Dwyane Wade scored 32 points and Shaquille O'Neal had 21 points and 13 rebounds on Friday to give Miami Heat coach Pat Riley his third win this week -- a 112-105 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers.
With James Posey hitting all three 3-point attempts in the first half, Gerald Fitch making a meaningful contribution off the bench and Antoine Walker sinking big 3s down the stretch, the Heat held off a late Sixers' rally to win their fourth straight game.
NBA leading scorer Allen Iverson led the Sixers with 35 points, but left the game briefly in the first half with a sprained thumb. Chris Webber scored 23 for the Sixers, who had their four-game winning streak snapped.
PHOTO: AP
Bucks 100, Celtics 96
At Boston, Mo Williams had 24 points and nine rebounds, and Michael Redd also scored 24 as Milwaukee blew a 17-point lead in the third quarter before beating Boston.
Paul Pierce had 23 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds for Boston, which has not won consecutive games all season. Marcus Banks, who missed the first 21 games with a stress fracture in his left leg, scored 12 points in 22 minutes.
Nets 115, Nuggets 106, OT
At East Rutherford, New Jersey, Vince Carter scored 34 points and Richard Jefferson added 21, including five in overtime, as New Jersey beat Denver to snap a three-game losing streak.
Jason Kidd added 15 points and 16 assists for the Nets, and forced overtime with a 3-pointer with 11 seconds left. Reserve Scott Padgett scored all of his 15 points on 3-pointers after halftime, and Nenad Krstic added 17 points and 11 rebounds for New Jersey.
Andre Miller led the Nuggets with 22 points and 13 assists. Carmelo Anthony, who was held scoreless in the first half and was just 2-of-17 from the floor at one point, scored 20 points, including a stretch of nine straight over a 2:16 stretch of the fourth quarter.
Hawks 122, Knicks 111
At Atlanta, Joe Johnson scored a career-high 36 points and Al Harrington had 35 as Atlanta handed New York its fifth straight loss.
The Hawks shot 63 percent from the field, best in the NBA this season. Atlanta entered shooting 43.6 percent as a team, 25th in the league.
Jamal Crawford scored 23 points and Stephon Marbury added 21, but he had a game-high six turnovers for the league's most mistake-prone team. Channing Frye added 16 points and seven rebounds for the Knicks, who never led and dropped to 6-16.
Pistons 110, Bulls 82
At Auburn Hills, Michigan, Rasheed Wallace scored 10 of his 19 points in the third quarter, and Detroit beat Chicago to improve to 17-3, the best 20-game start in team history.
Rasheed Wallace added 10 rebounds and Ben Wallace had 13. Richard Hamilton scored 18 points for Detroit, while Chauncey Billups had 15 points and eight assists.
Chris Duhon led Chicago with 13 points, but Luol Deng was the only other starter in double figures with 11.
Warriors 108, Raptors 98
At Toronto, Jason Richardson scored 23 points and Golden State made a season-high 17 3-pointers in its victory over Toronto.
Baron Davis had 20 points and 11 assists, Derek Fisher scored 21 points and Troy Murphy added 20 for the Warriors, who went 17-for-29 from 3-point territory -- one off their franchise record of 18 done twice last season.
Chris Bosh scored 27 points for the Raptors, who dropped to 4-18 overall and 1-11 at home. Jalen Rose had just two points in 11 minutes off the bench.
Pacers 93, Jazz 83
At Indianapolis, Jermaine O'Neal had 27 points and 11 rebounds to lead Indiana over Utah.
Austin Croshere and Stephen Jackson each added 16 points for the Pacers, who won for the first time since management said it would look to honor Ron Artest's public request to be traded. Croshere was 4-of-5 on 3-pointers.
Mehmet Okur led Utah with 19 points and 12 rebounds. Utah shot 4-of-19 in the fourth quarter.
