NBA roundup
Morrison scores 30 as Bobcats win second in a row INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – Adam Morrison scored a career-high 30 points and the Charlotte Bobcats held off a second-half rally to beat the Indiana Pacers 113-102 on Saturday night.
Emeka Okafor finished with 19 points and 14 rebounds, and Matt Carroll scored 18 points for the Bobcats (9-21), who won consecutive games for the first time this season. Charlotte beat the Lakers 133-124 in triple overtime on Friday.
Raymond Felton had 19 assists. He had 15 in Friday night’s game.
Jermaine O’Neal had 27 points and 12 rebounds, Danny Granger scored 17 points and Jamaal Tinsley chipped in 15 for Indiana (17-15), which lost at Conseco Fieldhouse for the third time in its last four games.
Indiana coach Rick Carlisle was ejected following his second technical foul with 10:14 left in the third quarter. Carlisle was arguing a technical that had been called on Pacers guard Stephen Jackson after a hard foul on Morrison.
The Pacers fought back in the third quarter after Primoz Brezec’s jumper with 8 minutes left gave Charlotte a 13-point lead. Tinsley scored seven straight points, including a steal and layup to bring Indiana within 69-65.
Indiana took a 72-71 lead following O’Neal’s free throw, but Charlotte jumped back in front 79-75 on Derek Anderson’s two free throws late in the period.
The Pacers started the fourth quarter with five straight points to take an 82-79 advantage.
The Bobcats responded with the next seven points to open a four-point lead.
Charlotte began to pull away following Okafor’s dunk and Sean May’s jumper with 5 minutes left, putting the Bobcats ahead 98-90. Morrison’s 3-pointer with 3:25 remaining gave Charlotte a 101-92 lead.
Behind Morrison’s 17 points in the first half, the Bobcats took a 54-50 advantage into the break. Charlotte took its biggest lead of the half, 49-41, following a pair of free throws by Morrison with 3:37 left in the second quarter.
Magic 97, Heat 68
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) – The Miami Heat could badly use some most valuable play.
Dwight Howard had 18 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Orlando Magic to a 97-68 victory Saturday night over the Heat, who lost their second straight without NBA finals MVP Dwyane Wade.
Also missing Shaquille O’Neal, who has appeared in only four games this season, the Heat conceded the paint to Orlando. The Magic outscored Miami inside 50-14, and commanded the game for all but the opening minutes.
Jason Kapono had 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting for Miami, while Dorell Wright scored 12. Wright came off the bench after starting 18 straight games.
The Heat scored a season-low 10 second-quarter points, and went nearly eight minutes without a point in the period. The Magic scored only 12 in that span, but it was enough to help them take a 48-37 halftime lead. Miami scored only 11 points in the fourth.
Orlando snapped a four-game losing streak and extended the Heat’s skid to three games. Wade is resting a strained right wrist he injured Wednesday against the Chicago Bulls, and O’Neal has missed more than 20 games with knee injury. Neither traveled with Miami to Orlando.
Trevor Ariza had 16 points and 10 rebounds, including an impressive dunk over Alonzo Mourning in the third quarter. Tony Battie had 12 points and six rebounds, Hedo Turkoglu scored 11 points and Jameer Nelson had seven assists.
The Magic were without Grant Hill, who sometimes rests the second of back-to-back games, and Keyon Dooling, who scored 20 points Friday night.
Orlando’s win came a night after the Magic lost the Southeast Division lead to Washington in Friday’s one-point defeat to the Wizards.
Orlando, which previously had one of the East’s best records, improved to 18-14, while Miami fell to 13-17.
Miami is 0-4 this season without Wade.
Nets 100, T’wolves 92
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Richard Jefferson scored 23 points and Mikki Moore had a career-high 20 to lead New Jersey over Minnesota.
Jason Kidd added 19 points and Vince Carter scored 14 as the Nets posted a second straight win following a four-game losing streak.
The victory also ended a two-game home losing streak and improved the Nets’ record to 4-10 against Western Conference teams.
Ricky Davis and Randy Foye led the Timberwolves with 18.
Kevin Garnett had 17 points and 11 rebounds while Mark Blount scored 15.
Bucks 119, Wizards 102
MILWAUKEE – Michael Redd scored 28 points and Ruben Patterson added 21 as Milwaukee snapped Washington’s five-game winning streak.
The loss dropped Washington into a first-place tie with Orlando in the Southeast Division.
Milwaukee pulled away with a 22-5 run to open the fourth quarter and won for the seventh time in eight games. The Bucks made 13 of their first 17 shots in the fourth.
Gilbert Arenas, averaging 30.7 points, was held to 19 on 7-of-21 shooting. Caron Butler led the Wizards with 29 points.
Mavericks 94, Hornets 80
DALLAS – Jason Terry scored 25 points, Dirk Nowitzki had 17, and Dallas extended its winning streak to nine games by beating injury-depleted New Orleans.
Josh Howard added 15 points and Devin Harris had 12 to help the Mavericks beat the Hornets for the 20th consecutive time, the longest active streak in the four major North American professional sports.
Dallas’ Avery Johnson improved his head coaching record to 99-31. The late Red Auerbach holds the NBA record for quickest to 100 coaching victories, reaching the milestone in 135 games.
Marc Jackson scored 22 points, Desmond Mason added 17, and Devin Brown had 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Hornets, who were without four of their top five offensive players.
Bulls 103, Cavaliers 96
CHICAGO – Luol Deng scored a career-high 32 points, and Chicago went on a 24-point run in the second half of a victory over Cleveland.
A jumper by Larry Hughes made it 67-60 with 7:17 left in the third quarter, but the Cavaliers did not score again until he hit a 3-pointer with 9:23 left in the game. Meanwhile, the Bulls built an 84-67 lead and hung on for their third straight victory.
Deng, whose previous career high was 30 against Dallas in February 2005, is playing well despite spraining his right wrist on a flagrant foul by Miami’s James Posey on Wednesday. With his wrist bandaged again, Deng hit 15 of 19 shots after scoring 25 the previous night in a 107-97 win at Toronto.
Ben Gordon hit his first three shots and was 8-of-18 on his way to 21 points. P.J. Brown added 13 points and 10 rebounds, and Malik Allen scored 10 points after sitting out the first half.