Big Finishes for Nash, Arenas

Steve Nash and Gilbert Arenas had the big finishes. For the Miami Heat, it was more misery right from the start. <br/><br/>Back home in Canada, Nash showed why he could be in the running for a third straight

Thursday, January 4th 2007, 6:07 am

By: News On 6

Steve Nash and Gilbert Arenas had the big finishes. For the Miami Heat, it was more misery right from the start.

Back home in Canada, Nash showed why he could be in the running for a third straight MVP award. He shook off a poor first three quarters to score eight of the Suns' final nine points in a 100-98 victory over the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday night.

Nash scored 13 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter and also had nine assists.

``He is the MVP, he does it all the time,'' Phoenix coach Mike D'Antoni said.

Arenas is reaching that level. The NBA's player of the month for December opened the new month by making a long 3-pointer at the buzzer, giving Washington a 108-105 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks.

Arenas' 32-footer _ he turned and walked away after the shot, knowing it was good _ gave him 32 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists.

``I don't know why this is a surprise to you guys now,'' he said.

Nash is looking like a much safer bet to repeat than Miami.

On a day when coach Pat Riley deactivated two forwards whose body-fat readings aren't within team parameters, then began an indefinite leave of absence because of knee and hip problems, the defending NBA champions continued their free-fall with a 110-95 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers.

In their first game under interim coach Ron Rothstein, the Heat (13-18) dropped their fourth straight and fell five games below .500 for the first time this season.

``It felt terrible out there,'' Heat center Michael Doleac said. ``I got negative. I got down. And that's not right. You've got to fight that and stay positive as best you can and do whatever you can to win. Ridiculous. We're playing basketball. It's supposed to be fun, but the air around us is bad right now.''

In other games, it was: Cleveland 107, Boston 104; Memphis 144, Golden State 135; Minnesota 103, San Antonio 101 in overtime; Houston 103, Seattle 96; Utah 98, Philadelphia 87; and New York 99, Portland 81.

In Miami, many of the Heat's important players were unavailable. Superstars Shaquille O'Neal and Dwyane Wade are injured, and forwards Antoine Walker and James Posey were deactivated over their failure to meet team body-fat standards.

Miami then went out and looked helpless, allowing Los Angeles to shoot 61 percent from the field. Elton Brand scored 28 points and Chris Kaman added 20.

``It wasn't a very good effort on our part,'' Rothstein said. ``We can do better than that and we need to do better than that. We'll work hard to do better than that. That's not acceptable. Take nothing away from the Clippers, but you just can't let people shoot in your face all night.''

Grizzlies 144, Warriors 135

At Memphis, Tenn., Mike Miller scored a season-high 33 points and Pau Gasol added 24 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Grizzlies to the highest point total in franchise history.

Matt Barnes scored a career-high 36 points, one of seven Warriors players in double figures.

Cavaliers 107, Celtics 104

LeBron James scored 32 points and Zydrunas Ilgauskas added 27 points and 11 rebounds to lift visiting Cleveland to its seventh straight victory over the Celtics.

Tony Allen scored 22 points and Al Jefferson added 18 points and 12 rebounds for Boston, which has won once in the last eight games.

Timberwolves 103, Spurs 101, OT

Mark Blount scored 28 points, Kevin Garnett had 27 points and 17 rebounds, and host Minnesota beat San Antonio for the first time in six tries.

Manu Ginobili led the Spurs with 26 points, and Tim Duncan had 24 points and 13 rebounds.

Rockets 103, SuperSonics 96

At Houston, Tracy McGrady scored 31 points, topping 30 for the third straight game.

McGrady also had seven assists and Dikembe Mutombo grabbed 14 rebounds as the Rockets won their fourth straight game. Houston is 4-1 since Yao Ming broke a bone in his right leg.

Ray Allen scored 32 on 13-of-22 shooting for the Sonics, who've lost four of their last five and 10 in a row on the road.

Jazz 98, 76ers 87

Carlos Boozer had 27 points and 14 rebounds, Deron Williams just missed his career high with 14 assists, and Utah beat travel-weary Philadelphia.

Matt Harpring scored 12 of his 20 points in the third quarter and Mehmet Okur scored 27, going 10-for-10 from the line.

Andre Miller led Philadelphia with 17 points and five assists. The Sixers fell to 2-4 on their lengthy road trip, which ends Friday at Minnesota.

Knicks 99, Trail Blazers 81

Eddy Curry had 27 points, including six dunks, and New York snapped a three-game losing streak on its West Coast.

Curry also had 10 rebounds for the Knicks, who wrap up their trip Friday in Seattle. Jamal Crawford added 25 points.

Zach Randolph had 15 points and nine rebounds for the Blazers, who have lost four straight and six of their last seven _ following a five-game winning streak.