Butler scores season-high 30 as Heat beat 76ers 106-89

MIAMI (AP) — Jimmy Butler scored a season-high 30 points in his return from a sprained ankle, Tyler Herro added 18 and the Miami Heat erased an early 19-point deficit to beat the Philadelphia 76ers 106-89 on Monday night.

Duncan Robinson scored 13 and Dru Smith added 10 for Miami, which played its first home game in two weeks. The Heat — who were outscored 137-71 in third quarters in their first four home games — outscored Philadelphia 35-16 in that period.

Jared McCain scored 20 points, Paul George added 18 and former Heat forward Caleb Martin finished with 12 for Philadelphia, which has lost 11 of 13 games to open the season.

Joel Embiid played for the third time this season; the Olympic gold medalist from this past summer scored 11 points in 31 minutes for the 76ers.

BULLS 122, PISTONS 112

DETROIT (AP) — Zach LaVine scored 16 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter and Chicago pulled away for a win against Detroit.

The game was tied at 95 with 8:46 left, but LaVine had nine points in a 13-2 run that put the Bulls up by 11 with 5:45 to go. He hit six 3-pointers in the quarter after a slow start.

Nikola Vucevic led the Bulls with 29 points and 12 rebounds while Coby White scored 25.

Cade Cunningham had 26 points and 10 assists for the Pistons and Malik Beasley added 21.

KNICKS 134, WIZARDS 106

NEW YORK (AP) — Jalen Brunson had 26 points and 11 assists, and New York rolled to a victory that extended Washington's losing streak to nine games.

Karl-Anthony Towns added 24 points and 12 rebounds in just 25 minutes for the Knicks, who were off and running right from the start even while playing for the second straight night. They rang up 40 points in the first quarter and put up 36 more in the third, building the lead to 109-75 at the end of the period.

New York went 20 for 40 from 3-point range and finished with its highest point total while just missing its largest margin of victory.

Cam Payne was 5 for 6 behind the arc and had 17 points off the bench, while OG Anunoby scored 16.

Bub Carrington, Jonas Valanciunas and Corey Kispert each scored 18 points for Washington.

RAPTORS 130, PACERS 119

TORONTO (AP) — RJ Barrett scored a season-high 39 points, Jakob Poeltl had 30 points and 15 rebounds for his third straight double-double and Toronto snapped a seven-game losing streak by beating Indiana.

Toronto came in with the NBA’s worst record at 2-12 and won for the first time since beating Sacramento in overtime on Nov. 2.

Barrett shot 13 for 21, going 4 for 8 from 3-point range and making 9 of 12 at the free throw line. He finished with nine rebounds.

Gradey Dick scored 15 points for Toronto. Ochai Agbaji and Davion Mitchell each had 11 and all five Raptors starters scored in double figures.

Benedict Mathurin scored 17 of his 28 points in the fourth quarter and Pascal Siakam had 25 points and 10 rebounds against his former team as the Pacers lost for the third time in four games.

Indiana’s Obi Toppin had nine of his 19 points in the final period. Tyrese Haliburton scored 16 points and T.J. McConnell added 10.

BUCKS 101, ROCKETS 100

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Damian Lillard hit a driving layup with 3.9 seconds left to give Milwaukee a victory over Houston that snapped their five-game winning streak.

Lillard scored 18 points after missing the previous three games while in the concussion protocol.

The Rockets rallied from a 14-point, third-quarter deficit to take the lead early in the fourth quarter and stayed ahead until Lillard’s decisive basket. Giannis Antetokounmpo blocked a shot by Houston’s Alperen Sengun with 20 seconds left.

Houston called timeout after Lillard’s layup. After the Bucks fouled with 2 seconds left, Houston’s Fred VanVleet tried inbounding the ball to Sengun, who couldn’t catch it cleanly under the basket. VanVleet unsuccessfully tried passing to Jabari Smith Jr. as the horn sounded.

Brook Lopez had 27 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks for Milwaukee. Antetokounmpo had 20 points and 14 rebounds.

VanVleet scored 26 points, Jalen Green 21 and Sengun 18 for Houston.

MAGIC 109, SUNS 99

PHOENIX (AP) — Franz Wagner scored 32 points, Anthony Black added 20 and Orlando beat struggling Phoenix.

Tyus Jones had 18 points for Phoenix. Devin Booker — coming off a season-high 44 points — had 17.

The Suns had three starters out due to injury, including Kevin Durant, Bradley Beal and Jusuf Nurkic. It was Durant’s sixth straight game out of the lineup. Phoenix is 1-5 over that stretch, including losing four straight.

Orlando was without leading scorer Paolo Banchero, who has an oblique injury.

The Magic opened the third quarter with a 64-48 lead and then scored the first five points for a 19-point edge. The closest Phoenix got down the stretch was 102-93, with 2:35 left in the game.

HAWKS 109, KINGS 108

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — De’Andre Hunter scored 24 points and Dyson Daniels had four blocks, including one in the final seconds, as Atlanta beat short-handed Sacramento.

Daniels’ clutch defensive play on Kings star De’Aaron Fox finished off a late back-and-forth affair. Trae Young had 19 assists for Atlanta. Clint Capela, who had 14 points and 14 rebounds, scored the final three points for the Hawks to put them up 109-106 with under two minutes to play.

Keon Ellis had a career high 33 points, including nine 3-pointers, to lead Sacramento. The Kings were without Domantas Sabonis (back), DeMar DeRozan (back) and Malik Monk (right ankle sprain).

Sacramento led 66-64 at halftime, after falling behind 22-6 to start the game.

CLIPPERS 102, WARRIORS 99

INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — Norman Powell scored 23 points and Los Angeles held off Golden State to win their fifth in a row at home.

James Harden added 12 points and 16 assists for the Clippers, who had lost their first four games at their new arena. Ivica Zubac had 17 rebounds.

Stephen Curry led the Warriors with 26 points and Andrew Wiggins added 22. Their only lead came on a 3-pointer by Lindy Waters III to start the game, but they closed within three points in the game’s final minutes. Their three-game winning streak ended.

The Warriors nearly caught the Clippers, who were on the second night of a back-to-back, in the closing seconds. But Curry missed a potential tying 3 and Gary Payton II also missed on the Warriors’ final shot of the game.

The Associated Press