Heat earn date with Celtics

MIAMI — Tyler Herro scored 24 points and was an assist shy of a tripledouble, rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr. added 21 points and the Miami Heat grabbed the last spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs, running away from the Chicago Bulls 112-91 in a play-in tournament elimination game Friday night.

Kevin Love scored 16 and Bam Adebayo added 13 for Miami, which gets this as a reward: a rematch of the last two East finals against the Boston Celtics. It’s Round 1 this time, the Heat set to be huge underdogs against the runaway favorite to win the NBA title.

The Heat won’t have Jimmy Butler against Boston because of his injured right knee and played again without point guard Terry Rozier, still out with a neck injury.

No matter. They took control over the Bulls with a 19-0 run in the first quarter, and a 14-0 run midway through the second half ended all doubt. Herro finished with 10 rebounds and nine assists, and the Heat eliminated the Bulls in the last East play-in game for the second straight year.

DeMar DeRozan scored 22 points for the Bulls, who got 16 points and 14 rebounds from Nikola Vucevic.

PELICANS 105, KINGS 98

Brandon Ingram scored 24 points, Jonas Valanciunas added 19 points and 12 rebounds, and host New Orleans booked a spot in the playoffs with a victory over Sacramento.

The Pelicans won without leading-scorer Zion Williamson, who strained his left hamstring right as he reached the 40-point mark in a play-in loss to the Lakers on Tuesday night.

Undaunted, New Orleans used a balanced approach to improved to 8-5 this season without Williamson in the lineup.

Cy Lakes product De’Aaron Fox scored 35 points to go with five assists for Sacramento.