MIAMI — An easy win still presented the Miami Heat with some potential issues.
James Johnson scored 20 points on 8-for-9 shooting, the Heat piled up 76 points in the paint and rolled past the Washington Wizards 129-102 on Saturday night.
Miami's starting five shot 77 percent, with Johnson and Josh Richardson - the Heat starting forwards - connecting on a combined 14 of their 15 shots.
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"We were very detail-oriented," Johnson said.
But the postgame mood was at least somewhat tempered by injury concerns.
Dwyane Wade left early in the fourth with a mild hamstring strain, and doesn't expect to play on Monday when the Heat start a three-game road trip in Portland. Justise Winslow left the floor with the final seconds running off the clock after appearing to have some sort of problem with his right knee, but the Heat believe he's fine. And those were preceded by Hassan Whiteside being unable to play at all because of hip soreness (see full recap).
Westbrook's triple-double leads Thunder over Spurs
OKLAHOMA CITY — Russell Westbrook scored 21 points and posted his 19th triple-double of the season to help the Oklahoma City Thunder defeat the San Antonio Spurs 104-94 on Saturday night.
NBA
Westbrook had 12 rebounds and 10 assists in the 98th triple-double of his career.
Jerami Grant scored 15 points, Corey Brewer added 12, Paul George and Alex Abrines each scored 11 and Patrick Patterson had 10 for the Thunder. Nick Collison scored all seven of his points in six critical minutes in the fourth quarter for Oklahoma City, which improved to 6-3 since the All-Star break.
Rudy Gay and Davis Bertans each scored 14 points for the Spurs, who have lost eight of 10. LaMarcus Aldridge was held to 11 points on 5-for-16 shooting in the matchup between teams that are in the running for the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference (see full recap).
Grizzlies crushed by Mavs as losing streak reaches 17 games
DALLAS — Harrison Barnes scored 25 points and the Dallas Mavericks beat Memphis 114-80 on Saturday night, extending the Grizzlies' losing streak to 17 games.
The Grizzlies (18-48), who have the longest losing streak in the NBA this season and the league's worst record, trailed by 26 points after shooting 26 percent in the first half and didn't lead after the 9:20 mark of the first quarter.
The only longer losing streaks in franchise history were skids of 23 and 19 games in the expansion season of 1995-96 in Vancouver. It's the longest losing streak in Memphis pro basketball history.
The Mavericks (21-45), also among the NBA's worst teams, allowed their fewest points in any half this season while building a 56-30 halftime lead on the way to their largest margin of victory this season. Barnes had 14 points in the first half, 10 of them on 11 free throws (see full recap).