ed 51, led by Jared Sullingers 26, 19 of which came in the

MIAMI - Stephen Curry scored 40 points, and the Golden State Warriors beat the Miami Heat 114-97 on Tuesday night for their sixth consecutive victory.Golden State scored 14 straight points to open a 107-95 lead with 2:50 to go. Curry and Thompson capped the run with consecutive 3-pointers.Thompson had 24 points for the Warriors, who shot 57 per cent. Curry was 12 for 19 from the field, including an 8-for-11 performance from 3-point range.Chris Bosh scored 26 points for Miami, and Luol Deng had 16. James Ennis dunk with 9:11 left was the Heats last field goal.NUGGETS 114, BULLS 109DENVER (AP) — Ty Lawson scored 20 points, including a key jumper in the waning seconds, and Denver earned its fifth straight win.Arron Afflalo added 19 points and Danilo Gallinari had 15 for the Nuggets, who defeated the Bulls for the eighth straight time in Denver.Bulls point guard Derrick Rose was limited to 10 minutes in his second game back from a left hamstring strain. Rose, who scored 18 points in his return Monday night against Utah after a four-game absence, felt tightness in the hamstring during the first quarter and didnt play the rest of the way.Jimmy Butler had 32 points for Chicago, and Pau Gasol finished with 22 points and 11 rebounds.HAWKS 106, WIZARDS 102WASHINGTON (AP) — Reserves Mike Scott and Shelvin Mack led a fourth-quarter surge for the Hawks.Scott and Mack scored Atlantas first 16 points of the final period, sparking a 22-5 run that built a 14-point lead before the Wizards hit a spate of 3-pointers to make the final score close. Scott finished with 17 points in 23 minutes, and Mack had 13 in 19 for the Hawks, who have won six of eight.Jeff Teague scored 28 points, and Paul Millsap had 17 points and 11 rebounds for Atlanta.John Wall had 21 points and 13 assists, and Marcin Gortat had 12 points and 11 rebounds for the Wizards, who committed a season-high 25 turnovers.KINGS 99, PELICANS 89NEW ORLEANS (AP) — DeMarcus Cousins had 22 points, 12 rebounds, five assists and three steals, leading the Kings to their third straight win.Omri Casspi also scored 22 for Sacramento. Casspi, who made his first start of the season in place of the injured Rudy Gay, was with New Orleans for a brief stretch this off-season before being released in a salary-cap move.New Orleans forward Anthony Davis was held to 14 points after he scored 28 in a victory over the Kings last Tuesday. He also had nine rebounds and blocked two shots.Tyreke Evans had 22 points, seven rebounds and five assist for the Pelicans, who were 3 for 17 from 3-point range.BUCKS 98, PISTONS 86MILWAUKEE (AP) — Brandon Knight had 20 points and eight assists to spark the Bucks to the victory.O.J. Mayo, making his first start of the season, added 17 points as Milwaukee (8-7) avoided its first three-game slide of the season. Rookie Jabari Parker contributed 14 points and nine rebounds.Detroit (3-11) has lost five in a row and eight of nine.Andre Drummond had 23 points and 10 rebounds for the Pistons, and Greg Monroe added 15 points and eight boards. Drummond was averaging 8.7 points coming into the night, but shot 11 of 15 from the floor. Cheap Adidas Shoes Australia .The Toronto Raptors guard, who will represent the Eastern Conference at the All-Star Game in New Orleans on Sunday, says he doesnt complain in the face of adversity "because I know this little girl is just happy for anything. Adidas Shoes Australia Cheap . The Detroit Tigers star had microfracture surgery Friday to repair the medial and lateral meniscus in his left knee. "I dont want to say it was a surprise," team president and general manager Dave Dombrowski said. http://www.cheapadidasaustraliashoes.com/ .C. -- Al Jefferson said he feels like hes playing the best basketball of his 10-year NBA career. Custom Adidas Shoes Australia .The Hamilton Tiger-Cat defensive back always has the required receipt. But he also walks around with a tangle of metal screws, rods and plates after breaking his neck in 2006 playing high school football in Louisiana. Adidas Shoes Australia . 5 Trade Deadline isnt that far away and teams will be making decisions on whether to buy, sell and decide which players can make the biggest difference and hold the greatest value.BOSTON - An anonymous Raptors player stepped into the elevator descending from the third floor following a Saturday afternoon practice at Air Canada Centre and with the mental and physical grind of a long season beginning to weigh on him he let out a long sigh. "I just want the playoffs to start," he said in a moment of refreshing truthfulness. Hes not alone. He cant be. They can see the light at the end of the tunnel, a tunnel that has led to darkness so many times before for the bulk of this Toronto roster. On Wednesday they moved one step closer. "That was a character test for us," Dwane Casey said after his teams bounce-back 99-90 win in Boston. "I think this team has a lot of character. I get upset with them but theyre mine, just like youre kids. They compete hard and they make mistakes but its not from a lack of fight or togetherness." It was their first victory in Beantown since 2008, the last season in which they qualified for the playoffs. Now, theyre on the cusp of returning to the postseason, and theyre in the drivers seat. The Raptors are just one win, or Knicks loss, away from clinching their first postseason berth in six years