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Heat pull away from Raptors, win 22nd straight game

The Miami Heat equaled the second-longest winning streak in NBA history, pulling away in the fourth quarter Sunday to beat the Toronto Raptors 108-91 for their 22nd consecutive victory.

LeBron James had 22 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists, Dwyane Wade added 24 points and nine assists, and Ray Allen scored 16 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter for the defending NBA champions.

Chris Bosh finished with 18 points as the Heat tied the 2007-08 Houston Rockets for the second-longest winning streak in NBA history. The longest is 33 games, set by the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers.

Miami will try to move into sole possession of second on Monday when it visits the Boston Celtics – who ended the Rockets’ run five years ago…

Rudy Gay scored 27 and Amir Johnson had 18 points and 18 rebounds as the Raptors lost their 11th straight against Miami, extending their longest active losing streak against a single opponent.

Jonas Valanciunas scored 18 points, and Terrence Ross and DeMar DeRozan each had 12 for the Raptors, whose last victory over the Heat was a 111-103 home win on Jan. 27, 2010 – when Bosh still played for Toronto and James was in Cleveland.

— Reported by Ian Harrison of the Associated Press

Celtics beat Bobcats for 11th straight home win

Paul Pierce had 14 points, eight assists and six rebounds before sitting out the fourth quarter, and the Boston Celtics won their 11th straight at home, beating the Charlotte Bobcats 105-88 on Saturday night.

Avery Bradley scored 13 and Courtney Lee had 12 points and five assists as the Celtics beat the Bobcats for the first time in three meetings this season. Two of the Bobcats’ NBA-low 14 wins came against the Celtics, including a 100-74 blowout in Charlotte on Tuesday.

Kevin Garnett sat out with a strained left thigh muscle, but the Celtics had more than enough to overwhelm the Bobcats this time.

Jeff Green and Brandon Bass scored 10 apiece as all five starters were in double figures.

Jason Terry led Boston’s reserves with 15 points and Shavlik Randolph, signed earlier in the week to his second 10-day contract, had six points and a team-high eight rebounds.

All 11 players who dressed for Boston scored at least five points.

Jannero Pargo led Charlotte with 18 points. Gerald Henderson had 16 points, Kemba Walker scored 14 and Josh McRoberts pulled down 10 rebounds for the Bobcats, who lost for the 12th time in 13 games. Charlotte’s only win during that stretch was Tuesday against the Celtics, when Pierce rested.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Huge game from Spencer Hawes helps Sixers beat Pacers

Spencer Hawes had 18 points and career highs with 16 rebounds and seven blocked shots to lead the Philadelphia 76ers to a 98-91 victory over the Indiana Pacers on Saturday night.

Jrue Holiday added 27 points and 12 assists to help the Sixers win for only the third time in 15 games. While the Sixers are one of the worst road teams in the league, they are 19-17 at home.

The Sixers led by one at the end of the third quarter, then opened the fourth on a 19-4 run to put away the Pacers. Evan Turner and Thaddeus Young each contributed some lead-stretching buckets in the fourth to put all five starters in double figures.

Roy Hibbert had 25 points and 10 rebounds for the Pacers.

The 76ers had enough this time to finish off one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference. They had a late lead and the Heat on the ropes until they blew it and lost by four Wednesday night.

Just like they did against Miami, the Sixers got into an early groove in the quarter to put the upset alert on notice. Dorell Wright hit a 3-pointer and Lavoy Allen came off the bench to score his first two baskets to get a big run going. They forced turnovers on consecutive possessions at one point during the spurt and built a 10-point lead.

— Reported by Dan Gelston of the Associated Press

Martell Webster scores 34, Wizards crush Suns

Martell Webster scored a career-high 34 points and became the Washington Wizards’ first 30-point scorer this season in a 127-105 victory over the Phoenix Suns on Saturday night.

John Wall added 17 points and 11 assists as Washington won its fourth straight at home and third straight overall while setting its season high in scoring.

Emeka Okafor added 17 points and 10 rebounds as Washington snapped a 10-game losing streak to Phoenix, dating to 2006.

