Alonzo Mourning's hold on the Miami Heat's all-time scoring record lasted less than two years. With the 21st of his 50 points in Saturday's 140-129 triple-overtime victory over the Utah Jazz, guard Dwyane Wade took over from Mourning as the franchise's all-time scoring leader, now with 9,489 career points.
Wade, in his sixth season, moved to the top of the franchise's scoring list in his 380th career game. It took Mourning 593 games over his 11 seasons with the Heat to bypass Glen Rice's previous franchise record. "A pretty good day, to be in the company of Alonzo Mourning, and I'm glad that he was here," said Wade, with Mourning viewing the game from an end-line seat. "I told him I was going to catch him, but I didn't think it would be this soon."
Wade broke Mourning's record on a dunk with 11.05 to play in the third quarter, receiving a standing ovation during the next timeout. Wade's dunk also extended his streak of consecutive 20-point games to a franchise-record 21. "He's been extremely efficient, not only this year, but in years past," coach Erik Spoelstra said of Wade's rapid rise. "The fact that he's shooting the ball so well from outside has really opened up his game. You can't cheat him now and give a step."
Mourning had moved into the franchise's all-time lead March 30 2007. "If anybody had to break the all-time scoring record, I wanted it to be D-Wade," Mourning said. In Houston, Tony Parker scored 28 points and Tim Duncan added 15 points and 12 rebounds as the San Antonio Spurs beat the Rockets 88-85. Michael Finley added 17 points for the Spurs, while Ron Artest scored 21 points and Yao Ming had 18 points and 11 rebounds for the Rockets.
At the United Center, Ben Gordon scored 27 points, John Salmons added 24 as the Chicago Bulls beat the in-form New Orleans Hornets 97-79 to take possession of the Eastern Conference's final play-off spot. Chris Paul continued his recent hot-streak as he scored 29 points for the Hornets. The Bulls had entered the day tied for eighth with the Milwaukee Brewers. Charlotte were just half a game adrift of the Bulls and Brewers, but rookie Kevin Love scored 22 points and Rodney Carney and Ryan Gomes chipped in with 21 each as the Minnesota Timberwolves ended a four-game losing streak with a 108-100 win over the Bobcats, who fell to 12th.
Elsewhere, Nene and Renaldo Balkman scored double-doubles to help the Denver Nuggets to a 107-94 win over the Los Angeles Clippers. Balkman scored a career-best 22 points to go with his 11 rebounds to record his second consecutive double-double, while Nene scored 17 points and pulled down 10 boards. Leandro Barbosa scored 11 of his 22 points in the final six minutes as the Phoenix Suns beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 106-95 to end a six-game losing streak.
* With agencies