and can do so as early as Wednesday evening if the Kings defeat New York in Sacramento, a game Kyle Lowry says he wont watch but admits hell have to keep an eye on. "I said that before the game, I said look, we can take care of our business tonight," Lowry told the assembled media after the win. "We cant count on anyone else but we can take care of our part. I aint going to lie; I think tonight everybodys rooting for that Western Conference team over there." Going into the game, the Raptors were in danger of dropping their second straight and five of their last seven, following Tuesdays botched comeback attempt in Cleveland. Even after getting off to a better start - scoring 31 points in the opening 12 minutes after totaling 33 in their last two first quarters - they looked like a team going through the motions at points in the middle of the game, exchanging the lead with a lackluster Celtics club. Then the sense of urgency kicked in. Lowry scored nine of his 23 points in the fourth quarter and the Raptors closed out a win they needed to have. "[Casey] challenged us," Lowry said. "He challenged us big time and I think we responded tonight." With a little help from the Bobcats, who defeated the surging Nets in overtime, the Raptors have a two-game cushion sitting stop the Atlantic Division, also moving into a virtual tie with the Bulls for the Easts third seed. Although theyre anxious, theres still work to be done and each game, regardless of opponent, is increasingly meaningful with playoff seeding at stake and things to shore up over the seasons final three weeks. "We cant afford to look ahead," Casey cautioned. "Weve got to take care of business. Weve got to continue to get better and improve and shape up some areas that we have thats leaking a little bit." Only five of the Raptors 15 players have appeared in a postseason game over the last three years. Only three on the roster have logged time in more than 20 playoff contests. The teams starters have a combined 24 games of playoff experience, all from Lowry and Amir Johnson, who havent been to the dance in five years. "Its tough just because guys havent been there before," Cassey told TSN.dddddddddddda. "Playoff runs are tough. Theres a mental toughness, a physical toughness you have to have. Fight through injuries, little nicks and bangs that we have. You cant feel sorry for yourself because its a marathon. Youve got to be able to do that. This is the first time for some of our guys so its a new frontier for them." Many of them are heading into unchartered waters. Its only natural to fixate on the final destination but theyve come too far to lose focus now. "I think its kind of human nature," said Landry Fields, who started eight playoff games for the Knicks in his first two NBA season. "We see the playoffs and theres a pretty high probability that well get in but at the end of the day you cant really focus on that. These last few games are important, not just for us growing and building and getting momentum for the playoffs but also seeding. Seeding is huge in the playoffs and I think as long as we keep that as a focal point rather than thinking these games are just filler games until we get into the playoffs than theyll become more meaningful for us." "Were going to finish it off strong," echoed DeMar DeRozan, who scored 20 on Wednesday and will be making his playoff debut next month. "Weve worked too hard to just to get complacent with where were at. Weve still got a long ways to go and everybody in this locker room loves the game too much to sit back and say, were going to wait until the playoffs." Big night for the sophomores Both Terrence Ross and Jonas Valanciunas stepped up in Wednesdays win. Ross led Toronto with 24 points, hitting five of his nine attempts from three-point range, while Valanciunas registered his team-leading 20th double-double of the season with 15 points and 14 rebounds. "I thought Jonas had one of his better nights, not only scoring but he rebounded," Casey said. "[Ross] kept us afloat. He knocked down some shots. We needed it." Struggling second unit The Raptors second unit - still without injured forward Patrick Patterson - mustered only seven points, all from Greivis Vasquez, who made just three of his 10 shots. Meanwhile, the Celtics bench scored 51, led by Jared Sullingers 26, 19 of which came in the fourth. "Again, point production from our bench has been an issue," Casey said. "Thats something we have to rectify. Thats just putting too many minutes on our starters." Toronto bench has now been outscored by a total of 129 points in 11 games without Patterson, who was cleared for contact earlier this week. Although theres no timetable for the return of Patterson - out with an elbow injury - the team hopes to have him back later this week. The stat The Raptors snapped an 11-game losing streak in Boston, the fourth time theyve snapped a skid of eight road losses or more against an opponent this season. Earlier this year, Toronto ended a 10-game slide to the Lakers in Los Angeles, also snapping a nine-game skid against the Nuggets in Denver and an eight-game losing streak versus the Bucks in Milwaukee. The quote "We cant worry about those other teams," Lowry said. "We control our own destiny. When you start worrying about other teams is when you lose focus and I think tonight we did a good job of focusing in on our team and not worrying about nothing else." ' ' '