Bulls rattle Heat, even series at 2
The Miami Heat bickered among themselves. Shaquille O’Neal had another rough outing. And the Chicago Bulls took advantage.
Kirk Hinrich scored 21 points and hit a key 3-pointer with 1:09 left, and the Bulls evened the first-round series at 2-2 with a 93-87 victory on Sunday.
“The team believes it can win this series, and that’s it,” forward Andres Nocioni said.
With O’Neal in foul trouble for much of the game, the Bulls built a 13-point lead in the third quarter, only to fall behind in the fourth before pulling the game out. Game 5 in the best-of-seven series is Tuesday in Miami.
Chris Duhon’s runner gave the Bulls an 85-83 lead with 1:42 left. After a timeout, Miami’s Dwyane Wade missed a jumper, and Hinrich hit a 3-pointer from several feet beyond the top of the key to make it 88-83 with 1:09 left.
“I knew that I was behind the line a little ways, but I wasn’t thinking about how long,” he said. “I knew the clock was down to about six or five. They were off me and I took a rhythm dribble and let it go.”
Wade’s layup made it a three-point game, and Hinrich threw the ball away with 46.8 seconds left. But the Heat couldn’t capitalize. Wade missed a jumper, Udonis Haslem missed the put-back, and Wade missed another.
Heat teammates Gary Payton and Wade shouted at each other late in the first half. They continued to go at it during a timeout with 39.8 seconds left in the second quarter, and Antoine Walker got into it with Payton.
As the Heat headed toward the locker room, trailing 44-40, O’Neal wrapped his arm around Payton and said something in his ear.
Wizards 106, Cavaliers 96: At Washington, with LeBron James suddenly, stunningly, quiet after a tremendous first half, Gilbert Arenas scored 20 of his 34 points in the fourth quarter to lead the Wizards’ comeback and tie the first-round series at 2-2.
As dominant as James was early, setting franchise playoff records for points in a quarter (18) and half (25), he was nowhere to be found at times in the second half. He took only three shots in the third quarter, missed all, and wound up with 38 points.
Kings 102, Spurs 84: At Sacramento, Calif., Bonzi Wells had 25 points and 17 rebounds, Brad Miller added 19 points and the eighth-seeded Kings rolled through the second half of their second straight home victory over San Antonio.
Mike Bibby scored 16 points and Ron Artest had 14 despite early foul trouble, but his teammates again followed his aggressive lead for a blowout victory over Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and the slumping Spurs, who won the first two games of the series at home.
Around the league
The Denver Nuggets said forward Kenyon Martin’s suspension would last through the remainder of the team’s first-round series with the Los Angeles Clippers. The Clippers lead 3-1. … Chicago center Tyson Chandler had to be carried off the floor after spraining his right ankle with 26.3 seconds left against Miami. A team spokesman said Chandler will be re-evaluated today.