A red-hot Wade paces Miami win
Heat star has shot 50 per cent or better in 11 straight games
MIAMI — The Miami Heat knew what was coming from Sacramento. Eventually, they handled the Kings’ challenge.
Dwyane Wade had 30 points and 10 assists, Mario Chalmers and Chris Bosh each scored 20 points and the Nba-leading Heat stretched their winning streak to seven games with a 120-108 win over the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday night.
“It was a good game for me, just trying to be aggressive and [I] was able to get my teammates some shots,” said Wade, who shot 11 for 16 and has tied his career-best with 11 straight games of shooting 50 per cent or better, matching a run from his rookie season.
“And I was also able to continue to do what I’ve been doing the last couple games, just taking high-percentage shots and making them.”
Lebron James scored 18 points, Norris Cole had 12 and Udonis Haslem added 10 for Miami (26-7), which has won each of its games during this streak by at least 12 points.
Next up for Miami: The New York Knicks and Jeremy Lin come to town Thursday.
“It’s going to be fun,” James said. “It’s going to be electrifying. ... It could be one of the most-watched games that we’ve had in a long time.”
Isaiah Thomas scored 20 of his 24 points in the third quarter for Sacramento, which dropped its sixth straight. Marcus Thornton scored 23, Tyreke Evans finished with 21 points and 10 assists, and Jason Thompson had 16 points and 10 rebounds for the Kings.
“You needed to play a perfect game to win this game against this team, and we were pretty close to the perfect game,” Kings coach Keith Smart said. “We had moments, but when you give up 25 points off turnovers, you’re not going to beat many teams.”
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said he didn’t expect Sacramento to come out and play like a team with one of the NBA’S worst records, and he was right.
Thompson had 10 points and six rebounds in the opening quarter and Evans’ buzzer-beating threepointer from near midcourt gave Sacramento a 32-26 lead after 12 minutes.