Michael Beasley scored 21 points and Goran Dragic added 12 points and 11 assists as the Suns lost their fourth straight and their sixth of eight in March.

Phoenix now owns the worst record in the Western Conference, a half-game behind idle New Orleans.

Webster matched a career high with seven 3-pointers, his last coming on the left wing just moments into the fourth quarter to make it 105-84. Webster shrugged toward his bench after the basket, then followed with a reverse dunk to push it to 109-86.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Bulls beat Warriors in impressive rout, 113-95

Embarrassed one game, handing out humiliation the next.

Such is life for the Chicago Bulls right now.

Luol Deng scored 23 points, Carlos Boozer had 21 points and nine rebounds, and the banged-up Bulls bounced back from their most lopsided loss of the season to whip the Golden State Warriors 113-95 on Friday night.

”I do know we have pride,” Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said. ”We’ve taken a hit. We’ve lost some guys along the way. Our guys will battle. We know that we’re short-handed. But if we have the right intensity and we do it collectively, we have a chance. And we’ve shown it throughout the year.”

Maybe this week more than any other.

Two nights after a 121-79 shellacking at Sacramento that renewed calls for Derrick Rose’s return, the Bulls outscored the Warriors 38-17 in the third quarter en route to snapping a season-high, five-game road losing streak. They led by 36 points early in the fourth quarter before both sides cleared the benches.

Nate Robinson added 20 points and seven assists, while Joakim Noah finished with 16 points and 13 rebounds for Chicago, which had lost four of five overall. The Bulls outshot the Warriors 52 to 45 percent and won the rebounding battle 43-34, though the final box score hardly showed how much of a blowout the game really was.

— Reported by Antonio Gonzalez of the Associated Press

Nuggets beat Grizzlies for 11th straight win

The Denver Nuggets plodded along for three quarters before beating Memphis at its own game.

Hardly known as a half-court team, the high-flying Nuggets had to resort to set plays and setting picks to finally break free.

Turns out, they’re pretty good at it, especially when they dump the ball inside to Kosta Koufos.

Koufos scored 18 points and grabbed a career-high 16 rebounds, helping the Nuggets rally to knock off the Grizzlies 87-80 on Friday night for their 11th straight victory, their longest streak in 30 years…

Then along came Kenneth Faried, providing a much-needed spark with his energetic play. The player known as ”Manimal” was blocking shots, hustling for rebounds and pestering Zach Randolph, the Grizzlies’ force up front who had 18 points and 18 rebounds.

With the Nuggets trailing 66-58 heading into the fourth quarter, Faried helped them go on a 17-4 run and seize back the momentum. That’s exactly why he’s on the court…

The Grizzlies have been on a 15-5 roll since a three-team deal on Jan. 30 that sent Rudy Gay to Toronto and landed Tayshaun Prince in Memphis. … Denver has won 26 of its last 28 home games against Memphis. … The Nuggets are 28-3 when allowing 100 or fewer points.

— Reported by Pat Graham of the Associated Press

Bryant leaves early, but Lakers beat Pacers

When Kobe Bryant couldn’t be the tough guy on the court Friday night, he resorted to being an MVP coach.

After hobbling around on a severely sprained left ankle for 12 minutes, Bryant retreated to the bench, where he spent the rest of the night contesting calls, waving teammates into the right spots and even drawing something up on a clipboard for Dwight Howard to see.

He wasn’t going to let up – or let his teammates down.

So on a night Bryant was held scoreless for only the 15th time in his 17-year NBA career, Howard finished with 20 points and 12 rebounds, and delivered a tiebreaking three-point play with 90 seconds left that sent the Los Angeles Lakers past Indiana, 99-93.

”It really just continued to swell and I couldn’t put any weight on it, so I called it a night,” Bryant said after getting more treatment on the sore ankle in the training room. ”I told them before the game, ‘I don’t know how much I have, but whatever I have, I’ll give you.”’ …

Metta World Peace finished with 19 points and seven rebounds, Steve Blake made five 3-pointers and finished with 18 points, and Antawn Jamison added 17 points with four 3s…

George Hill scored 27 points, Paul George had 20 points and Lance Stephenson finished with 12 points, 11 rebounds and five assists. But Indiana shot only 37.4 percent from the field and couldn’t make a serious run at Los Angeles after Howard’s big play, primarily because the defense couldn’t stop the Lakers from outside.

