Dwyane Wade scored 19 of his 25 points in the first quarter as Miami built a huge early lead and rolled past the Utah Jazz 121-83 on Tuesday night, the Heat's 12th win in 13 games.
Alonzo Mourning had a season-high 19 points, James Posey added 16 and Shaquille O'Neal scored 13 points in 17 minutes for Miami, which posted the fourth-largest margin of victory in franchise history.
The 38-point margin represented Miami's biggest win of the season, and Utah's biggest loss. The Heat won by 29 at Portland on Jan. 8, while the Jazz were beaten by 36 at Sacramento on Nov. 15.
Matt Harpring scored 16 of his 20 points in the first half for Utah, while Carlos Boozer added 12. The Jazz were outrebounded 50-29 and shot only 40 percent while letting Miami shoot 57 percent from the floor.
Raptors 111, 76ers 97
At Philadelphia, Chris Bosh scored 31 points and Darrick Martin had a season-high 18 points and 12 assists to lead Toronto.
Playing without the injured Allen Iverson, the Sixers failed to gain ground in the Eastern Conference playoff standings. Chris Webber had 23 points and 11 rebounds and John Salmons scored a career-high 23 points.
The Sixers (31-32) lost for the fourth time in five games and fell 3 games behind Atlantic Division-leading New Jersey.
Toronto relied on strong 3-point shooting in the fourth quarter to outscore Philadelphia 33-12. The Raptors hit 6-of-10 from beyond the arc in the final 12 minutes.
Wizards 119, Bobcats 114
At Charlotte, North Carolina, Antawn Jamison had 35 points and 16 rebounds to lead Washington.
Gilbert Arenas scored 34 points and Caron Butler added 25 to join Jamison as the only productive Wizards in the game. The rest of the team combined for just 25 points and the bench didn't contribute until the fourth quarter.
Still, it was enough as Washington won two straight over two very different opponents. The Wizards were coming off a victory over the Detroit Pistons -- the best team in the NBA -- then had to claw one out against the Bobcats, one of the worst teams in the league.
Jumaine Jones scored 18 points to lead a balanced attack for the Bobcats, who had seven players in double figures. Raymond Felton had 17 despite missing most of the fourth quarter while he had his face examined after taking a hard elbow from Etan Thomas.
Mavericks 91, Cavaliers 87
At Dallas, the Mavericks made their defense-oriented coach proud with a little history of their own on the night Avery Johnson moved into the NBA record book.
The injury-depleted Dallas erased a 19-point third-quarter deficit by holding Cleveland to only eight points -- the fewest it's ever allowed in any quarter -- and kept rallying to give Johnson his record 66th victory over his first 82 games in charge.
Dirk Nowitzki finished with 30 points and 13 rebounds, Jason Terry scored 20 points and Marquis Daniels had 17. Erick Dampier had seven points and 13 rebounds.
LeBron James had 36 points and 12 rebounds for Cleveland, which lost its third straight game overall and sixth straight in Dallas.
Spurs 96, Hornets 81
At San Antonio, Tony Parker had 20 points and 11 assists, Brent Barry made four 3-pointers and all six shots from the floor, and San Antonio beat fading New Orleans.
The Spurs (50-14) maintained a share of the lead in the Southwest Division and the top record in the Western Conference with the Dallas Mavericks, who beat Cleveland on Tuesday.
Chris Paul and Marc Jackson each scored 16 points for the Hornets, who trailed by seven points with 7:43 left in the game but were outscored 17-9 the rest of the way.
Suns 129, SuperSonics 120
At Seattle, Tim Thomas shot 10-for-11 and scored 23 points off the bench, Shawn Marion scored 24 points with 11 rebounds, and Phoenix beat Seattle.
Raja Bell made 10 of 13 shots for 25 points as the Suns shot 56 percent. Steve Nash added 23 points and Boris Diaw scored 16 with nine rebounds and seven assists as Phoenix won for the 13th time in the last 15.
The last time the teams met, they combined for the highest-scoring game in the league in 11 years, a 152-149 double-overtime victory by the Sonics in Phoenix. Ray Allen made a 30-footer at the buzzer to give Seattle the win, capping a 42-point night.
Allen did his part again, leading Seattle with 33 points, but Seattle could not match the Suns' scoring depth. Rashard Lewis added 22 for the Sonics, and Luke Ridnour had 19 points and 13 assists.
Chris Kenny set an opening-round record with six 3-pointers Tuesday, and 2.18m center John Bunch entertained the crowd with his bulk and his blocks during Monmouth's 71-49 victory over Hampton in the play-in game.
Monmouth (19-14) moves on to Philadelphia to play No. 1 seed Villanova in the Wildcats' backyard on Friday, looking to pull off that elusive 16-over-1 upset.
Even if they don't get it, the Northeast Conference champions have already had a breakthrough tournament. The Hawks hadn't come close to winning any of their three previous NCAA appearances.
Monmouth lost by 24 points to Marquette in 1996, by 43 points to No. 1 seed Duke in 2001, and by 33 points to Mississippi State in 2004. The conference hadn't even won an NCAA tournament game since 1983.
Kenny and Bunch helped the Hawks finally get it going.
Only a handful of students from both schools made the short-notice trip for the tournament opener, held at the University of Dayton Arena since the NCAA returned to a play-in format in 2001.
New York Knicks president Isiah Thomas denies sexual harassment charges, saying a disgruntled former team executive who sued him brought groundless claims in a "meritless lawsuit" to harass him and extort money.
In papers filed last Friday in US District Court in Manhattan, Thomas repeated denials he has made publicly since accusations were made in January by Anucha Browne Sanders, the Knicks' former senior vice president of marketing and business operations.
She contends she was fired in January "for telling the truth" while going through internal channels to stop the harassment. She has accused Thomas of telling her he was "very attracted" to her and "in love" with her and tried to kiss her.
In seeking a dismissal of the lawsuit, Thomas said Browne Sanders brought the action to harm him and secure a financial payout from him and Madison Square Garden.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was