Thunder see their winning streak stopped by Wizards.
There were nine games on the NBA schedule on Saturday night, with the Miami Heat ending a four-game winning streak of the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.
LeBron James finished with 30 points, eight rebounds and seven assists despite a heavy fall following a Carmelo Anthony foul, but the two-time NBA champion was more focused on the team’s performance as opposed to making a story out of the clash.
“I’m not going to get caught up in that and try to make that the story of the game,” James said. “The way we played tonight was the story of the game.”
Dwyane Wade added 22 points as the Heat bounced back from their home defeat against the Oklahoma City Thunder earlier this week, with Shane Battier describing it as “embarrassing” as he added 16 points in the win on Saturday night.
The three-point specialist conceded that after the Super Bowl, the primary concern for a lot of people becomes the NBA, and that is where Miami tend to wake up and start playing their championship-winning brand of basketball.
Anthony responded with 26 points and eight rebounds for the Knicks, but after seeing Kevin Durant run riot against them last time out, the Heat defense did a much better job containing the main scoring threat of the opposition.
With the Super Bowl crowd in town, James was able to show off his all-round game as the Heat bounce back in style to move to 33-13 for the season while the Knicks slip to 19-28.
Elsewhere, the Thunder saw their 10-game win streak come crashing to an end in Washington, as John Wall and the Wizards secured a 96-81 win.
Having changed his shoes at half-time, Wall came out firing in the second-half, scoring 15 of his 17 points as the Wizards took advantage of an off-night for Durant.
Wall also had 15 assists and six steals but in contrast Durant had 26 points but was overall disappointed with his performance as the Thunder committed 21 turnovers in total.
In contrast, the Indiana Pacers continued their winning form as they edged out the Brooklyn Nets by one point with Roy Hibbert and Paul George both playing pivotal roles.
The Pacers moved to 36-10 despite a season-high 24 turnovers as George and Hibbert had 20 points apiece to help their team sweep the season series against the Nets.
George spoke after the game about the arrival of Andrew Bynum after the Pacers signed the free agent for the rest of the season, and insisted that he would add both quality and depth to the roster and undoubtedly help in their bid to win a championship.
Elsewhere, there were notable wins for the San Antonio Spurs and Phoenix Suns over the Sacramento Kings and Charlotte Bobcats respectively, while Jamal Crawford scored 27 points off the bench to help the Los Angeles Clippers to a win over the Utah Jazz.
NBA Results:
Brooklyn Nets 96-97 Indiana Pacers
Oklahoma City Thunder 81-96 Washington Wizards
Minnesota Timberwolves 113-120 Atlanta Hawks
Philadelphia 76ers 96-113 Detroit Pistons
Cleveland Cavaliers 92-106 Houston Rockets
Milwaukee Bucks 90-99 Memphis Grizzlies
Chicago Bulls 79-88 New Orleans Pelicans
Sacramento Kings 93-95 San Antonio Spurs
Miami Heat 106-91 New York Knicks
Charlotte Bobcats 95-105 Phoenix Suns
Toronto Raptors 103-106 Portland Trail Blazers
Utah Jazz 87-102 Los Angeles Clippers
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