Ejections, technicals mark rugged game: Heat make ‘Dragic Day’ vs Suns

MIAMI – Making no effort to downplay how much this win meant to him, Goran Dragic thanked the Miami Heat for his birthday present.

His birthday, by the way, is on May 6.

Had it been any other opponent, Dragic said wouldn’t have played through the back spasms that have pained him for a few days. But this was the Phoenix Suns, the team that called him selfish after trading him to Miami last month, and Dragic’s new teammates wouldn’t let him down.

Tyler Johnson scored a career-high 26 points off the bench, Dragic added 21 in just under 15 foul-filled minutes, and the Heat beat the Suns, 115-98, on Monday night in a game that included two third-quarter altercations, three ejections, six player technicals and probably will merit some more punishments from the NBA office.

“It means a lot,” Dragic said. “It was a tough game. You can see a lot of technicals, ejections, but it’s a man’s sport. I thought we played awesome tonight.”

Hassan Whiteside finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds before getting ejected for Miami, which got 16 points and nine assists from Dwyane Wade.

P.J. Tucker had 20 points and 14 rebounds for the Suns, who got 20 points from Eric Bledsoe, 13 points apiece from Markieff Morris and Brandon Knight, 11 points from Marcus Morris and a 10-point, 11-rebound game from Alex Len.

Len and Markieff Morris were also tossed early. Markieff Morris was ejected for a flagrant-2 foul against Dragic, and Len and Whiteside both departed after scuffling under the Miami basket.

“I like the fight of this team,” Wade said.

The story line was supposed to be Dragic vs Suns.

It turned out to be much more.

Markieff Morris’ ejection with 8:43 left came after referees – who took at least two long looks at the replays – determined that he shoved Dragic in the back on a fast break. Dragic landed hard on the wood behind the basket, remaining down briefly.

“We all know how Goran plays – he throws that right arm out,” Suns coach Jeff Hornacek said. “Markieff just went to block it and missed it. They said he hit him up in the neck area.”

Added Markieff Morris: “It was a hard foul. It was a basketball play I thought, but the refs thought otherwise.”

Whiteside and Len went at it about 4 minutes later, scuffling after Whiteside had a rebound and dunk.

“You’re not going to come into Miami and bully us,” said Whiteside, who contended that he was only retaliating – and also said he shouldn’t have even done that.

And the Heat got another scare later in the third when Johnson went down and stayed there, holding his left ankle. He returned to the game moments later, finishing 10 for 13 from the field.

In New York, Jarrett Jack made a tiebreaking jumper with 1.1 seconds left and the Brooklyn Nets overcame Stephen Curry’s stirring fourth-quarter comeback attempt to beat the Golden State Warriors, 110-108.

Curry, in a breathtaking flurry of outside shooting, brought the Warriors back from 10 points down with under 4 minutes left to tie it. But he couldn’t get a final shot off after Jack’s jumper over his outstretched arms.

“It’s all about being ready,” Jack said. “I didn’t have a huge game shooting the ball. I think chasing Steph around probably had a big, big reason to do with that. But it’s always staying ready.”

Curry finished with 26 points, 18 in the final period, when he had opposing fans chanting “MVP!” and gasping every time he rose to shoot. Jack, however, calmly ran the clock down and hit the shot to beat his former team as the Nets won their first game at home since Feb. 6.

“That’s what he does. He makes big shots,” Curry said. “I played the best defense I could on that possession, contested it and made him alter just a little bit, and he still knocked it down.” (AP)