O’Neal Triples Pleasure

Shaquille O’Neal called it “simple basketball,” and he certainly made it look that way.

O’Neal had his second career triple-double -- a 15-point, 11-rebound, 10-assist effort in 28 minutes -- and Antoine Walker had a season-high 32 points as the Heat overcame Dwyane Wade’s absence to beat Toronto, 106-97, on Tuesday night at Miami.

“I learned a long time ago that if I can keep my other guys involved, it’ll be an easier game for me.” said O’Neal, whose only other triple-double was in 1993 -- when he had 24 points, 28 rebounds and 15 blocked shots for Orlando against New Jersey.

Wade was sidelined by a virus.

Miami also reduced its magic number for clinching the No. 2 seeding in the Eastern Conference to two.

Mike James scored 32 for Toronto.

Phoenix 123, Sacramento 110 -- Raja Bell scored 25 points, Shawn Marion had 23 and the Suns erased a 17-point halftime deficit by shooting 71% en route to a 72-42 second-half edge in dropping the host Kings out of a seventh-place tie with the Lakers in the Western Conference.

Mike Bibby, Ron Artest and Brad Miller had 23 points each for the Kings.

Chicago 104, New Jersey 101 -- Ben Gordon scored 21 of his 36 points in the fourth quarter at Chicago to lead the Bulls back into a tie with Philadelphia for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot.

Chicago owns the tiebreaker.

Vince Carter scored 43 points for the Nets.

Memphis 92, Minnesota 76 -- Pau Gasol had 19 points to help the host Grizzlies move half a game ahead of the Clippers into fifth in the West by beating the Timberwolves, playing without injured Kevin Garnett.

San Antonio 104, Seattle 95 -- Tony Parker had 27 points and nine assists at San Antonio to move the Spurs a full game ahead of Dallas for the best record in the West. Seattle’s Ray Allen was limited to 14 points.