Associated Press Associated Press ADVERTISING INDIANA — Danny Granger scored 25 points to help the Indiana Pacers beat the Miami Heat 105-90 on Monday night. Darren Collison added 20 points, and Paul George had 16 points and 10 rebounds for
Associated Press
INDIANA — Danny Granger scored 25 points to help the Indiana Pacers beat the Miami Heat 105-90 on Monday night.
Darren Collison added 20 points, and Paul George had 16 points and 10 rebounds for the Pacers, who have won four of five and finally got the signature win they have sought since the All-Star break.
LeBron James had 24 points and nine rebounds, and Dwyane Wade had 24 points and six assists for Miami.
The Heat, coming off a 103-87 loss at Oklahoma City on Sunday night, lost by double digits in back-to-back games for the first time this season. Miami (35-13) lost for the fourth time in eight games overall and is running out of time to catch Chicago (40-10) for the best record in the Eastern Conference.
The Heat had won the previous three meetings this season, but the Pacers played with confidence throughout. Indiana led by double digits for most of the fourth quarter, and Pacers fans stood and showed their appreciation during the final minute.
NUGGETS 108, BULLS 91
CHICAGO — Ty Lawson tied a season high with 27 points, Arron Afflalo added 22 and the Denver Nuggets shot 50 percent Monday night to beat the Chicago Bulls 108-91.
Denver, playing its third game in four nights as part of a seven-game road swing, got its first win three games into the trip. Al Harrington added 17 points and Andre Miller chipped in with 12 points and 10 assists for the Nuggets, who are scrapping for a playoff spot in the West.
C.J. Watson and John Lucas III scored 17 points each for the Bulls. Chicago star Derrick Rose sat out his seventh straight game with a groin injury and the Bulls seemed to be out of sync most of the night, especially on defense.
CELTICS 102, BOBCATS 95
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Paul Pierce scored a season-high 36 points and Boston moved into a first-place tie with Philadelphia 76ers in the Atlantic Division.
Pierce shot 10 of 20 from the field, made 15 of 18 free throws and added 10 rebounds and four assists.
Pierce has scored 20 or more points in five of the past six games and is averaging 22.3 points per game during March.
Kevin Garnett had 24 points for the Celtics.
Gerald Henderson had 21 points for the Bobcats (7-40), who have lost six of their past seven and remain the only team in the NBA with fewer than 10 wins.
KNICKS 89, BUCKS 80
NEW YORK — Carmelo Anthony scored 28 points, delivering his highest total in two months without the injured Amare Stoudemire and Jeremy Lin, and the New York Knicks beat the Milwaukee Bucks 89-80 on Monday night to increase their lead for the final Eastern Conference playoff berth.
Shortly after learning Stoudemire was lost indefinitely with a bulging disk in his back, the Knicks opened a 2 1/2-game lead over the Bucks and prevented Milwaukee from winning the season series and clinching the tiebreaker if they finish with the same record.
Baron Davis scored 13 points in his first start in place of Lin, who has a sore right knee. Tyson Chandler also had 13 and Iman Shumpert 11.
Mike Dunleavy scored 26 points for the Bucks.
JAZZ 105, NETS 84
NEWARK, N.J. — Paul Millsap had 24 points and 13 rebounds and the Utah Jazz shook off the weariness from their four-overtime loss 24 hours earlier.
Al Jefferson added 19 points and eight rebounds as the Jazz won for the seventh time in eight games and kept a hold on one of the last playoff spots in the Western Conference.
Alec Burks added 15 points for the Jazz, who used an 18-4 fourth-quarter run to lock up the game after New Jersey cut a 21-point deficit to three.
Gerald Green led the Nets with 20 points. Deron Williams added 17 points and 11 assists against his former teammates on 7 of 21 shooting. Rookie Jordan Williams added a career-high 13 points.
PISTONS 79, WIZARDS 77
WASHINGTON — Rodney Stuckey scored half of his 24 points in the fourth quarter, including the winning 20-foot jumper with 0.2 seconds left, and Detroit ended a five-game losing streak by erasing a 13-point deficit.
Greg Monroe, who played home games on the Wizards’ court while at Georgetown, had 10 points and 10 rebounds, including a putback off a miss by Tayshaun Prince with 23 seconds remaining to put Detroit ahead 76-75. After Detroit’s Ben Wallace made one free throw, Washington’s Nene tied it at 77 on a hook shot with 5.8 seconds to go.
That left enough time for Stuckey to get up court and pull up for the decisive shot that capped a comeback against the no-lead-is-safe Wizards. Stuckey missed the past three games with a sore big left toe.
Jordan Crawford led Washington with 20 points, and John Wall had 14 points, nine assists and seven rebounds. But Wall also went scoreless in the fourth quarter.
Magic 117, Raptors 101
TORONTO — Ryan Anderson made a career-best eight 3-pointers and finished with 28 points.
Dwight Howard had 23 points and 10 rebounds and Jameer Nelson scored 18 points for the Magic.
Orlando came in leading the NBA in 3-pointers and hit 15 of 34 from beyond the arc in this one, two shy of its season high.
Orlando made 17 3-pointers twice this season, first at New York on Jan. 16 and also against Miami on Feb. 8.
