HEAT’S SHOOTING WHITE HOT IN DEFEAT OF BULLS
miami » Hassan Whiteside scored a career- high 26 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, Joe Johnson added 24 points in his Miami home debut and the Heat set a franchise record by shooting 67.5 percent on the way to a 129- 111 victory over the Bulls on Tuesday night.
Luol Deng scored 20, Dwyane Wade had 18 and Goran Dragic finished with 17 points and 11 assists forMiami. The previous Heat record for shooting percentage in a regular- season game was 63.4 percent on Dec. 16, 2013, against Utah.
Chicago was within 108- 102 with 5: 14 left, beforeMiami finished on a 21- 9 run. No team had shot better in an NBA game this season than the 61.8 percent posted by San Antonio against Philadelphia on Dec. 7.
Derrick Rose scored 17 points for Chicago.
TUESDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS
Damian Lillard scored 30 points, CJMcCollum had 21 of his 25 in the second half and the Trail Blazers beat the Knicks 104- 85 for their sixth consecutive road victory. The Blazers followed a fantastic February with a blistering start to March, winning for the 18th time in their last 22 games. Lillard reached the 30point mark for the eighth time in nine games. … KembaWalker scored 26 points, and the Hornets routed the Suns 126- 92. Al Jefferson had 19 points and seven rebounds for Charlotte, which has won nine of 12. Nicolas Batum and reserve Jeremy Lamb scored 15 points apiece. The Suns had five players score in double figures in their 16th consecutive road loss. Alex Len had 18 points and 12 rebounds, and Mirza Teletovic scored 17 points. … WesleyMatthews scored 21 points and the Mavericks beat the Magic 121- 108 for their third consecutive win. The Mavericks made a season- high 56 percent of their field- goal attempts ( 43 for 77). Dirk Nowitzki scored 19 points.
FOOTNOTE
Golden State’s Curry hits bench. Stephen Curry sat out theWarriors’ game Tuesday night against Atlanta with an injured left ankle. Coach Steve Kerr was leaning toward sitting Curry after he hurt his ankle Saturday night at Oklahoma City before returning to hit a long 3- pointer to win it in overtime.