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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME FLOW
MIAMI (AP) -- Anthony Mason's inside muscle and Dan Majerle's
outside shooting was a winning combination for the Miami Heat.
Mason scored 23 points and grabbed a season-high 18 rebounds, and Majerle hit a pair of crucial 3-pointers as the Miami Heat beat the Detroit Pistons 93-85 Tuesday night.
Miami won its eighth consecutive home game and 10th in the last 13 overall.
Mason supplied the scoring and rebounding for Miami, but Majerle added the spark with his nine points and strong defense.
"Dan gave us a spark with a couple of big plays," Heat coach
Pat Riley said. "We were dead for about 12 minutes. We just could
not get our game together."
Jerry Stackhouse scored 28 points for Detroit, which dropped its
sixth in a row and lost for the ninth time in 10 games. Stackhouse
was 11-for-30 from the field, including 3-for-15 in the second
half.
Miami point guard Tim Hardaway left the game in the third
quarter with a lower back strain. He finished with nine points in
20 minutes and his status is uncertain.
Brian Grant scored 14 points for the Heat. Anthony Carter,
Hardaway's replacement, added 12 points. Eddie Jones and A.C. Green
each scored 11 for Miami.
Jud Buechler and Joe Smith each scored 12 for Detroit, and Dana
Barros added 11.
Detroit held an opponent to less than 100 points for the first time in 10 games. Miami has scored less than 100 points in 10 of its last
12 games.
The Heat put the game away with an 11-3 run late in the fourth
quarter.
Carter hit a jump shot and Majerle made a 3-pointer as Miami
opened an 82-74 lead with 3:51 left.
Majerle then stripped the ball from Stackhouse, triggering an
alley-oop pass from Carter to Jones, whose dunk gave the Heat a
10-point lead, 84-74, with 3:28 remaining.
Majerle, who spent the first two months on the injured list with
a sore hamstring and entered the game shooting .189, shot 3-for-5
from the floor, including 3-for-3 from 3-point range.
"I've been around too long for them to freeze me out, and I got
some good looks at the basket and finally made a few," Majerle
said. "I played a good game defensively, and that was part of a
good all-around game."
Majerle's defense helped slow down Stackhouse, who entered the
game as the NBA's leading scorer.
"He's very tough to cover," Majerle said of Stackhouse. "He's
involved in every play and you know that he's going to take 25 to 30
shots."
Stackhouse cited the referee's whistle -- or lack of it -- for
his poor play in the second half. Stackhouse, who averages 11 free
throws, didn't take his first foul shot until early in the third
quarter.
"I was attacking the rim in the first half, but if you're not
going to get to the (foul) line, why bother?" Stackhouse said. "I
don't want to blame the refs, but I never thought I would get to
the line as few times as I did."
Detroit trailed 51-41 at halftime, but stormed back with a 14-4
run at the start of the third quarter, tying the game at 55 on
Smith's jumper with 8:49 left.
The Pistons went ahead, 65-62, on Barros' jumper with 2:08 left,
but Majerle countered with two 3-pointers and Carter added a jump
shot as Miami opened up a 70-67 lead by the end of the period.
"I can't fault our effort," Pistons coach George Irvine said.
"But, we can't just play hard. We have to play great to win."
Game notes
Stackhouse led Detroit in scoring for the 20th consecutive game. His lowest scoring night in that stretch was 23 points.
...The Pistons, desperate to find the right combination, continue
to juggle their lineup. The only mainstays in the staring five have
been Stackhouse and Ben Wallace. ... Mason has 19 double-doubles
this year.
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ALSO SEE
NBA Scoreboard
Detroit Clubhouse
Miami Clubhouse
RECAPS
Miami 93
Detroit 85
Houston 114
Toronto 99
Milwaukee 112
LA Clippers 91
Portland 103
Cleveland 83
FROM
ATHLETESDIRECT
Jerry Stackhouse Official Site
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