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Dragic, Heat rout Suns

Mar 3, 2015 - 5:09 AM Miami, FL (SportsNetwork.com) - Goran Dragic battled foul trouble in his first game against his former team but still finished with 21 points to help the Miami Heat take down the Phoenix Suns 115-98 on Monday.

Dragic did all his damage, which included 9-for-9 from the foul line, in just 15 minutes for Miami, who acquired the talented lefty in a trade from Phoenix two weeks ago. Tyler Johnson contributed a career-high 26 points off the bench.

"It means a lot," Dragic said of winning against his former team. "You always want to play well against your old teammates."

Dwyane Wade added 16 points and nine assists and Hassan Whiteside tallied 17 points and 10 rebounds before getting ejected late in the third quarter.

Markieff Morris had 13 points for Phoenix, but it was his flagrant-2 foul on Dragic early in the third that led to a temper-filled period. Dragic stole the ball from P.J. Tucker and was going in for a breakaway layup when Morris fouled him hard at full speed. Morris was ejected from the game.

"It was a hard foul," Morris said of the foul. "Both of our momentum, it was a basketball play I thought, but the refs thought otherwise."

Four minutes later, Whiteside grabbed an offensive rebound and dunked over Alex Len. The duo got tangled as they landed and Len shoved Whiteside, who retaliated by tackling Len to the ground. Both players were thrown out.

Henry Walker and Marcus Morris then received double technical fouls following Walker's flagrant-1. Johnson scored four quick points after that to extend Miami's lead to 11.

The Suns only got as close as seven the rest of the way.

Eric Bledsoe and Tucker paced Phoenix with 20 points apiece, and Len posted 10 with 11 boards before his ejection.

Miami trailed 24-23 after one, but Dragic scored four quick points to open the second quarter and set the tone for what would be a dominant period for the hosts.

Dragic then converted a pair of trips to the foul line around Johnson's 3 to extend the lead to 34-26. The Heat had two 8-0 runs after that, won the quarter by 15 points and led 62-48 at halftime.

Game Notes

Miami had lost two straight ... Suns guard Brandon Knight had 13 points and seven assists playing through a hip pointer ... Phoenix shot just 7-for-31 from 3-point range ... Tucker had a game-high 14 rebounds.