MIAMI — LeBron James, unhindered by the mask protecting his broken nose, poured in 31 points Thursday to lead Miami to a 108-82 NBA rout of the New York Knicks Thursday. James played for the first time since his nose was broken in a victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder a week earlier. He sat out the Heat's victory over Chicago Sunday, and said before the game he was a little concerned that the black protective mask obscured his vision just a bit. “More than the fit, it's just the peripheral vision gets a little slurred, looking to the left, looking to the right and having a little piece of plastic that you can kind of see,” he said. On the floor however, the four-time NBA Most Valuable Player didn't seem to be bothered, connecting on 13 of his 19 attempts from the floor. Dwyane Wade added 23 points on 10-of-13 shooting for Miami, who shot 60.3 percent overall and pulled away for their sixth straight victory with a dominant third quarter. The reeling Knicks dropped their fourth straight. Carmelo Anthony scored 29 points for New York and Tyson Chandler delivered a double-double of 19 points and 16 rebounds. The victory was Miami's sixth successive win and they remain two games behind the Indiana Pacers in the battle for the best record in the Eastern Conference. Miami have a 41-14 record while Indiana are 44-13 after they beat Milwaukee 101-96. Pacers 101, Bucks 96 Center Roy Hibbert scored a game-high 24 points and had 12 rebounds to power the Pacers to a hard-fought 101-96 win over the Milwaukee Bucks. The Pacers, who lead the Central Division by 13 games, rallied from a six-point deficit in the third quarter as forward Paul George added 18 points and a game-high six assists. Guard Brandon Knight led the Bucks with 23 points. Wizards 134, Raptors 129 (3 OT) Guard John Wall scored 31 points while center Marcin Gortat also scored 31 points and added 12 rebounds as the Washington Wizards defeated the Toronto Raptors 134-129 in triple overtime. Wall, who scored eight of his points in overtime, made a driving layup in the final minute of the third extra period to give the Wizards a four-point lead. Guard DeMar DeRozan led the Raptors with 34 points. Nets 112, Nuggets 89 Forward Paul Pierce scored 18 points before sitting out the entire fourth quarter as the Brooklyn Nets raced out to a big lead early and never relented in a 112-89 win over the Denver Nuggets. Guard Marcus Thornton scored 10 points in his second game since joining Brooklyn at the trade deadline last week. The Nets are 27-29 and within reach of Toronto for first place in the Atlantic Division. The Nets embarrassed the now-woeful Nuggets despite solid games from forward Kenneth Faried (14 points, eight rebounds) and guard Randy Foye (15 points). Their efforts were not nearly enough to overcome Denver's worst period of the season. The Nuggets were just 3-for-18 from the field in the first quarter and had as many points as turnovers, eight. — Agencies
