SuperSonics Stop Heat’s Streak at 14

After a month where virtually everything went right, the Miami Heat caught one last break but didn’t take advantage -- and that let the Seattle SuperSonics beat the NBA’s hottest team.

Ray Allen scored 35 points and Rashard Lewis had 17 points and 13 rebounds for the SuperSonics, who ended the Heat’s franchise-record 14-game winning streak Monday night with a 98-96 victory at Miami.

Dwyane Wade had 23 of his 28 points after halftime for Miami, which fell to 6-6 against teams from the Western Conference. Shaquille O’Neal had 25 points, 14 rebounds, a season-high seven blocked shots and four assists for the Heat, which was outrebounded, 46-36.

The loss denied Miami’s bid for the NBA’s first 15-game winning streak since O’Neal’s Lakers won 19 straight in the 2000 season.

“I’ll take 14 out of 15 any day of the week, any week of the month, any month of the year, any year of the century,” O’Neal said. “I don’t know what comes after century.”

Seattle trailed for only six of the game’s 48 minutes, but Lewis gave the Heat a golden chance to extend the game into overtime.

With the score 98-95, he fouled Miami’s Eddie Jones on a three-point try with 0.4 seconds left. But Jones -- a 78.7% free-throw shooter entering the game -- connected on only one of three free throws, the last of which he missed intentionally.

“When he missed the first one, I most definitely exhaled,” Lewis said. “I thought it was a bad call.”

The game was tied four times in the final quarter, the last being broken on Danny Fortson’s free throw with 13.3 seconds remaining.

Cleveland 94, Charlotte 83 -- Wearing a plastic mask to protect his broken left cheek, LeBron James had 26 points, eight rebounds and six assists at Charlotte, N.C. James was elbowed last week by Houston’s Dikembe Mutombo.

Rookie Emeka Okafor had his streak of double-doubles ened at 19 games after scoring 12 points with five rebounds for the Bobcats, who went scoreless for a seven-minute stretch of the third quarter in losing their sixth straight game.

Memphis 92, Utah 82 -- Pau Gasol scored 25 points, including 17 in the pivotal third quarter, at Memphis, Tenn., to lead the Grizzlies to their season-high fourth straight victory.

Carlos Boozer had 20 points and 15 rebounds for the Jazz, which lost its sixth in a row.

Detroit 87, Chicago 80 -- Richard Hamilton had 28 points, 20 in the second half, and led a 14-4 fourth-quarter run at Chicago that carried the Pistons to their fifth victory in their last six games. Ben Gordon led the Bulls with 27 points.

Toronto 105, Orlando 94 -- Chris Bosh tied his career-high with 25 points at Toronto to help the Raptors hand the Magic its fourth straight loss. Steve Francis had 19 points for the Magic.

Boston 108, New Orleans 90 -- Paul Pierce had 19 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists at Boston for his fourth career triple-double to help send the Hornets to their eighth consecutive loss.

Celtic point guard Gary Payton did not play because of a strained left hamstring, ending his streak of 305 consecutive games played -- the second-longest active streak in the league.

Philadelphia 112, Golden State 104 -- Allen Iverson had 29 points at Oakland to help the 76ers improve to 4-2 on an eight-game trip. Troy Murphy had 29 points for the Warriors, playing without leading scorer Jason Richardson, who has an injured ankle.