Knicks and Nets both victorious vs. the Heat
Both the Knicks and the Nets had a great weekend, beating the Heat on the Heat's sad road trip.KNICKS RECAP:
NEW YORK -- They don't look like the lowly losers of last month. The New York Knicks are playing as if it's last season -- when they even had mighty Miami's number.
Carmelo Anthony scored 29 points, Andrea Bargnani had 19, and the Knicks beat the Heat 102-92 on Thursday night for their season-high third straight victory.
Often in these rivalry games, the Knicks look like contenders and the Heat's investment appears questionable, Brian Windhorst writes. 
With LeBron & Co. in MSG, Carmelo Anthony reigned as king for a night, scoring 29 to steer his Knicks to a confidence-boosting win, Ian O'Connor writes.
"You can tell it's different than one month ago," Bargnani said. "Our faces are different, our body language is different."
Raymond Felton had 13 points and 14 assists for the Knicks, who seized control with a 16-2 run spanning the third and fourth quarters and beat the Heat for the fourth time in five meetings over the last two seasons.
New York was second to Miami in the Eastern Conference last season when it won the series 3-1, but there was little reason to suggest until recently the Knicks were ready to compete with the NBA champions this season. New York is 13-22 but has won four of five in 2014, with victories over San Antonio and Miami -- last season's NBA finalists.
"It wasn't going to last all season like that," Felton said. "We were just going through a slump, now I feel like we're out of it."
With Tyson Chandler out sick and J.R. Smith stuck on the bench as an apparent punishment,Amar'e Stoudemire had 14 points and 11 rebounds off the bench.
LeBron James scored 32 points for the Heat, who played without injured starters Mario Chalmers and Shane Battier and didn't get much from Chris Bosh, who was held to six points on 3-of-10 shooting.
"All I know about this game is they outplayed us and they earned that win," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.
Dwyane Wade scored 23 points but missed all six free throws after sitting out the morning shootaround as Miami had its three-game winning streak snapped.
"I only missed six," Wade said. "I didn't miss 20. It wasn't that damn bad."
Are the Knicks and Nets both playoff-bound? Which has the better chance of winning a playoff series?
Smith didn't play after the reigning Sixth Man of the Year's latest trouble, a $50,000 fine when he attempted to untie an opponent's sneaker for the second straight game, after he'd been warned by the NBA not to do it again. Knicks coach Mike Woodson criticized Smith's behavior during a radio interview Wednesday but said before the game he wouldn't discuss Smith any longer.
But the benching did the speaking for him. Smith often stood far away from the huddle during timeouts, but his teammates sure didn't miss him on the court.
Woodson again wouldn't comment after the game, but no Knicks player, not even Smith, seemed to know he wouldn't play.
"I didn't know anything about it," Smith said. "I expected to do the same thing I always do. I did my same routine and it didn't happen."
Though the roster is different and the results are way worse, Woodson said before the game he believed the things that worked so well against the Heat last season could still do so, and for this night he was right as New York shot 54 percent from the field.
"We're moving forward," Anthony said. "We're taking strides. We're getting better. We're learning from our mistakes we've made in the past and we're going to continue to build on this and see what happens."
The Knicks surged into the lead late in the third. Bargnani answered back quickly after James blew by him for a dunk, converting a three-point play to tie it and ignite a 9-0 spurt that helped New York lead 75-71 entering the final 12 minutes.
New York ran off seven in a row to open the fourth, making it 82-71 on Stoudemire's basket, and there was never really a run for the Heat, who couldn't get closer than five from there.
"They played a great game," James said. "They made some timely shots."
The Heat were opening a six-game trip, but the start of it couldn't be more convenient. They are just a few miles away Friday to visit Brooklyn in a game in which players from both teams will wear nicknames on their jerseys.
But the best they can do is salvage a New York split, even after shooting 54 percent in this one.
Miami scored the final seven points of the first quarter to take a 27-21 lead. The Knicks scored 11 in a row early in the second, but Rashard Lewis made two 3-pointers from the corner in the final 1:11 to help the Heat grab a 48-43 halftime edge.
Game notes
James played in his 800th career game. ... The Heat return to New York on Feb. 1, the night before the Super Bowl just across the river in New Jersey.
Copyright by STATS LLC and The Associated Press
NETS RECAP:
NEW YORK -- Shaun Livingston was flying all over the court. LeBron James could only sit and watch.
Joe Johnson scored 32 points, Livingston helped Brooklyn dominate the second overtime after James fouled out, and the Nets beat the Miami Heat 104-95 on Friday night for their fifth straight victory.
