Mourning Scores 43 With Near-Perfection

Nothing could stop Alonzo Mourning on Wednesday night, certainly not a broken nose.

Mourning, whose nose was broken Monday night, made his first 13 shots and missed only one all game, scoring 43 points as the Heat beat the New Jersey Nets, 99-85, at Miami.

Mourning missed a 15-foot turnaround jumper with 56.8 seconds left. He finished five off Wilt Chamberlain’s NBA record of making 18 consecutive shots against Baltimore in 1967. Mourning’s streaking of shots made ranks fifth in NBA history.

Mourning also made 17 of 24 free throws and had 16 rebounds and five blocked shots in 33 minutes.

“I wasn’t paying attention to it at all,” Mourning said of the chance for perfection. “My intentions were to try to get to the basket and fortunately my teammates gave me the ball in the right spots.”

Mourning, who has had three facial injuries the past three seasons, protected his nose with a bandage instead of a mask.

“That’s the best performance I’ve seen in a long time,” the Nets’ Kendall Gill said. “I thought Shaq was awesome last [Tuesday] night [35 points and 13 rebounds] but Zo did Shaq one better tonight.”

Toronto 99, New York 88--Vince Carter had 33 points, nine rebounds and nine assists to lead the Raptors at New Yorkin a game in which Patrick Ewing moved into 15th place on the NBA’s career scoring list.

Carter scored 15 points in the third quarter and Toronto’s final seven of the game to give the Raptors their second victory over the Knicks in nine days. The Raptors also losing streak at three and ended New York’s home winning streak at five.

Ewing scored 24 points to move past Adrian Dantley on the career scoring list. Ewing has 23,181 career points, with Robert Parish (23,334) the next player ahead of him.

Indiana 118, Detroit 111--Rik Smits returned after being sidelined three games because of a sore back with a season-high 29 points and nine rebounds for the Pacers at Auburn Hills, Mich. Detroit lost for the fourth time in five games.

Indiana lost Dale Davis in the first quarter after he was given two technical fouls and ejected for arguing a three-second violation.

Golden State 91, Milwaukee 86--Donyell Marshall had a career-high 37 points and a season-high 21 rebounds as the Warriors handed the Bucks their six consecutive homecourt loss.

Larry Hughes didn’t play because of a sprained ankle as the Warriors won for the third time in four games.

Atlanta 100, Sacramento 94--Isaiah Rider scored 33 points at Sacramento as the Hawks never trailed in handing the Kings their third loss in a row. The Hawks have won 11 of 12 against the Kings.

Chris Webber led the Kings with 28 points and 20 rebounds.

Around the League

Charlotte Hornet guard Eldridge Recasner, who has missed all 52 games this season after fracturing his right shoulder and suffering a partially collapsed lung in an Oct. 27 automobile accident, was activated and said he was still upset with teammate Derrick Coleman, the driver at the time of the accident. Recasner said Coleman went more than a week before even calling to check on him, which Recasner said “wasn’t satisfactory to me.” Coleman was acquitted last week of a charge that he was intoxicated during the accident. . . . San Antonio Spur forward Sean Elliott, trying to become the first pro athlete to return after a kidney transplant, predicts he will play again in three weeks. Coach Gregg Popovich, however, said no timetable has been set. Meanwhile, Popovich said forward Tim Duncan (abdominal strain) will evaluated at a shoot-around today to see if he can play tonight at Charlotte.