Durant leads Nets
Kevin Durant had 21 points and eight assists, and the Brooklyn Nets beat the Chicago Bulls 115-107 on Tuesday despite Zach Lavine’s 41 points.
Joe Harris added 17 points and Bruce Brown had 15 as Brooklyn won its second straight after a four-game slide.
Chicago had its threegame winning streak — and probably its postseason hopes — end.
Brooklyn, which lost guard Kyrie Irving to an apparent facial injury early in the second half, led 93-74 at the start of the final period and sat its starters for most of the period. Lavine, who had 12 points in the fourth, forced them back in by scoring eight straight to cut the lead to 102-91 with 4:54 to play.
Durant and Jeff Green each had baskets in the final few minutes to keep the Bulls from rallying all the way back.
Green added 14 points and Nicolas Claxton had 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Brooklyn remains ahead of Milwaukee in the race for the second seed in the conference playoffs.
Heat 129, Celtics 121:
Tyler Herro scored 24 points and Miami clinched a playoff spot and locked Boston into the play-in tournament. Miami moved into a tie with idle Atlanta for fifth place in the Eastern Conference. The surging Heat won for the 10th time in 13 games. They have three games left in the regular season. Bam Adebayo and Duncan Robinson each scored 22 points, Kendrick Nunn had 18 and Goran Dragic
17 for the Heat. They swept the two-game series in Boston. Kemba Walker led the Celtics in their regular-season home finale with 36 points. Jayson Tatum scored 33 and Evan Fournier 20. Boston has lost seven of 10. The Celtics trail Miami and Atlanta by three games, but lost the tiebreaker against both. Boston has three games left.
Clippers 115, Raptors 96:
Kawhi Leonard scored 20 points as L.A. stayed one game ahead of Denver in the race for third place in the West.
Grizzlies 133, Mavericks 104: Ja Morant had 24 points, eight assists and seven rebounds to lead Memphis.
Nuggets 117, Hornets 112: Michael Porter Jr. and Nikola Jokic scored 30 each as Denver snapped a two-game slide.
T’wolves 119, Pistons 100: Karl-anthony Towns scored 28 points for Minnesota.
Pacers 103, 76ers 94:
Domantas Sabonis had 16 points, 13 rebounds and 15 assists as Indiana snapped Philly’s eight-game win streak.
Note: The Lakers’ Lebron James will miss at least one more game to make sure his sprained right ankle is as healthy as possible before returning.