Fiery third fuels Heat victory
James Johnson scored 20 points, Wayne Ellington added 17 and the Heat ran away in the third quarter to beat the Washington Wizards 129102 last night in Miami.
Tyler Johnson, Josh Richardson, Rodney McGruder and Kelly Olynyk all scored 13 for the Heat, who never trailed and outscored Washington 43-28 in the third. That was Miami’s highest-scoring quarter in a regular-season contest since Oct. 30, 2013.
Dwyane Wade got the 8,000th field goal of his career in the first half, but left less than a minute into the fourth quarter with what was diagnosed as a mild left hamstring strain. The Heat have a six-hour flight to Portland in advance of a game there tomorrow.
Jodie Meeks scored 23 for the Wizards, whose fivegame winning streak was snapped.
Before the game, Washington All-Star John Wall worked out on the floor. He’s done some courtwork in the past as part of his ongoing recovery from Jan. 31 knee surgery, and this session was a continuation of the process.
“This Wednesday will be six weeks and we said six to eight weeks,” coach Scott Brooks said, asked about when Wall will return. “It won’t be six weeks.”
Thunder 104, Spurs 94 — Russell Westbrook scored 21 points and posted his 19th triple-double of the season to help Oklahoma City stop visiting San Antonio, losers of 8-of-10.
The Spurs cut their deficit to seven with about two minutes to play, but Westbrook (12 rebounds, 10 assists) clinched the triple-double on an assist to Jerami Grant for a 3-pointer that put the Thunder up 12.
Hornets 122, Suns 115 — Dwight Howard had 30 points and 12 rebounds, Nic Batum flirted with a tripledouble and Charlotte held on to beat visiting Phoenix, which has lost 11-of-12.
Batum added 29 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists and Marvin Williams chipped in with 16 points as the Hornets won despite nearly squandering a 22-point fourth quarter lead to a Suns team playing without star Devin Booker.
The Hornets led by eight at halftime and seemed ready to put this one on cruise control after outscoring the Suns 35-21 in the third quarter behind 14 points from Batum.
Mavericks 114, Grizzlies 80 — Harrison Barnes scored 25 points and host Dallas routed Memphis, extending the Grizzlies’ losing streak to 17 games.
The Grizzlies (18-48), who have the longest losing streak in the NBA this season and the league’s worst record, trailed by 26 points after shooting 26 percent in the first half.
The only longer losing streaks in franchise history were skids of 23 and 19 games in the expansion season of 1995-96 in Vancouver.
Elsewhere in the NBA — Milwaukee requested waivers on forward Mirza Teletovic, who has been sidelined since December because of pulmonary embolisms in his lungs.