Wade keeps climbing up NBA’s career scoring list

Dwyane Wade scored 24 with seven assists, Chris Bosh had 20 with six rebounds and five assists, Luol Deng scored 16 with seven boards, and Amar’e Stoudemire scored a dozen with eight rebounds in 23 minutes. This is the third of four games between the Southeast Division rivals this season, with each winning once on the other’s court so far.

Thursday’s loss was especially tasking for Atlanta, which erased an 11-point deficit to take a lead with just under six minutes left before, as coach Mike Budenholzer described to reporters afterward, “we hit a wall”. “Offensively, we’re not where we need to be”. Andersen has yet to resume impact work, and Spoelstra does not expect Andersen to travel with the Heat on its upcoming three-game trip.

Jeff Teague led the Hawks in defeat with 20 points and five assists, Al Horford had 14 and Thad Sefolosha had 13.

Atlanta warmed up some in the second half, but nowhere near enough. The improved defensive tenacity has had Atlanta in about every game they’ve played in the last two weeks. Antetokounmpo fouled with 28.8 seconds left to send Wade to the line with a chance to put the Bucks out of the game with two free throws, but Wade missed one of his free throws to give the Bucks a little hope.

This was the third game of the four-game season series, with the teams also to meet February 19 in Atlanta, in the Heat’s first game after the National Basketball Association trading deadline. Atlanta’s 34 points in the first two quarters represented its second-lowest-scoring half of the season.

The Heat went into the fourth quarter up 75-62 despite not having a player with more than 12 points to that juncture.

The Clippers had three double-digit scorers off the bench a game after their reserves scored 56 points in a 105-93 win over the Lakers. In all, Miami played 12 of its 17 games in January on the road. Someone will grab Miami’s 100,000th rebound (including playoffs) this week, probably Tuesday at Houston. In the last three Hawks at Heat games before Sunday, Miami’s largest lead was a mere four points. And he’s 6 for his last 26 in Miami.

Overall, Wade is holding opposing shooters right around their usual shooting percentage, meaning they are not lighting him up any more so than the average defender, and he leads the team in steals with 44.