The San Antonio Spurs withstood NBA scoring leader Dwyane Wade's 24-point performance to overcome the Miami Heat 91-84 on Monday. Tim Duncan led the Southwest Division leaders with 19 points and nine rebounds, and four other Spurs were in double figures. Wade had 12 assists and four steals to go with his 24 points, while Shawn Marion and Michael Beasley backed him up with 15 points apiece.
The Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said: "We made some mistakes here and there on offence, turned it over here and there and got cold for a couple of stretches. But the defence was sound for 48 minutes." Meanwhile, Chauncey Billups netted 24 points and 11 assists and Kenyon Martin added 25 points to lead the Denver Nuggets to a 135-115 victory over the Indiana Pacers. Carmelo Anthony chipped in 21 points for the Nuggets, who scored a season-high 74 points in the first half.
Denver were still clinging to a 97-94 lead after Danny Granger hit a three-pointer to open the fourth quarter, but Billups made 13 points in the final period to secure the success for the impressive Denver. In New Jersey, Vince Carter scored 29 points and Yi Jianlian added 22 to lead the Nets to a deserved 98-90 comeback win over the Sacramento Kings. The Kings carried a 55-43 lead into half-time, but Carter assisted on a three-pointer by Jarvis Hayes that gave New Jersey the lead for good at 84-82 with 4:53 left, and they didn't look back after that.
Michael Redd scored a season-high 35 points and Charlie Villanueva added 25 off the bench as the Milwaukee Bucks got the better of the Toronto Raptors 107-97 and Deron Williams collected 26 points and 15 assists as the Utah Jazz held off the Golden State Warriors 119-114. * With Agencies