Heat beat Suns 115-98 as tensions run high
Jack jumper helps Nets hold off Warriors
MIAMI: Tyler Johnson scored a careerhigh 26 points and Goran Dragic added 21 against his former team as the Miami Heat beat the Phoenix Suns 115-98 on Monday in a game that included two thirdquarter altercations.
Hassan Whiteside finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds before getting ejected for Miami, which got 16 points and nine assists from Dwyane Wade.
PJ Tucker had 20 points and 14 rebounds for the Suns, who also got 20 points from Eric Bledsoe. Markieff Morris and Brandon Knight scored 13 apiece.
In all, there were five player technical fouls, three ejections and two flagrant fouls assessed in the third quarter alone, the 12 minutes of play needing 42 minutes to complete.
Morris was ejected for a flagrant-two foul against Dragic in the third quarter, and Whiteside and Alex Len were both tossed later in the period after getting tangled up under the Miami basket.
Brooklyn’s Jarrett Jack made a tiebreaking jump shot with 1.1 seconds left as the Nets overcame Stephen Curry’s stirring fourth-quarter comeback attempt to beat the Golden State Warriors 110-108.
Curry brought the Warriors back from 10 points down with under four minutes left to tie it, but couldn’t get a final shot off after Jack’s jumper. Curry finished with 26 points, 18 in the final period and Andrew Bogut scored 16 for Golden State
Brook Lopez had 26 points and Deron Williams 22 for the Nets.
Andrew Bogut scored 16 for Golden State, but Klay Thompson shot three for 17. He was one of nine on three-pointers and finished with seven point
Alan Anderson scored 16 for the Nets, who had played eight in a row on the road since beating New York at Barclays Center on Feb 6, a 24-day stretch between home games that ranked as the longest in franchise history.
Now the Warriors can’t wait to get home, ending their six-game trip and a stretch of 10 road games out of 11.
In Minneapolis, Chris Paul had 26 points and 14 assists as the Los Angeles Clippers allowed only one field goal in the fourth quarter to outlast the Minnesota Timberwolves 110-105.
JJ Redick scored 18 points before getting ejected in the fourth and DeAndre Jordan had 12 points and 18 rebounds, his ninth straight game with at least 15 boards. Glen Davis scored 12 points off the bench to help the Clippers get their seventh win in nine games.
Ricky Rubio had 18 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists for the Timberwolves, who were missing starters Nikola Pekovic and Kevin Martin. Minnesota went one for 14 in the fourth quarter.
Gary Neal had 19 points and nine rebounds, but missed a forced threepointer with 9.3 seconds to go that would have tied the game.
DeMar DeRozan scored a season-high 35 points and Lou Williams had 21 as Toronto snapped a five-game losing streak with a 114-103 win over Philadelphia.
Raptors coach Dwane Casey gave slumping All-Star and Philadelphia native Kyle Lowry another night off to rest. Even without their leading scorer in the line-up for the second straight game, the Raptors won for the first time since Feb 20.
Richard Jefferson equalled his season high with 16 points, seven during a 16-0 Dallas run early in the third quarter, as the Mavericks raced past New Orleans 102-93.
The 34-year-old Jefferson made his fifth consecutive start in place of small forward Chandler Parsons, sidelined with a sprained left ankle, and hit five of six field goal attempts.
The Mavericks were led by Monta Ellis with 20 points. Rajon Rondo added 19 points, 15 in the first half.
The Pelicans, who entered on a fivegame winning streak that equalled their longest in the last four years, were paced by Norris Cole with 19 points off the bench. Eric Gordon added 18.