Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Richardson makes right call, hits winning basket for Heat
MIAMI — The last Miami play was designed by Heat Coach Erik Spoelstra to put the ball in Josh Richardson’s hands, and with it came the right to decide who would take his team’s biggest shot of the game.
He chose himself.
It was the right call. Richardson’s layup with 5.1 seconds left capped a Miami rally from eight points down in the fourth, Donovan Mitchell missed a jumper for Utah at the buzzer and the Heat stole one in the final moments to beat the Utah Jazz 103-102 on Sunday.
“He drew it up for me and I was kind of surprised,” Richardson said.
So surprised, in fact, that Richardson emerged from that huddle telling Wayne Ellington and Tyler Johnson to get ready for his pass. But a lane opened to the rim, Richardson laid the ball home and the Heat won their fourth consecutive — all by single digits, Miami’s longest stretch of such victories since November 2012.
“Utah played a very good basketball game,” Spoelstra said. “In many ways, they deserved to win this one. But we’ve got to make up some ground. We’ve given up some games that we wish we could have had back, so quite frankly we need to steal some.”
Tyler Johnson and Goran Dragic each scored 16 points for Miami. Richardson and Hassan Whiteside each had 14, James Johnson 13 and Kelly Olynyk had 12.
Mitchell scored 19 of his 27 points in the second half, but couldn’t save Utah from dropping its seventh consecutive on the road. He went into the backcourt to take the final inbounds pass and wound up taking a jumper from the right side that missed as time expired.
Mitchell kicked himself afterward, realizing too late Rodney Hood might have been open.
“I should have made the right read instead of shooting it,” Mitchell said.
Hood scored 17 points, Thabo Sefolosha added 13 and Derrick Favors 11 for the Jazz, who fell to 3-17 on the road.
“We obviously did a few things right,” Jazz Coach Quin Snyder said. “It doesn’t feel like it right now.”
Miami improved to 2-14 when trailing after three quarters.
The Heat led for 20 of the 24 first-half minutes, but their lead was only 49-47 at the break.
SATURDAY’S LATE GAMES KINGS 106, NUGGETS 98
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Forty-yearold Vince Carter scored 10 of his 12 points in the fourth quarter and the Sacramento Kings held off the Denver Nuggets.
De’Aaron Fox had 18 points and 7 assists, Willie Cauley-Stein added 17 points, and Buddy Hield had 14.
Sacramento was up 13 early in the fourth, but Denver rallied and Trey Lyles’ layup pulled the Nuggets to 92-89 with 5:22 remaining.
Cauley-Stein made back-to-back layups for the Kings and, after Will Barton made a 3-pointer for the Nuggets, Hield made a short jumper and Coleman hit a 3-pointer to help Sacramento pull away.
The Kings had dropped four consecutive, including both matchups this season.
Lyles led Denver with 19 points, Jamal Murray added 18, and Will Barton and Gary Harris had 17 apiece.
TIMBERWOLVES 116, PELICANS 98
MINNEAPOLIS — Karl-Anthony Towns and Jimmy Butler each scored 21 points, Andrew Wiggins added 20 and the Minnesota Timberwolves cruised past New Orleans.
Towns went 7 for 11 and grabbed 16 rebounds for another strong effort after Friday’s 25-point, 23-rebound career performance in Boston. This time, though, the rest of the Wolves also shot well.
Taj Gibson had 15 points, and Gorgui Dieng added 14 off the bench as the Wolves shot 48.9 percent from the floor and led by as many as 34.
DeMarcus Cousins led the Pelicans with 23 points and Anthony Davis added 16.
BUCKS 110, WIZARDS 103
WASHINGTON — Giannis Antetokounmpo had 34 points and 12 rebounds, Eric Bledsoe added 21 points and the Milwaukee Bucks pulled away late to beat the Washington Wizards.
Antetokounmpo also had seven assists to help Milwaukee win for the fourth time in six games and snap Washington’s four-game winning streak.
Khris Middleton had 20 points, and John Henson added 11 points and 11 rebounds for the Bucks.
John Wall had 16 points and 16 rebounds for the Wizards, but shot 0 for 5 from the floor in the fourth. Bradley Beal led Washington with 20 points on a night starting swingman Otto Porter Jr. sat out with a strained right hip.
Markieff Morris added 14 points and 10 rebounds.