Heat beat 76ers to hold onto No. 5 spot in East
>> Jimmy Butler scored 21 points, Bam Adebayo had 18 points and 12 rebounds and the Miami Heat held onto the No. 5 spot in the Eastern Conference, beating the Philadelphia 76ers 106-94 on Thursday night.
Tyler Herro scored 18 points, Goran Dragic had 15 and Kendrick Nunn added 13. Miami captain Udonis Haslem got his first minutes of the season in the first half, scoring four points and getting ejected with two technical fouls in just under three minutes.
Tobias Harris scored 21 points, Shake Milton added 12 and Danny Green had 11 for Philadelphia, which could have wrapped up the East’s No. 1 seed with a win. MVP candidate Joel Embiid, who was dealing with the flu earlier in the week, managed only six points on 3-for-9 shooting.
Philadelphia (47-23) goes home for its final two games of the season, both against Orlando, one Friday and one Sunday. Win either of those, and no matter what Brooklyn or Milwaukee do the rest of the way the 76ers will be the No. 1 seed in the East for the first time since 2001.
Miami is 39-31, tied with No. 4 Atlanta and No. 6 New York. The Hawks hold a tiebreaker over the Heat; the Heat hold a tiebreaker over the Knicks, who kept pace with a win over San Antonio.
KNICKS 102, SPURS 98 >> Alec Burks scored a season-high 30 points in his return from a three-game absence and New York kept up its chase of home- court advantage in the playoffs by rallying to beat San Antonio.
The Spurs secured the final spot in the Western Conference play-in tournament later when Sacramento lost at Memphis.
Julius Randle had 25 points, nine rebounds and nine assists for the Knicks. They are a half-game behind Atlanta as they battle the Hawks and Miami for the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference.
RJ Barrett scored 19 of his 24 points in the second half for the Knicks, who clinched their first postseason berth since 2013 on Wednesday when Boston lost in Cleveland.
DeMar DeRozan scored 27 points for the Spurs.
BUCKS 142, PACERS 133 >> Giannis Antetokounmpo had 40 points, 15 rebounds and six assists and Milwaukee wore down short-handed Indiana.
Indiana dressed just 10 players due to injuries and didn’t have a defensive answer for Antetokounmpo, the two-time NBA MVP who made 14 of 18 shots from the field — six on uncontested dunks — and hit 11 of 16 free throws.
The Bucks moved within a game of the Brooklyn Nets for the Eastern Conference’s No. 2 playoff seed.
Khris Middleton added 22 points, Brook Lopez had 21, and Jrue Holiday finished with 20 points and 14 assists.
Four of the seven ruledout Pacers were starters, then All- Star forward Domantas Sabonis came out after tweaking his left knee in the third quarter. Sabonis had 10 points, 14 assists and six rebounds when he sat down. Justin Holiday led the Pacers with 26 points.
HAWKS 116, MAGIC 93 >> Bogdan Bogdanovich scored 27 points, Trae Young added 18 and Atlanta beat Orlando for its third straight victory.
CLIPPERS 113, HORNETS 90 >> Paul George had 20 points and 10 rebounds, Reggie Jackson made five 3-pointers and had 19 points and Los Angeles handed Charlotte its fourth loss in five games.
LaMelo Ball had 18 points and seven assists for the Hornets in their regular-season home finale.
NUGGETS 114, TIMBERWOLVES 103 >> Nikola Jokic scored 16 of his 31 points in the first quarter as Denver took control and the playoff-bound Nuggets held off a second-half rally in a victory Minnesota.
BULLS 114, RAPTORS 102 >> Zach LaVine scored 24 points, Lauri Markkanen added 20 and Chicago beat short-handed Toronto.
SUNS 118, BLAZERS 117 >> Devin Booker made two free throws with 2.4 seconds remaining to give Phoenix a victory over Portland.
Booker’s winning foul shots were set up when Portland’s Robert Covington was fouled and missed both free throws with 4.4 seconds left, giving the Suns one last chance.