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Scott's Nets Beat Riley's Heat

Beating Pat Riley wasn't that difficult for Byron Scott, not with Stephon Marbury controlling things.

Marbury broke the 30-point mark for the sixth time in eight games, scoring 31 points to lead the New Jersey Nets to a 93-91 victory over the Miami Heat on Wednesday night.

Marbury also had nine assists and nine rebounds and Aaron Williams added 11 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter in giving Scott a win over his former mentor, Riley.

Scott and Riley hugged and grinned at midcourt seconds after the game.

"Great job," Riley said.

"Thanks Riles," Scott replied. "I don't think he wanted to talk."

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Game Summary

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  • The game featured a great matchup of point guards with Miami's Tim Hardaway nearly matching Marbury, scoring 26 points.

    "He's good. He's good," Hardaway said of Marbury.

    Anthony Mason, who added 20 points and 14 rebounds, said that Marbury is taking advantage of the liberties he's gotten.

    "He's a talented player and he has the green light, so you have to applaud him," Mason said.

    Neither team led by more than six points in the final period, which was played like most of the game with the Nets taking the lead only to see Miami fight back.

    New Jersey never trailed after Williams converted a three-point play for a 77-74 lead with 6:05 to play, but the Heat pulled within a point or two six times.

    Hardaway's fourth 3-pointer cut the Nets' lead to 89-87 with 57 seconds to play, but Marbury hit a driving layup that spun around the rim before going in with 34 seconds left.

    After Mason scored underneath with 21 seconds to go, Marbuy converted two free throws with 19 seconds left.

    A layup by Hardaway with 4.6 seconds to play established the final margin, and the Nets ran out the clock after making the inbounds pass at halfcourt.

    "We had a feeling it was going to come down to a two possession game and in the end we played defense, got rebounds and made the plays," Nets guard Lucious Harris said.

    "I don't even want to talk about what was the difference," Hardaway said of the final minutes. "They had some guys come up pretty big and they played hard."

    Williams wasn't the only member of the Nets' supporting cast to come up big. Evan Eschmeyer hit a crucial basket as the shot clock expired with 3:05 to play to give New Jersey an 84-81 lead, and he added two free throws seconds after that.

    Despite playing for the fourth time in six nights, the Heat found ways to battle back every quarter. The Nets had leads of 10 points in the first quarter, 12 in the second and nine in the third.

    Brian Grant struggled all night, shooting 2-of-14 from the floor and 9-of-14 from foul line. He sprained his right ankle in the fourth quarter.

    Scott is one of five former Riley players to become an NBA coach. Magic Johnson, Kurt Rambis, Doc Rivers and Nets assistant Eddie Jordan are the others.

    Notes

  • Heat guard Eddie Jones missed the game with a strained right calf.
  • Miami forward A.C. Green played in his 1,118th straight game, moving him into sole possession of the fifth longest streak in the four major sports. He passed Billy Williams of the Chicago Cubs. Cal Ripken holds the longest steak (2,632) follwed by fellow baseball players Lou Gehrig, Everett Scott and Steve Garvey.

    ©2000 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed

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