Wade turns up heat on Kings

SACRAMENTO, California (AP): Dwyane Wade came flying down the lane, grabbed a miss with his right hand and slammed it home in one motion.

If coach Erik Spoelstra wanted the Miami Heat to end a West Coast trip with an exclamation point, Wade provided the proper punctuation.

Wade's fourth-quarter dunk highlighted his 36-point night and led the Heat to their season-best eighth straight win, 104-83 over the Sacramento Kings on Saturday night.

Two weeks after having a team meeting in Dallas following their fourth loss in five games, the Heat are finally clicking the way people expected when they added LeBron James and Chris Bosh last summer.

"We have a different mentality both off the floor and on the court as well," Wade said. "That team meeting really propelled us to where we are now. We understood and knew November was a tough month for us. But with that adversity there was a lot of growth going on. It was just about when it was going to click and right now it's clicking for us."

Perfect four-game road trip

James scored 25 and Bosh added 14 points and a season-high 17 rebounds as the Heat broke open a close game in the third quarter to complete a perfect four-game road trip.

Miami have won every game during this winning streak by double digits.

"It's two weeks to the night when we were walking out of Dallas' locker room and we did not feel that great about ourselves as a team," Spoelstra said. "Now, two weeks later it feels like a different feeling in the locker room."

The Kings, who have lost 15 of 17 and have the second-worst record in the NBA, offered little resistance to James, Wade, Bosh and Co.

Playing on the back end of a back-to-back after winning at Golden State on Friday night, the Heat broke the game open in the third quarter. After Wade helped put Miami in the lead with a 13-point second quarter, James got his offense going with 14 points in the third.

"Tonight we saw up close and personal how difficult it is to guard either one of those guys, let alone both of them in the same game," Kings coach Paul Westphal said.

Omri Casspi was one of the few Kings who could get any offense going, hitting a pair of three-pointers and annoying James with his pesky play.

James was upset he did not get a foul call when Casspi knocked a ball off him and out of bounds. The two then bumped before free throws and James was called for goaltending, trying to block a breakaway layup by Casspi.

James, booed almost every time he touched the ball, was then called for a technical for clapping at the Kings bench after making a jumper in the final minute of the third quarter.

Casspi led Sacramento with 20 points. Reigning Rookie of the Year Tyreke Evans, playing on a sore left foot, was held to five points on 2-for-10 shooting.

Concerned

"I'd have to say if he was OK he usually plays better than that," Westphal said. "We are concerned about him. He struggled."

Meanwhile, Dirk Nowitzki had 31 points and 15 rebounds and the Dallas Mavericks extended their winning streak to 12 games with a 103-97 victory over the Utah Jazz on Saturday night.

Ray Allen and Glen Davis scored 16 points apiece and Boston Celtics overcame a thin front line with smothering defence, cruising past listless Charlotte Hornets 93-62 for their 10th straight victory.

Kevin Garnett had 13 points and 11 rebounds and got to sit out the fourth quarter as the Celtics were not threatened after half-time.

Boston played their second straight game without Shaquille O'Neal, who rested his sore right calf.

Jerryd Bayless matched a career high with 31 points and Toronto Raptors pulled off the biggest comeback in franchise history, beating Detroit Pistons 210-116.

Toronto overcame a 25-point second-half deficit to end a four-game losing streak. The victory was just the Raptors' third of the season on the road.

Derrick Rose had 21 points and seven assists, leading Chicago Bulls 113-82 over Minnesota Timberwolves for their season-best fifth straight victory.