Wade’s history sinks Bulls
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MIAMI – Dwyane Wade reached a scoring milestone in the third quarter. In the fourth, he turned to his teammates for points.
They delivered, and the Miami Heat remained unbeaten.
Wade scored 25 points to push his career total to 10,005, reserve Udonis Haslem had 19 points and 11 rebounds, and the Heat pulled away in the final minutes to down the Bulls, 95-87, on Sunday night.
Luol Deng scored 26 points for the Bulls (1-2), which got 17 points from John Salmons, 11 from Brad Miller and 10 from Joakim Noah. Derrick Rose shot 4 of 15 and finished with eight points for the Bulls.
“We didn’t get stops when we needed and we didn’t make shots when we had to,” Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro said. “We had good looks, we had open shots, we just didn’t knock them down.”
Miami survived a wild fourth quarter. The teams alternated the lead seven times in the final 12 minutes, before the Bulls missed their final six shots over the last 3:53.
Wade made a free throw with 1:32 left in the third quarter for the 10,000th career point, the first player to score that many in a Heat uniform. According to STATS LLC, among the other 42 active players on the list, only LeBron James and Allen Iverson have a higher scoring average than Wade, who reached the plateau in his 397th regular-season game.
Miami didn’t escape unscathed as Jermaine O’Neal broke his nose late in the fourth quarter, jostling for a rebound. He does not expect to miss any playing time, and said he won’t wear a protective mask.
Celtics 97, Hornets 87: At Boston, Paul Pierce scored 27 points and Boston improved to 4-0 with a victory against New Orleans.
Chris Paul had 22 points and eight assists for New Orleans, and then had to be held back after the game when he tried to follow the Celtics off the court to their locker room.
Magic 125, Raptors 116: At Toronto, Jameer Nelson scored 30 points, J.J. Redick had a career-high 27, and Orlando used a season-high 17 three-pointers to beat Toronto.
Dwight Howard had 24 points and 11 rebounds, Ryan Anderson scored 20 and the Magic (3-0) remained unbeaten after going 8-0 in the preseason.
Trail Blazers 83, Thunder 74: At Oklahoma City, Steve Blake scored 18 points, Brandon Roy made a late push to finish with 16, and Portland earned a split of a two-game trip.
Nuggets 133, Grizzlies 123: At Denver, Carmelo Anthony extended his torrid start with 42 points in Denver’s shootout win against the Grizzlies.
O.J. Mayo scored a career-high 40 points for Memphis. Chauncey Billups chipped in 22 points and 12 assists, and Kenyon Martin had 16 and Nene 18. All five of the Grizzlies’ starters scored in double figures.
Suns 120, Timberwolves 112: At Phoenix, Channing Frye hit six three-pointers and scored 25 points, and Jason Richardson had 23 points in his first game after a two-game suspension for undefeated Phoenix.
Grant Hill had 23 points and 10 rebounds for the Suns. Amare Stoudemire added 19 points and eight rebounds, and Steve Nash had 14 points and 14 assists.
Lakers 118, Hawks 110: At Los Angeles, Kobe Bryant had 41 points and eight rebounds, Andrew Bynum added 21 points and Los Angeles pulled away with 18 consecutive points in the third quarter for a victory against Atlanta.
Lamar Odom had 11 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists for the defending NBA champions, who bounced back from a loss to Dallas with an overwhelming second half in Atlanta’s first defeat.
