Heat Wins at Buzzer, After All

Voshon Lenard knew the instant the ball left his hand Sunday that the Miami Heat was going to win. It took the officials a little longer to decide.

Lenard’s three-point basket at the buzzer from 26 feet out gave the Heat a 79-76 victory at Orlando against the Magic, which was held to three field goals in the fourth quarter--none in the final 7:46.

Official Ron Olesiak waved off the winning basket, then had an immediate change of heart and asked colleagues Ronnie Nunn and LeRoy Richardson for help.

“I just thought I made the wrong call, and I just wanted to go over and confirm with my partners to make sure that [the] ball was out of the hand,” Olesiak said. “They said absolutely, and I just went over and changed it.”

Tim Hardaway led the Heat with 22 points. Orlando got 30 points from Nick Anderson.

Utah 109, Detroit 98--Karl Malone scored 28 points and added nine rebounds at Auburn Hills, Mich., to lead the Jazz to its 10th consecutive victory and its eighth in a row on the road.

Grant Hill led the Pistons with 29 points, but had only had one assist.

Indiana 91, New York 86--Mark Jackson, a former Knick, returned to New York with a vengeance, scoring half of his season-high 28 points in the fourth quarter.

Jackson, who was five for five from the field and four for four from the free-throw line in the final period, scored 14 of Indiana’s final 17 points to surpass his previous season-high of 18.

Allan Houston had 31 points for the Knicks.

Toronto 100, Golden State 98--Doug Christie scored 24 points at Oakland and made two decisive free throws with 19.3 seconds left in overtime after the Raptors had erased an 11-point deficit in the final 3:42 of regulation.

The victory ended Toronto’s six-game losing streak.

Phoenix 100, Dallas 90--Jason Kidd had his 18th career triple-double with 20 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists at Phoenix as Suns clinched a playoff berth.

Atlanta 93, Boston 77--Dikembe Mutombo had 21 points, 11 rebounds and six blocks at Atlanta to help the Hawks improve to 7-0 on Sundays.