The Miami Heat notched their 15th straight home win with an emphatic 106-85 win over the Dallas Mavericks in an NBA Finals rematch on Thursday.
The win at the American Airlines Arena was Miami’s second over the NBA champion Mavericks since losing the Finals series 4-2. The Heat beat Dallas in their season-opening game on Christmas Day 105-94.
“Hopefully, this will give us a little bit of momentum,” Heat forward Chris Bosh told reporters ahead of the team’s two-game road trip against Toronto and Boston. “This is a big road trip for us. We’re looking to turn the corner. We know we’re a good road team as well.”
Photo: AFP
Miami (36-13) lost four of their past six games on the road, but took command of their home court with an 11-4 run in the final minutes of the second quarter to seize a 60-53 lead at halftime.
The Heat raised their game again in the final quarter, outscoring Dallas 26-13 to dominate the more defensive second half.
“You have to give them credit,” Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki said. “They stepped up their pressure on both ends of the floor. In the first half, everything came a little too easy for us. We got some good looks, got some rolls, had everything going. Then they really picked up their pressure and we didn’t have many good looks.”
Miami had six players score in double digits led by LeBron James and Bosh, who scored 19 points and had nine rebounds each. Dwyane Wade and Udonis Haslem added 16 points each, while Mario Chalmers added 12 and Norris Cole 10.
Nowitzki led the visitors (29-23) with 25 points despite scoring just one field goal on nine attempts in the second half.
Lamar Odom scored 12 points off the bench.
THUNDER 102, LAKERS 93
In Los Angeles, Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook scored 36 points to lead the Thunder to victory over the Los Angeles Lakers, extending their winning streak to five games.
Kevin Durant added 21 for the Western Conference leaders, who shot 46 percent, ending their streak of hitting 50 percent or better in their four previous games.
Andrew Bynum had 25 points and 13 rebounds for the Lakers, who have lost back-to-back games at home and are 0-2 against the Thunder this season, including a 15-point road loss last month.
Oklahoma City pulled away to open the fourth quarter with a 10-0 run that stretched their lead to 88-70. Westbrook and Durant scored four points each in the spurt that had Laker fans booing.
PACERS 93, WIZARDS 89
In Indianapolis, Danny Granger scored 25 points to lead Indiana past Washington.
David West had 14 points and eight rebounds for the Pacers, who bounced back from a 16-point loss to New Jersey on Wednesday.
Jordan Crawford scored 20 points, while Nene had 16 points and 13 rebounds for Washington, who have lost five straight.
The Pacers had a 7-2 run late in the fourth quarter to break clear after the game was tied with 4 minutes, 52 seconds remaining.
TRAIL BLAZERS 99, HORNETS 93
In Portland, Oregon, LaMarcus Aldridge had 25 points and 12 rebounds as Portland pulled away from undermanned New Orleans.
Wesley Matthews added 18 points for the Trail Blazers, who are 4-4 since the dismissal of head coach Nate McMillan.
Marco Belinelli had 27 points for the Hornets, who sit in last place in the Western Conference.
Aldridge’s fade-away jumper put Portland back in front, while Raymond Felton and Nicolas Batum hit back-to-back 3-pointers to make it 97-90 with 58.9 seconds left.
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