Suns 101, Hornets 88
At Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Eddie House scored 26 points, including 16 in the fourth quarter, and Phoenix rallied to spoil New Orleans' homecoming.
House didn't score in the third quarter, but fueled the Suns' decisive run with his 3-point shooting in the final period, when Phoenix outscored New Orleans 37-10.
Shawn Marion scored 21 points for Phoenix and had 15 rebounds, Steve Nash added 18 points, Kurt Thomas added 16 and Raja Bell had 11. Boris Diaw had 13 rebounds.
Chris Paul led the Hornets with 25 points, P.J. Brown had 20 points and J.R. Smith added 14. Both Brown and David West had 13 rebounds.
Mavericks 109, Magic 103, OT
At Dallas, Dirk Nowitzki scored 10 of his 31 points in overtime and Devin Harris made the go-ahead basket, leading Dallas over Orlando.
Josh Howard scored 24 points for Dallas before fouling out with 1:06 left in regulation, and Jason Terry had 22 points for the Mavericks, who've won seven of their last eight.
Grant Hill had 28 points in his second game this season after missing Orlando's first 19 following surgery for a sports hernia.
Hedo Turkoglu added 17 points for the Magic, who have lost six of eight.
Lakers 97, Wizards 91
At Los Angeles, Kobe Bryant scored 41 points, and Los Angeles beat Washington for its sixth win in seven games.
Bryant had 18 points in the third quarter to rally Los Angeles from a five-point deficit, then sealed the win with three free throws in the closing 30 seconds.
Lamar Odom had 14 points and 11 rebounds, and Devean George scored 13 points for the Lakers.
Gilbert Arenas led Washington with 29 points, but was just 6-of-20 from the floor. Caron Butler added 20 points against his former Los Angeles teammates.
SuperSonics 111, Trail Blazers 99
At Portland, Oregon, Rashard Lewis scored 37 points and Seattle beat Portland and former coach Nate McMillan.
It was the first time McMillan had faced his former team in the regular season, and it got bad quickly with the Blazers trailing by as many as 33 points in the first half.
Ray Allen had 24 points for Seattle, which snapped a three-game losing streak that included a 104-98 loss at home to Houston the night before.
The Blazers were led by Zach Randolph's 23 points and eight rebounds.
Phil Jackson's triangle offense seems to be taking shape in his second coaching stint with the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Lakers got off to a slow start this season but played their best basketball of the NBA season on a recent road trip.
The Lakers went 5-1 on the trip, climbing above .500 after spending the early part of the season in last place in the Pacific Division.
"It gives us confidence," Kobe Bryant said after the Lakers closed the trip on Wednesday with a 94-79 victory at Memphis. "It shows that our play is not a fluke. We move the ball consistently and play defense consistently. This bodes well for our confidence."
The Lakers struggled at the start with Jackson's triangle offense, forcing Bryant to take too many shots. He had 30 or more field goal attempts six times during a seven-game span earlier this season, but averaged 21 shots during the road trip.
"He was just taking some bad shots. He knew it," Magic Johnson said. "There were shots that normally you've got to kick that ball, rotate it.
"When the Lakers started playing well on this [trip], you saw Kobe was taking his shot and then giving that shot to Lamar [Odom] and the other guys. He realizes he needs those guys to play well for the Lakers to win."
Like Bryant, Jackson had to learn to trust players who weren't there when he previously coached the team. The players now seem to have grasped his offense, scoring more than 100 points three times during the trip.
Odom, the only other top player on the team, was expected to contribute. But Jackson also has been getting surprisingly strong play from the likes of Smush Parker and Chris Mihm.
"Our bench has helped us," Jackson said. "We're shooting the ball well because the ball is moving. Our players are developing better chemistry. This team has confidence and can play with anyone."
Still, Johnson thinks it might be another month before the Lakers hit their peak.
"I thought it was going to be a team in January or February anyway because of all the new guys trying to learn the triangle," Johnson said. "They're probably still on that timetable."
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