Heat Cool Off Kings

The Miami Heat played without their starting point guard and their top two rebounders went to the bench early in the third quarter with four fouls.

But the Heat still managed to snap Sacramento's eight-game winning streak Monday night. Jamal Mashburn scored 22 points on his 27th birthday, and P.J. Brown added 18 as Miami beat Sacramento 98-88.

The Heat, who played without injured guard Tim Hardaway, became only the second team this season to hold Sacramento under 100 points.

"Our defense shut them down tonight," Mashburn said.

Alonzo Mourning added 16 points and 11 rebounds for the Heat, who built a 62-45 lead in the third quarter and were never seriously challenged after that in a meeting between teams that started the night as division leaders.

"We knew that Sacramento had won eight in a row," said Miami coach Pat Riley. "They wanted to come in and make a statement to us, but our guys have a lot of pride too."

The loss was the first in North America this season for the Kings (9-2), whose only other defeat came in Tokyo to the Minnesota Timberwolves.

"We watched them on film and knew that they were going to be aggressive," said Kings coach Rick Adelman. "They weren't going to give us anything going to the basket."

Miami, which has beaten Sacramento six straight times, ended November with an 11-3 record. The .786 winning percentage is the best ever for the Heat in November and ties the third-best single month winning percetage in team history.

The Heat outrebounded the Kings 53-38. Miami also outscored Sacramento in the paint 52-26 and had a 22-8 edge in fast-break points.

Brown scored six of Miami's first eight points in the second half as the Heat built a 17-point lead with 8:22 left in the third period.

Although Brown, Mourning and reserve center Duane Causwell picked up their fourth fouls in the third quarter, Miami led by at least eight points the rest of the way.

Reserve Clarence Weatherspoon had 11 points and 10 rebounds for the Heat.

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