LeBron James and Dwyane Wade combined for 57 points as the Miami Heat beat the Knicks 93-85 to halt New York's nine-game home winning streak.
The Heat offset a 42-point performance from New York's Carmelo Anthony to sweep the three-game regular season series against the Knicks, who may be Miami's first-round opponent in the National Basketball Association playoffs.
The Heat (42-17), who are second in the Eastern Conference, 3 1/2 games behind the Chicago Bulls, closed yesterday's game at New York's Madison Square Garden with an 18-6 scoring run to improve to 5-8 on the road since March.
"I don't think it means anything for the postseason," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of the win. "What it means is something about us and how we've been playing on the road as of late. We want to do a better job of it."
The Knicks (31-29) drop a spot to eighth in the standings, two games ahead of the Milwaukee Bucks in the race for the final postseason berth. The Philadelphia 76ers are in seventh place in the East, half a game ahead of the Knicks, who have six regular- season games left.
"We'll be fine," Knicks coach Mike Woodson told reporters after his first home loss since replacing Mike D'Antoni. "We'll rebound from this and learn from it and hopefully be better."
James finished with 29 points and 10 rebounds for the Heat, while Wade contributed 28 points and nine rebounds, and Chris Bosh scored 16 points and had 14 rebounds.
Anthony, who had his second 40-point performance in a week, also had nine rebounds for New York, which is playing without the injured Amar'e Stoudemire and Jeremy Lin.
The Bucks (29-31), who lost 105-99 to the Indiana Pacers yesterday, next play the Washington Wizards on April 18. The 76ers play the Orlando Magic today.
The Knicks' next game is tomorrow against the Boston Celtics, who have already clinched a playoff berth. New York also has road games against the Nets, Cleveland Cavaliers, Atlanta Hawks and Charlotte Bobcats, and a home meeting with the Los Angeles Clippers.
The Los Angeles Lakers won their fourth straight game without Kobe Bryant, beating the Dallas Mavericks 112-108 in overtime as Andrew Bynum had 23 points and 16 rebounds.
The Celtics sent the Bobcats to a 16th straight loss, winning 94-82 behind a 20-point, 16-assist effort from Rajon Rondo, while the Bulls beat the Detroit Pistons for the 15th time in a row, 100-94 in overtime.
The Magic clinched a playoff berth with a 100-84 win over the Cavaliers.
To contact the reporter on this story: Dex McLuskey in Dallas at dmcluskey@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Sillup at msillup@bloomberg.net
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