Wade returns but Bulls drop costly loss to Nets

Comebacking Durant leads Warriors

NEW YORK – The Chicago Bulls could have used Dwyane Wade’s leadership late in the fourth quarter. Instead, he was on the bench for a rest in his first game in nearly a month.

Those minutes he sat could keep the Bulls out of the playoffs for the second straight year.

The rusty 35-year-old star headed to the bench with a six-point lead and saw it collapse during a three-minute stretch before the Bulls sustained a potentially costly defeat when the Brooklyn Nets beat them, 107-106, Saturday.

“Elbow felt cool,” said Wade, who scored 14 in his first game back since March 15 after the Bulls originally said he’d miss the remainder of the regular season. “It’s just my legs. I’m trying to get my legs back and my wind back.”

In Oakland, California, Kevin Durant’s first touch after missing 19 games with a knee injury. Just a driving baseline reverse and emphatic one-handed slam, and KD triumphantly returned to finish with 16 points, 10 rebounds and six assists in helping the Golden State Warriors beat the undermanned New Orleans Pelicans, 123-101.

With two-time reigning MVP Stephen Curry sidelined by a bruised left knee, Durant shined in 31 minutes and the balanced Warriors won their 14th straight game – the longest unbeaten run in the NBA this season. He hadn’t played since getting hurt Feb. 28 at Washington, then resumed full practice Friday.

Klay Thompson scored 20 points, Draymond Green had 13 points and eight rebounds, and the do-everything Warriors sure look poised for another deep playoff run.

Coach Steve Kerr joked about “three meaningless games” remaining after the NBA’s top team wrapped up the best record and No. 1 seed in the Western Conference during Wednesday’s win at Phoenix.

Still, the Warriors absolutely played to win.

Durant raised both hands to the sky and pointed when he took the court before tipoff. His shot wasn’t quite as consistent as usual – six for 15 and missing all four of his 3-point tries – as he eases his way back to top form after such a long layoff.

He had an assist to Zaza Pachulia on Golden State’s second possession and dished on consecutive third-quarter Warriors baskets, even bringing the ball up court on occasion in Curry’s absence and gave everybody a lift just by being back in the lineup.

(AP)

Back in New York, Spencer Dinwiddie made four free throws in the final 13.6 seconds for the Nets in their home finale. He scored 19 points, as did rookie Caris LeVert.

Dinwiddie played for the Bulls during the preseason before being waived on Oct. 21. He then caught on with Chicago’s D-League affiliate and played nine games before the Brooklyn signed him to a multi-year deal in December.

The Bulls could have definitely used him off the bench throughout this up-and-down season.

“I think my confidence in terms of just playing at this level consistently, not having a short leash, being able to make mistakes in general, has grown tremendously and I credit the staff and the organization for that,” Dinwiddie said.

Jimmy Butler scored 33 points for the Bulls, who fell into a tie with Miami for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

The Heat kept their playoff hopes alive with a 106-103 over the Washington Wizards. In other results, Boston downed Charlotte, 121-114; Indiana routed Orlando, 127-112; Milwaukee turned back Philadelphia, 90-82; Portland routed Utah, 101-86; and the Los Angeles Lakers beat the San Antonio Spurs, 98-87.

“We’re still in this thing. They’re a good team. They’ve been playing as well as anybody. They’ve got guys who played incredibly hard,” Butler said. “We lost, there’s nothing we can really do about it right now. We have to go get better. We were saying how we needed to get this one today and now we need these next two (games).”

Wade started and played 25 minutes.

The Bulls allowed 32 points in the fourth quarter, with Dinwiddie snapping a 103-all with two free throws with 13.6 seconds to play. Butler missed a jumper and Dinwiddie put it away with another pair with 2.4 to play.

Wade was supposed to be limited to about 20 minutes and exited the game with 5:09 left in the fourth quarter and the Bulls leading 94-88. Nikola Mirotic’s three-point play with 4:24 remaining increased the lead to 97-88 before Brooklyn stormed back to go with a 10-0 run with the three-time NBA champion on the bench.

“As the game went on you can tell he got a little more comfortable. Early on you could tell he had a little rust,” Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg said. “We wanted to get him back in there at the end because we just felt it was our best five-man lineup to put out there to finish games for us. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get it done.”

LeVert’s consecutive 3-pointers pulled Brooklyn to 97-94 with 3:28 to go before Rondae Hollis-Jefferson made back-to-back baskets to give the Nets a 98-97 advantage with 2:21 left. Wade then re-entered and Chicago went back ahead 101-98 before Dinwiddie tied it with a 3.

“Even though we have lost a lot of games this year, we have played in a lot of close games,” LeVert said. “I think we played very smart down the stretch. It obviously showed on both ends of the court.”

Bulls point guard Rajon Rondo missed his second straight game after spraining his wrist during Tuesday’s loss to the New York Knicks.

Hollis-Jefferson had 16 points and 12 rebounds, while Brook Lopez scored 13 points for the Nets before a sold-out crowd of 17,732 that came out for the NBA’s worst team’s last home game. (AP)