Shaun Livingston overcame one of the most gruesome knee injuries in recent sports history and now is playing an integral role with the Nets, as his performance Friday illustrated, Mike Mazzeo writes. 
The only thing more impressive than the Nets winning five straight games and beating the likes of OKC, Golden State and Miami is how the Nets didn't fall apart after the holidays, Ohm Youngmisuk writes.
Livingston had two baskets and two blocked shots in the second OT, finishing with 19 points, a career-high 11 rebounds and five assists over 51 minutes in a sensational effort while starting for injured Deron Williams.
The Nets followed the lead of a player who spent years revitalizing a career that was sidetracked by a horrific knee injury, jumping on the Heat early and fighting them off late.
"Gutsy. Gutsy," Kevin Garnett said. "I thought we fought for 48-plus minutes."
Paul Pierce scored 23 points but missed jumpers that could have won it at the end of regulation and the first overtime. Still, the Nets remained unbeaten in 2014, adding a victory over the two-time defending NBA champions to their recent wins over Oklahoma City and Golden State.
"It was huge," Livingston said. "We've obviously been playing better as of late. I think our momentum that we were carrying into this game, we're trying to ride that wave."
James had 36 points, seven rebounds and five assists, but fouled out on an offensive foul with 36 seconds left in the first overtime and the Heat trailing by two. It was the first time James fouled out in the regular season since 2008.
Miami pushed it to a second overtime without him, but it was all Nets from there against a Heat team that was already missing Dwyane Wade and two other starters.
James was visibly frustrated with his teammates in the first half -- he said he apologized at halftime for his attitude and body language. He was irate when Mirza Teletovic flagrantly fouled him, but nearly overcame all that to help Miami pull it out.
"We're a no-excuse team, but right now we have three starters that didn't play," James said. "Even though we've got a lot of depth, it is hard to make up for three starters being out."
Miami totaled six points in the overtimes, fewest ever in the shot clock era (since 1954-55) in a game that went at least two overtimes.
Norris Cole scored 18 points, but Ray Allen was 2 of 14 for nine points in place of Wade, who rested his sore knees after playing 39 minutes in a loss at New York on Thursday.Shane Battier and Mario Chalmers also sat out the game, which featured players on both teams wearing nicknames on their jerseys, a first of its kind in the NBA.
Livingston and Johnson made the first two baskets of the second overtime, then Livingston blocked a shot by Cole.
Pierce followed with a 3-pointer, Garnett made a jumper and Livingston spun into the lane for a dunk and a 104-93 lead. He had another block on Allen, who finally made the Heat's only basket of the second OT on a wide-open layup with 16 seconds to go.
The Heat came up with the idea to wear nicknames on their jerseys and wanted another team to participate, and the Nets were selected.
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Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE/Getty Images
LeBron James had 36 points but fouled out in the first OT of Friday night's loss, in which players wore jerseys with their nicknames on the backs.
So in place of the teams' regular jerseys were ones reading names such as King James and J. Shuttlesworth (for Allen's character, Jesus Shuttlesworth, in the film "He Got Game").
The Nets wore their road black jerseys with Truth (Pierce) and Big Ticket (Garnett).
Gimmicks are nice but good games are even better, and the Heat and Nets delivered a great one.
"This was a playoff atmosphere-type game," Pierce said. "You just felt the energy in the building."
The Nets led 93-89 in the first OT and were still up two after James fouled out, but Cole pushed the ball up the court and nailed a jumper with 3.3 seconds to go to tie it.
The Nets controlled the second extra period, handing Miami a second loss in two nights in the Big Apple and matching their win total for both November and December, with eight games left this month.
Even short-handed, James and the Heat played as though they desperately wanted this one, erasing a 14-point deficit. James looked ready to fight when Teletovic wrapped his arms around James' neck to stop a drive to the basket with a flagrant foul.
"He went around my neck," James said. "It's not a basketball play."
Said Teletovic: "Just tried to make a foul to stop the score. He shouldn't be reacting like that. It's OK. It's just basketball."
It was tied at 89 with 40 seconds left after a free throw by James, and Pierce's long jumper rimmed out as time expired.
"They made bigger plays going down the stretch in the overtime," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "When we pushed it to that point, even with LJ out, we thought we had a chance. Guys really competed down the stretch."
Game notes
The teams will wear the nickname jerseys again on March 12 and April 8 in Miami. The Heat will also wear them at home against Boston on Jan. 21. ... The Nets begin a three-game, three-country road trip Saturday in Toronto. They face the Atlanta Hawks on Thursday in London, then return home to visit the Knicks on Jan. 20.
Copyright by STATS LLC and The Associated Press
