Basketball, NBA

Shaquille O'Neal had 33 points and 18 rebounds and Dwyane Wade chipped in with 21 as the Miami Heat quickly returned to winning ways on Wednesday, defeating the New York Knicks 102-94.

After having their franchise record 14-game winning streak ended by the Seattle SuperSonics on Monday, the Heat took control early on the way to improving their record to an Eastern Conference best 26-8.

Wade also had nine assists and six rebounds as Miami avoided losing back-to-back games for the first time since early November.

In Cleveland, Zydrunas Ilgauskas notched 28 points while LeBron James flirted with his first career triple-double in sparking the Cavaliers to a 101-85 win over the Atlanta Hawks.

James, playing his second game wearing a mask to protect a broken left cheekbone, carded 20 points, nine assists and six rebounds as the Cavaliers registered their sixth consecutive win over the woeful Hawks.

Antoine Walker had 26 points and 10 rebounds for Atlanta but could not prevent the Hawks (5-25) from absorbing a fifth straight loss.

In Dallas, the Mavericks used a balanced attack led by a season-high 28-point effort from Jason Terry to tame Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers 118-104.