Dwyane Wade's running three-pointer at the buzzer gave the NBA's leading scorer 48 points and earned his Miami Heat side a 130-127 double overtime victory over the Chicago Bulls on Monday. "This is one of those games for the ages," Wade, who also had 12 assists, said after overshadowing a 43-point performance by the Bulls' Ben Gordon to see his team past the winning post.
Wade stole the ball from Chicago's John Salmons and raced down the court before tossing up the three-point shot. "When I got the steal what was going through my head was coach said: 'We've got a timeout left'," said Wade, who had four steals in the game. "I was about to call it [the timeout] and then I said: 'Nah'." The Heat coach Erik Spoelstra was delighted with Wade. "It's truly amazing," he said. "He ended up with a defensive play like that, a steal off somebody else's man, and then makes the three at the buzzer."
Meanwhile in other action, Brandon Roy scored 27 points as the Portland Trailblazers caused a surprise by defeating the Los Angeles Lakers 111-94 in a game marred by a serious injury to Rudy Fernandez of the Trail Blazers after a hard foul. He was carried from the court on a stretcher with his neck in a brace and was taken to a nearby hospital. In Atlanta, Joe Johnson scored 30 points as the Hawks beat New Orleans 89-79 to end the Hornets' season-best seven-game winning streak.
Caron Butler had 27 points, 10 rebounds and six assists to lead the Washington Wizards to a 110-99 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves in a match-up of teams who between them have lost a combined 14 games in succession. Richard Hamilton scored 29 points and had a career-high 14 assists as the Detroit Pistons beat the Orlando Magic 98-94. Ron Artest led the scoring with 22 points and Aaron Brooks added 19 in the Houston Rockets' hard-fought 97-95 win over the Denver Nuggets.
* With agencies