MIAMI (AP) – Tyler Johnson scored a career-high 26 points, Goran Dragic added 21 against his former team and the Miami Heat beat the Phoenix Suns 115-98 on Monday night in a game that included two third-quarter altercations.
Hassan Whiteside finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds before getting ejected for Miami, which got 16 points and nine assists from Dwyane Wade.
Eric Bledsoe scored 20 for the Suns, who got 18 points and 13 rebounds from P.J. Tucker. Markieff Morris and Brandon Knight scored 13 apiece, and Alex Len had 10 points and 11 rebounds.
The story line was supposed to be Dragic facing the club that traded him to Miami last month, amid hurt feelings on both sides.
Emotions boiled over instead. In all, there were five player technicals, three ejections and two flagrant fouls assessed in the third quarter alone, the 12 minutes of play needing 42 minutes to complete.