''Emotions'' boil over as Dragic Heat pound Suns Clippers win

(MENAFN- Arab Times) MIAMI March 3 (Agencies): Tyler Johnson scored a career-high 26 points and Goran Dragic added 21 against his former team as the Miami Heat beat the Phoenix Suns 115-98 on Monday night in a game that included two third-quarter altercations.

Hassan Whiteside finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds before getting ejected for Miami which got 16 points and nine assists from Dwyane Wade.

P.J. Tucker had 20 points and 14 rebounds for the Suns who also got 20 points from Eric Bledsoe. Markieff Morris and Brandon Knight scored 13 apiece.

The story line was supposed to be Dragic facing the club that traded him to Miami last month amid hurt feelings on both sides. Emotions boiled over instead. In all there were five player technicals three ejections and two flagrant fouls assessed in the third quarter alone the 12 minutes of play needing 42 minutes to complete.

Morris was ejected for a flagrant-2 foul against Dragic in the third quarter and Whiteside and Alex Len were both tossed later in the period after getting tangled up under the Miami basket.

Nets 110 Warriors 108

In New York Jarrett Jack made a tiebreaking jumper with 1.1 seconds left as Brooklyn overcame Stephen Curry''s stirring fourth-quarter comeback attempt to beat Golden State.

Curry brought the Warriors back from 10 points down with under 4 minutes left to tie it but couldn''t get a final shot off after Jack''s jumper.

Curry finished with 26 points 18 in the final period. Jack however calmly ran the clock down and shot over him as the Nets won their first game at home since Feb 6.

Brook Lopez had 26 points and Deron Williams 22 for the Nets. Andrew Bogut scored 16 for Golden State but Klay Thompson shot 3 for 17. He was 1 of 9 on 3-pointers and finished with seven points.

Alan Anderson scored 16 for the Nets who had played eight in a row on the road since beating New York at Barclays Center on Feb 6 a 24-day stretch between home games that ranked as the longest in franchise history.

Now the Warriors can''t wait to get home ending their six-game trip and a stretch of 10 road games out of 11.

Clippers 110 Timberwolves 105

In Minneapolis Chris Paul had 26 points and 14 assists as Los Angeles allowed only one field goal in the fourth quarter to outlast Minnesota.

J.J. Redick scored 18 points before getting ejected in the fourth and DeAndre Jordan had 12 points and 18 rebounds his ninth straight game with at least 15 boards. Glen Davis scored 12 points off the bench to help the Clippers get their seventh win in nine games.

Ricky Rubio had 18 points 12 rebounds and 11 assists for the Timberwolves who were missing starters Nikola Pekovic and Kevin Martin. Minnesota went 1 for 14 in the fourth quarter.

Gary Neal had 19 points and nine rebounds but missed a forced 3-pointer with 9.3 seconds to go that would have tied the game.

Raptors 114 76ers 103

In Philadelphia DeMar DeRozan scored a season-high 35 points and Lou Williams had 21 as Toronto snapped a five-game losing streak with a win over Philadelphia.

Raptors coach Dwane Casey gave slumping All-Star and Philadelphia native Kyle Lowry another night off to rest. Even without their leading scorer in the lineup for the second straight game the Raptors won for the first time since Feb 20.

Patrick Patterson scored 15 points for Toronto and Greivis Vasquez added 12.

Nerlens Noel scored 17 points on 7-for-7 shooting for the Sixers.

Mavericks 102 Pelicans 93

In Dallas Richard Jefferson equaled his season high with 16 points seven during a 16-0 Dallas run early in the third quarter as the Mavericks raced past New Orleans.

The 34-year-old Jefferson made his fifth consecutive start in place of small forward Chandler Parsons sidelined with a sprained left ankle and hit five of six field goal attempts.

The Mavericks were led by Monta Ellis with 20 points. Rajon Rondo added 19 points 15 in the first half.

The Pelicans who entered on a five-game winning streak that equaled their longest in the last four years were paced by Norris Cole with 19 points off the bench. Eric Gordon added 18 and Tyreke Evans 17.

New Orleans seeking its first playoff berth since 2011 dropped a game behind eighth-place Oklahoma City in the West.

The NBA has suspended Houston star James Harden one game without pay for kicking LeBron James in the groin.

The All-Stars and Olympic teammates became tangled in the third quarter of Houston''s 105-103 victory over Cleveland on Sunday and Harden fell back to the court then kicked his foot up into James.

Harden was given a flagrant foul 1 for the play which the league upgraded Monday to a flagrant 2 which would have been an automatic ejection if called at the time.

An angry James said after the game that Harden''s kick was ''not a basketball play'' and that the league would probably look at it.

Harden the NBA''s leading scorer and a top Most Valuable Player candidate won''t play when the Rockets visit the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday.

Brooklyn Nets forward Mirza Teletovic out for the rest of the season after he was diagnosed with multiple blood clots in his lungs said Monday he expects to be able to resume playing in July once he is finished with blood-thinning medication.

Teletovic was hospitalized in Los Angeles after experiencing shortness of breath during a Jan 22 game against the Clippers. He was diagnosed with pulmonary embolus which has also sidelined Miami Heat All-Star Chris Bosh for the remainder of the season.

Teletovic said doctors are fairly certain his problems can be traced to a hip pointer he sustained against Cleveland in December and the clots traveled to his calf and then his lungs. He couldn''t figure out why his calf was hurting and why he was suddenly fighting fatigue even when he was home with his family.

''I couldn''t get it together'' he said.

The Bosnian forward said he feels great now relieved that he finally has answers for what was causing his problems and a way to eliminate them. He said he can run work out and shoot but isn''t allowed to play because any contact could cause bruising.

And he had a message for Bosh who sought treatment at a South Florida hospital after feeling ill during a trip to Haiti over the All-Star break.

''He''s going to get better soon start working out pretty soon'' Teletovic said.

Chicago Bulls All-Star guard Jimmy Butler will miss at least the next three weeks after suffering an injury to his left elbow Sunday against the Los Angeles Clippers.

On Monday the team confirmed that Butler suffered a sprain to the ulnar ligament as well as a small bone impaction. He will avoid surgery but could miss as many as six weeks depending on how quickly he responds to treatment.

Butler was injured in the third quarter when he collided with DeAndre Jordan.

Butler has appeared in 55 games and averaged 20.2 points 5.9 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game. He was leading the NBA in minutes played (38.9 per game).