Heat Wins 14th Straight Game, Hawks Fall to the Lakers
Just as the Chicago Blackhawks keep their streak alive, so does the Miami Heat.
On Sunday, the team (43-14) grabbed its 14th straight win (tying a franchise record) by defeating the New York Knicks (35-21), 99-93. It was again the LeBron James show as he scored 29 points with 11 rebounds and seven assists.
After showing he’s off to a good start for the new month, this follows James’ play from February that included shooting at a 64.1 percent success rate (139 makes out of 217). Elias Sports Bureau noted this represents the “highest field goal percentage by a player in a calendar month featuring at least 200 shots.” Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was the last player to own this honor, shooting 158-for-243 (.650) as a LA Laker during March 1983.
Dwyane Wade contributed 20 points along with eight rebounds and eight assists on Sunday. Chris Bosh added 16 points and Shane Battier again was the team’s 3-point shooter, hitting four for 12 points.
King James
While the team overcame a 16-point deficit, James said of the win via ESPN, “We feel like this is one of our better wins of the season, even under the circumstances that we went through tonight, a little adversity being down double digits.”
The player tweaked his knee in the third quarter as he was trying to catch a pass. He shook it off but said after the game he’ll have a doctor examine it. James said he expects to be in Monday’s lineup.
The Knicks Carmelo Anthony led his team in scoring with 32 points, followed by Jason Kidd’s 14 points, eight rebounds with six assists.
For the Heat, this represented its sixth-straight road win and its first one against the Knicks this season after losing two previous games to them.
On Monday, the team travels to play the Minnesota Timberwolves (20-36).
Can they keep rolling along to win the NBA Championship? They have 3 to 2 odds to do so.
In other Southeast Division news, the second place Atlanta Hawks lost to the LA Lakers on Sunday, 99-98.
Atlanta Hawks
The Hawks (33-25) sit 10 games behind the Heat and in the Eastern Conference’s fourth spot.
Lakers Kobe Bryant was on fire Sunday, hitting 34 points with 11 coming in the fourth quarter.
From the win, the team has finally hit the .500 mark–a first since Dec.28. It was also the seventh straight win by the Lakers over the Hawks.
For Atlanta, it ended a four-game win streak this weekend after first losing to the Phoenix Suns on Friday, 92-87. Al Horford led in scoring on Sunday with 24 points, followed by Josh Smith’s 19 points.
Horford said of Byant via ESPN, “There’s a reason why he’s the best player in the game. He did what he usually does, and we didn’t do a good enough job on him. It’s disappointing. We thought we worked hard and put ourselves in a position to win. We just had too many mistakes down the stretch.”
There’s no rest for this team. They’ll try to snap this past weekend’s losing streak against the Denver Nuggets on Monday but it doesn’t look good.
The Nuggets get the winning nod (-10, 211.5 o/u).
Washington Wizards
Then there’s the Southeast division third place Washington Wizards (19-39), who are 24.5 games back and well, the playoffs aren’t looking too good.
Wizards guard John Wall
On Sunday, they defeated the Philadelphia 76ers (23-35), 90-87. John Wall was the Wizards’ MVP, scoring the last six points of the game, giving his team a one-point lead and concluding the game with a winning jumper.
For the night, Wall had 16 points, six assists and five rebounds as the Wizards snapped its two-game losing streak. Dorell Wright was the 76ers top scorer with 15 points. The team has now endured eight losses in their last nine games.
The Wizards have two days off and then play the Timberwolves on Wednesday.
