No Wade no problem for Miami as they defeat the Hawks.
After a slow start to the season, the Miami Heat have picked up the pace in recent games with a fourth consecutive win, but the misery continued for the New York Knicks on Tuesday night.
Despite the absence of Dwyane Wade, the defending champions sealed a comfortable 104-88 win over the Atlanta Hawks, with Chris Bosh stepping up to score a game-high 19 points.
The Heat center went 8-of-9 from the field on an efficient scoring night, while LeBron James added 13 points but played 31 minutes, the most of any of the Miami players.
While it wasn’t their best performance of the season, Erik Spoelstra will be looking at both the positives and negatives to come out of the game. The Heat outscored their opponents 48-38 in the paint, but they recorded 17 turnovers, which against better opposition would have undoubtedly been punished.
Nevertheless, they remain in second spot in the Eastern Conference, while Atlanta slip to 6-5 with Al Horford having the biggest impact out of the starters.
Elsewhere, things aren’t getting much better for Mike Woodson and the Knicks as they fell to yet another defeat which leaves them at 3-7, with the loss to Detroit their first since 2011.
Carmelo Anthony led the way with 25 points, but with Raymond Felton joining Tyson Chandler on the injury list, it is becoming increasingly difficult to get out of their slump.
However, Kenyon Martin, who started to offer the Knicks some size against the Pistons’ bigs, has insisted that their struggles are being magnified because it is still early in the season.
He is confident that they will get it right and that every team will eventually suffer some form of dip during the course of the year.
Meanwhile, the Washington Wizards sealed a 104-100 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves, while the Sacramento Kings grabbed their third home win of the season against the Phoenix Suns.
In the other game of the night, the Houston Rockets had too much firepower for the Boston Celtics, with all five starters getting into double figures.
Terrence Jones had a game-high 24 points, but with Jeremy Lin also adding 11 points off the bench, coach Kevin McHale will have been delighted with his team’s dominant display after they scored 40 points in the first quarter alone.
NBA Results:
Minnesota Timberwolves 100-104 Washington Wizards
New York Knicks 86-92 Detroit Pistons
Atlanta Hawks 88-104 Miami Heat
Boston Celtics 85-109 Houston Rockets
Phoenix Suns 104-107 Sacramento Kings
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