Nets beat Cavs, move into tie for 7th in Eastern chase
NEW YORK » Kevin Durant scored 36 points, leading a pair of fourth-quarter surges that carried the Brooklyn Nets into a tie for seventh place in the Eastern Conference with a 118-107 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday night.
The Nets caught the Cavaliers at 43-38 with a game remaining and clinched the tiebreaker. They will finish seventh if they beat Indiana on Sunday in their final regular-season game. The No. 7 team hosts No. 8 on Tuesday, moving into the playoffs with a victory.
The loser of the 7-8 game has a second shot at the postseason by beating the winner of the game between the Nos. 9 and 10 teams on Friday.
Darius Garland scored 31 points for the Cavaliers, who dropped their third straight. They got rookie Evan Mobley back after a five-game absence with a sprained left ankle but are still missing All-Star center Jarrett Allen because of a broken finger that has sidelined him nearly a month. HORNETS 133, BULLS 117 » LaMelo Ball scored 24 points and Charlotte ran away from Chicago.
The Hornets — 10th in the Eastern Conference and a game behind Brooklyn and Atlanta coming in — barely broke a sweat in this one. They led 79-51 through the first two quarters, the most points allowed in a half this season by Chicago, and handed the listless Bulls their fourth straight loss.
BUCKS 131, PISTONS 101 » Giannis Antetokounmpo had 30 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists to help Milwaukee rout Detroit.
Averaging 29.9 points,
Antetokounmpo needs 35 points or more Sunday in the season finale at Cleveland to join Kareem AbdulJabbar as the only Milwaukee players to average 30 points for a season.
Brook Lopez added 17 points, and Khris Middleton had 15. The defending champion Bucks led by 32 points en route to their third straight victory. They improved to 51-30.
HEAT 113, HAWKS 109 » Bam Adebayo made the goahead dunk with 27 seconds remaining and scored 27 points in Miami’s comeback victory over Atlanta.
Jimmy Butler added 20 points, Kyle Lowry finished with 16 points and Tyler Herro had 15 for the Heat. They finished on a 10-2 run. Danilo Galinari’s 3-point attempt for Atlanta with nine seconds left bounced off the rim and Herro’s two free throws secured the victory. MAVERICKS 128, TRAIL BLAZERS 78 » Luka Doncic had 39 points, 11 rebounds and his 16th technical foul of the season for Dallas, which will open the playoffs at home for the first time since 2011 after routing Portland.
The Mavericks will play their regular-season finale
Sunday without Doncic, unless the technical foul is rescinded by the NBA office. If upheld, his 16th of the season means an automatic one-game suspension. RAPTORS 117, ROCKETS 115 » Pascal Siakam had 29 points and 10 rebounds, Gary Trent Jr. made the winning layup with 4.8 seconds left and Toronto beat Houston.
KNICKS 114, WIZARDS 92 » Obi Toppin scored a career-high 35 points and New York beat Washington,
R.J. Barrett scored 14 points for the Knicks before leaving the game.