The Charlotte Bobcats used a crushing first half to claim their seventh consecutive home win with a 125-99 rout of the Phoenix Suns on Saturday.
Charlotte’s Stephen Jackson scored 29 points to top the 10,000 point mark, while Phoenix’s Amare Stoudemire also reached the plateau after putting up 19 points.
Powered by a 43-point first quarter that began with a 12-0 run to open the game, the Bobcats sprinted to a 74-47 halftime advantage and evened their record at 19-19 with their 16th home win in 20 games. They are just 3-15 on the road.
“We’ve had good games before, good halves before, but offensively that was as good a half as we’ve had than I can remember,” Charlotte coach Larry Brown told reporters.
Gerald Wallace scored 24 of his 29 points in the first half to help Charlotte earn its fourth consecutive win. He also hauled down 13 rebounds.
“These are just small steps,” Brown said of the team’s recent improvement. “We dug ourselves such a hole earlier in the season and we have to continue to try to get better. We’ve improved and we don’t have a key part of our team [injured center Tyson Chandler] playing.”
The win was a milestone for the six-year-old franchise. Never before has it been at .500 this late in the season.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if they make the playoffs and I wouldn’t be surprised if they make it tough on somebody — very tough,” Phoenix Suns coach Alvin Gentry said.
The road loss was the 10th in 11 games for Phoenix.
“We were never in the game,” Gentry said. “They scored at will and basically just did everything they wanted to do.”
THUNDER 98, HEAT 80
At Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Kevin Durant scored 36 points on the most efficient shooting night of his career and also pulled down 10 rebounds as the hosts beat road-weary Miami.
Durant went 14 for 18 from the field to finish at 77 percent as the Thunder got out to a sizzling start and led by double digits throughout the second half.
Michael Beasley matched his career high with 28 points and Dwyane Wade had 24 points and six assists, breaking Tim Hardaway’s career record for the most assists in a Miami uniform.
CAVALIERS 102, CLIPPERS 101
At Los Angeles, LeBron James scored 13 of his 32 points in the fourth quarter as Cleveland survived a three-point attempt at the final buzzer by Baron Davis.
Mo Williams added 18 points for the Eastern Conference-leading Cavaliers. Reserve guard Delonte West, who didn’t participate in the morning shootaround because of stomach issues, played 29 minutes and finished with 14 points.
Rasual Butler tied a career high with 33 points for the banged-up Clippers and Eric Gordon added a season-high 28.
Center Chris Kaman missed his fourth straight game because of a sore lower back, and Al Thornton sat out of the game because of a sprained left ankle.
In other NBA action, it was:
• Hornets 101, Pacers 96
• Grizzlies 92, Spurs 86
• Jazz 112, Bucks 95
• Wizards 93, Kings 86
• Pistons 94, Knicks 90
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