— Reported by Michael Marot of the Associated Press

Amir Johnson gets 21 rebounds as Raptors beat Bobcats

Even though playoff contention may be slipping out of reach for the Toronto Raptors, Amir Johnson isn’t about to slow down.

Johnson had 12 points and a career-high 21 rebounds, and Rudy Gay scored 28 points as the Raptors beat the Charlotte Bobcats 92-78 on Friday night.

”That was a heck of an effort by Amir Johnson,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. ”I can’t sing his praises enough.”

Toronto drew to within 7 1/2 games of Milwaukee for the final playoff spot in the East after the Bucks lost at home to Miami, the Heat’s 21st straight win. The Raptors host Miami on Sunday.

Joey Dorsey was the last Toronto player to record 20 rebounds, doing it April 11, 2011, at Milwaukee…

Gerald Henderson, coming off a career-best 35-point performance in the Bobcats’ 100-74 victory over Boston on Tuesday, scored 22 points. Kemba Walker added 20, and Ben Gordon and McRoberts each had 10 for Charlotte, which has won just one of 11 and four of its past 26.

The Bobcats made just one of 13 field goal attempts in the fourth, and were outscored 23-10.

— Reported by Ian Harrison of the Associated Press

Heat win 21st straight game, beat Bucks 107-94

LeBron James and Chris Bosh each scored 28 points, and the Miami Heat made it 21 straight wins, beating the Milwaukee Bucks 107-94 on Friday night.

Only three other teams have won 20 in a row in one season, and the Heat now trail just the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers (33) and the 2007-08 Houston Rockets (22) after moving ahead of the 1970-71 Bucks.

They withstood an early scare when Dwyane Wade walked to the locker room with a neck strain after crashing to the court. Miami led by as much as 17 in the third quarter, then withstood a push by the Bucks to remain unbeaten since a loss at Indiana on Feb. 1.

Miami next plays Sunday at Toronto, where the winning streak began on Feb. 3.

Bosh hit from all angles and was 12 of 16 in the game, nailing two 3-pointers. He even converted a four-point play that made it 67-53 about five minutes into the third quarter.

James was his usual dominant self, and Wade finished with 20 points as the Heat avenged a loss at Milwaukee in late December.

Ersan Ilyasova led Milwaukee with 26 points and a season-high 17 rebounds. Brandon Jennings scored 21 but was 6 of 15 from the field, and the Bucks shot just over 37 percent. Monta Ellis struggled, finishing with seven points after scoring 26 in the previous game at Washington, and the Bucks dropped their third straight.

— Reported by Andrew Seligman of the Associated Press

Damian Lillard leads Blazers to 105-90 win over Knicks

The Portland Trail Blazers are pretty happy with how their point guard situation has turned out.

Damian Lillard had 26 points and 10 assists to lead the Trail Blazers to a 105-90 victory over the Knicks on Thursday night, outplaying New York point guard Raymond Felton in his return to Portland.

LaMarcus Aldridge had 22 points and 10 rebounds and Nicolas Batum added 18 points for Portland, where Felton drew the ire of fans during a disappointing stint last season. The crowd was on Felton all night…

J.R. Smith had 33 points and Kenyon Martin added 12 to lead New York, which went ice cold in second half, shooting just 33 percent. The Knicks lead the Atlantic Division but have lost three straight after a rash of injuries that has decimated their starting five.

Tyson Chandler suffered a bruised knee in a collision Wednesday at Denver and was unavailable. Leading scorer Carmelo Anthony returned to New York to have his right knee drained after leaving Wednesday’s game early. Amare Stoudemire is expected to miss at least six weeks after having knee surgery on Tuesday.

”Being short-handed didn’t affect us at all (tonight),” said Jason Kidd, who was 1 of 8 from the field for New York.

— Reported by Joel Fowlks of the Associated Press