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ATLANTA — The Atlanta Hawks set a single-season franchise high with their 58th victory, getting 16 points each from DeMarre Carroll and Jeff Teague in a 96-69 win Tuesday night over the Phoenix Suns.
Mike Muscala, starting for injured All-Star forward Paul Millsap, finished with 16 points and Al Horford added 14 for the Eastern Conference champion Hawks.
The Suns missed 31 of 40 shots from the field in the second half to score a season low.
Gerald Green, with 15 points, was the only Phoenix player to score in double figures. Eric Bledsoe, ejected in the third quarter for arguing with officials, led the Suns’ starters with nine points.
The 1986-87 and 1993-94 Hawks each won 57 games in the regular season.
Atlanta led by eight after Muscala’s follow shot early in the third, but the game was out of Phoenix’s control by the late minutes of the period when Shelvin Mack’s runner put the Hawks up by 18.
Carroll, Horford and Muscala, Atlanta’s starting front line, were a combined 22 for 27 from the field.
Phoenix’s 69 points were a season low for a Hawks opponent.
Heat 105, Hornets 100
MIAMI — Goran Dragic scored 28 points, his most since coming to Miami in a February trade, and the Heat helped their playoff chances by topping the Charlotte Hornets.
Luol Deng scored 21 for the Heat, who snapped a four-game losing streak. Dwyane Wade had 19 and Hassan Whiteside added 12 on 6-for-8 shooting for Miami.
Gerald Henderson led the Hornets with 29 points. Kemba Walker scored 17, Mo Williams had 15, Bismack Biyombo had a 12-point, 12-rebound night, and Marvin Williams grabbed 13 rebounds for Charlotte.
Down 11 early in the fourth, Charlotte trimmed the deficit to three on three occasions — surely bringing back memories of how Miami wasted a 15-point late lead in what became a 99-98 loss at Detroit on Saturday.
The Heat hung on this time.
Dragic — whose previous Miami high was 23 — answered with baskets the first two times that Charlotte got within three, and then the left-handed guard just about sealed it with a pullup jumper that pushed Miami’s lead to 99-91 with 1:37 left.
Henderson made a 3-pointer to cut Miami’s lead to 103-100, before Dragic added two free throws with 7.5 seconds left to cap his 11-point fourth.
Miami moved within a half-game of eighth-place Boston for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
“We were talking before the game, this was a playoff game. … Tonight was a must-win for us,” Dragic said.