Dragic & Miami stay hot
MIAMI — Goran Dragic and Erik Spoelstra were asked separately Sunday what a seven-game winning streak means to them, and both immediately provided the same answer. “Nothing,” Dragic said. “Nothing,” Spoelstra said. Even in their best stretch of the season, the Miami Heat is still sounding far from content.
Dragic scored 11 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter, and the Heat held Milwaukee to its worst shooting game in nearly five years on the way to topping the Bucks, 97-79.
“We’ve still got 40 games left. We cannot be satisfied with that,” Dragic said. “We still need to improve. If you start thinking like that, if you’re satisfied with that, then it’s not going to be pretty for us.”
Josh Richardson scored 16 and Hassan Whiteside finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds for Miami. Milwaukee shot 32%, 6% worse than any game this season and the lowest percentage by a Bucks team in a regular-season game since March 22, 2013.
Giannis Antetokounmpo and Malcolm Brogdon combined to shoot 13 for 24 for the Bucks. Their teammates shot a combined 12 for 55, including a 4-for-16 day from Eric Bledsoe and 3-for-16 from Khris Middleton.
“We played bad basketball,” Antetokounmpo said.
The Heat trailed, 43-41, at the half, then took control by outscoring the Bucks, 41-21, in the first 16 minutes of the second half.
“Our guys really stepped it up,” said Spoelstra, who now has 12 winning streaks of at least seven games in his tenure as Heat coach.
TIMBERWOLVES 120, TRAIL BLAZERS 103: Jimmy Butler scored 24 points, Jeff Teague added 22 and host Minnesota wrapped up a perfect homestand with a win over Portland. Karl-Anthony Towns notched 20 points and 11 rebounds for his NBA-leading 37th double-double of the season. The Wolves had their first 5-0 homestand since 2001, winning each game by double figures.
PACERS 120, SUNS 97: Darren Collison scored 19 points to help visiting Indiana rout Phoenix.
Victor Oladipo scored 13 of his 17 points in the first half for the Pacers, who were coming off a home victory over Cleveland and have won four of five after a five-game losing streak.
Rookie Josh Jackson scored a career-best 21 points for Phoenix, which has lost four of five. Devin Booker added 15, but on 5-of-16 shooting.