing Frye added 16 points and seven rebounds for the Knicks, who never led and dropped to 6-16.
Pistons 110, Bulls 82
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- Rasheed Wallace scored 10 of his 19 points in the third quarter, and Detroit beat Chicago to improve to 17-3, the best 20-game start in team history. Rasheed Wallace added 10 rebounds, and Ben Wallace had 13. Richard Hamilton scored 18 points for Detroit, while Chauncey Billups had 15 points and eight assists. Chris Duhon led Chicago with 13 points, but Luol Deng was the only other starter in double figures with 11.
Warriors 108, Raptors 98
TORONTO -- Jason Richardson scored 23 points, and Golden State made a season-high 17 3-pointers in its victory over Toronto. Baron Davis had 20 points and 11 assists; Derek Fisher scored 21 points, and Troy Murphy added 20 for the Warriors, who went 17-for-29 from 3-point territory -- one off their franchise record of 18 done twice last season. Chris Bosh scored 27 points for the Raptors, who dropped to 4-18 overall and 1-11 at home. Jalen Rose had just two points in 11 minutes off the bench.
Bucks 100, Celtics 96
BOSTON -- Mo Williams had 24 points and nine rebounds, and Michael Redd also scored 24 as Milwaukee blew a 17-point lead in the third quarter before beating Boston. Paul Pierce had 23 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds for Boston, which has not won consecutive games all season. Marcus Banks, who missed the first 21 games with a stress fracture in his left leg, scored 12 points in 22 minutes.
Pacers 93, Jazz 83
INDIANAPOLIS -- Jermaine O'Neal had 27 points and 11 rebounds to lead Indiana over Utah. Austin Croshere and Stephen Jackson each added 16 points for the Pacers, who won for the first time since management said it would look to honor Ron Artest's public request to be traded. Croshere was 4-of-5 on 3-pointers. Mehmet Okur led Utah with 19 points and 12 rebounds. Utah shot 4-of-19 in the fourth quarter.
Mavericks 109, Magic 103, OT
DALLAS -- Dirk Nowitzki scored 10 of his 31 points in overtime to lead Dallas. Nowitzki scored Dallas' first six points of overtime, but Orlando tied the game again before Devin Harris' 15-footer with 1:47 left gave the Mavericks the lead for good at 101-99. Harris got another basket on a goaltending call against Dwight Howard for a 103-99 edge with 1:16 remaining. Grant Hill made two free throws with 1:01 to play to pull Orlando within two, but Nowitzki swished a 16-footer with 47 seconds left and hit two more foul shots with 15 seconds to play to give the Mavericks a 107-101 lead.
Suns 101, Hornets 88
BATON ROUGE, La. -- Eddie House scored 26 points, including 16 in the fourth quarter, and Phoenix rallied to spoil the New Orleans Hornets' homecoming. House didn't score in the third quarter but fueled the Suns' decisive run with his 3-point shooting in the final period, when Phoenix outscored New Orleans 37-10. The Hornets, playing their first regular-season game in Louisiana after being forced to relocate to Oklahoma City because of Hurricane Katrina, took the lead early and were up by 15 points in the third period.
Associated Press