(The Sports Xchange) – Chris Bosh hit a 3-point bucket with one second on the clock to give the Miami Heat an 88-86 win over the San Antonio Spurs Sunday night at the AT&T center.
Bosh led the Heat with 23 points, going nine of 15 from the field, but hit the most important shot at the end of the game.
Ray Allen added 14, Norris Cole 13 and Mike Miller 12 as Miami won without their aces LeBron James and Dwyane Wade.
The highly-anticipated matchup between the two best teams in the NBA damped before the game when Miami officials declared that James (strained right hamstring) and Wade (right ankle sprain) would not play.
The Heat are on an unprecedented run, winning 29 of their last 30 games, including 27 in a row. Despite the winning streak, Miami came into the game only two games ahead of the Spurs but now are potentially up four games.
At the United Centre, the Chicago Bulls stretched their winning streak against Detroit to 18 games with a 95-94 victory.
After trailing by 13 points in the first quarter, the Bulls finally took the lead midway through the fourth and opened a 91-84 advantage with 3:55 remaining.
The Pistons closed within 92-91 with 1:27 left on a lay in by Rodney Stuckey. Luol Deng gave Chicago some breathing room with a put back of a Nate Robinson miss on the next possession.
Detroit’s Charlie Villanueva missed a potential tying 3-pointer with 4.9 seconds on the clock. After Daequan Cook hit 1 of 2 free throws to give the Bulls a 95-91 lead, Starkey’s 3-pointer with 0.2 seconds left was inconsequential.
Deng led the Bulls with 28 points, while Robinson and Jimmy Butler added 16 points each. Stuckey topped Detroit with 25 points.
Carmel Anthony scored 24 points and the New York Knicks used another hot start to extend their season-high winning streak to eight with a 108-89 win over the Boston Celtics.
The win at Madison Square Garden moved the Knicks into a virtual tie for the second seed in the Eastern Conference playoff with the idle Indiana Pacers and gave them more momentum heading into their road matchup against the Miami Heat on Tuesday.
Chris Copeland added 22 points and Raymond Felton had 18 for the Knicks (46-26), who built another big halftime lead, including an unlikely buzzer-beater by Felton to end the second quarter, before cruising to the win in the second half.
The Celtics (38-35), without their own talented center Kevin Garnett again, lost for the sixth time in their past eight games.
Bradley Beal’s return to action included scoring 24 points and matching his career-high with six 3-pointers, and John Wall posted his 12th double-double of the season as the Washington Wizards continued their winning ways at home with a 109-92 victory over the Toronto Raptors.
Wall tallied 18 points and 10 assists while Emelia Okafor had 19 points and 10 rebounds for the Wizards, who won their seventh straight at home, their longest streak since winning 10 consecutive during the 2006-07 season.
After opening the season with a 4-28 record, Washington (27-46) moved into a tie with Toronto (27-46) for 10th place in the Eastern Conference.
Grieves Vasquez overcome a sloppy first half by scoring 20 of his team-high 25 points in the second half, and rookie Anthony Davis recorded his 17th double-double of the season to power the New Orleans Hornets to a 112-92 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Vasquez had three of the Hornets’ 12 turnovers and was held to just five points in the first half, but he teamed up with Davis in the second half on a series of penetration moves and alley-oop feeds for dunks.
Davis finished with 17 points, 13 rebounds and two blocked shots. Vasquez also had nine assists.
