Slow start doesn’t unhinge Heat
Reserves thrive in victory over Bulls
CHICAGO — Goran Dragic and the Miami Heat followed the lowest-scoring first quarter in team history with the highest-scoring one of the season to beat the Chicago Bulls.
After scoring seven points in the first quarter, Miami had 38 in the second to take a 45-42 lead en route to a 100-93 victory Sunday.
Dragic scored 24 points, Wayne Ellington hit five 3-pointers off the bench and totaled 19 points, and the Heat’s four reserves outscored their five starters.
James Johnson added 15 points, seven rebounds and six assists, and fellow reserves Tyler Johnson and Kelly Olynyk scored 10 points apiece as the Heat bench produced 54 points to extend the team’s win streak to three.
Jerian Grant led Chicago with a career-high 24 points. Denzel Valentine had 14 points and career highs of 13 rebounds and seven assists.
“(The reserves) inspired the whole team,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.
“We were looking for some kind of energy, some kind of separation. We understand that it was going to be a 48-minute game and they played some inspiring basketball, not only in the fourth quarter but in that second quarter.
“That’s what really changed the momentum and brought us back into it.”
Ellington ignited the Heat after the team’s 2-for-19 first quarter from the field, hitting three 3-pointers and totaling 10 points as Miami shot 68.4 percent in the second quarter.
The Heat started slow again in the third, prompting Spoelstra to leave his secondand third-leading scorers, Dion Waiters (four points) and Hassan Whiteside (11 points, nine rebounds), on the bench down the stretch as the Heat pulled away after Chicago cut Miami’s lead to 83-81 with 5:40 to play.
■ At Memphis, Tenn., Demarre Carroll scored a season-high 24 points for Brooklyn, which snapped a three-game skid and dealt Memphis its eighth straight loss. Marc
Nets 98, Grizzlies 88 —
Gasol and Tyreke Evans scored 18 points each to lead the Grizzlies, though Gasol didn’t play in the fourth quarter as Memphis elected to use a smaller lineup to attack a 19-point deficit.
■ At Minneapolis, Karl-anthony Towns had 32 points and 12 rebounds for Minnesota, which took control with a 22-11 run to open the third quarter. Mike James scored a career-high 26 points for Phoenix, which was without Devin Booker (right big toe injury), who scored 35 points in the Suns’ home win over the Timberwolves on Nov. 11.
Timberwolves 119, Suns 108 —