CLEVELAND — Andrew Bogut broke his left leg less than one minute into his Cleveland debut and the Cavaliers were outgunned 106-98 on Monday night by the surging Miami Heat, who beat the NBA champions twice in three nights.
Dion Waiters scored 29 points, Goran Dragic added 21 and the Heat held off a late rally by the Cavs, who trimmed a 20-point deficit to 103-98 in the final minute. It could have gotten tighter but LeBron James missed a long 3-pointer before Waiters banked one in with 12.2 seconds left.
Kyrie Irving scored 32 and James had 30 points and 17 rebounds as Cleveland dropped to 26-7 at home. Miami has won 19 of 23, including victories over Golden State, Houston and two over Cleveland, which now has to find another rim protector after Bogut got hurt.
Spurs 112, Rockets 110
Kawhi Leonard scored 39 points, including 17 in the fourth quarter, and made big plays on both ends in the final 30 seconds as San Antonio rallied to beat Houston. Leonard outscored James Harden 17-4 in the final quarter of a matchup between two leading MVP candidates as the Spurs won their eighth straight.
Harden finished with 39 points and 12 assists in the final matchup of the season between the intrastate rivals.
Harden hit one of two free throws to give Houston a 108-107 lead, but Leonard followed with a 3-pointer over Nene for a 110-108 advantage.
Leonard than blocked Harden’s layup attempt from behind, pinning the attempt on the glass before being fouled. Leonard then made a pair of free throws with “MVP!” chants raining down from sell-out crowd at the AT&T Center.
Warriors 119, Hawks 111
Andre Iguodala scored a season-high 24 points on a subpar shooting night for the Splash Brothers, carrying Golden State over the Atlanta Hawks, whose chances were ruined by a dispute on the court that led to the benching of Dennis Schroder.
Bouncing back from their first regular-season losing streak in nearly two years, the Warriors won for the second day in a row without Kevin Durant, who is out indefinitely with a left knee injury. Stephen Curry had 24 points on 8-of-20 shooting, while Klay Thompson was held to 13 after a scoreless first half. But Iguodala and the Warriors bench picked up the slack, outscoring the Atlanta reserves 55-37.
Schroder led the Hawks with 23 points — 19 coming in the first quarter, the highest-scoring period of his career. But he went to the bench with 8:41 left in the third quarter after having words with teammate Dwight Howard, leaving Curry open for a 3-pointer.
Clippers 116, Celtics 102
Blake Griffin scored 26 points, Chris Paul added 23 and Los Angeles rallied to beat Boston. Jamal Crawford helped lift the Clippers in the second half by scoring 17 of his 19 points after halftime as Los Angeles shot 58 percent over the final two quarters.
DeAndre Jordan added 15 points and 12 rebounds for the Clippers, who won their second in a row and remained 1 1/2 games behind Utah in the race for fourth place in the Western Conference.
Isaiah Thomas scored 31 points and Marcus Smart added 21 for the Celtics, who put up one of their worst shooting performances of the season, shooting just 41 percent from the field after being in the high 30s most of the game.
Pistons 109, Bulls 95
Reggie Jackson scored 24 of his 26 points in the second half, and Detroit pulled away down the stretch for a victory over Chicago. The Pistons climbed into a tie for the No. 7 spot in the Eastern Conference with the Bulls, who were playing without injured Dwyane Wade and Rajon Rondo.
Jackson’s performance has been spotty this season, and at times backup Ish Smith has seemed like a better option late in games. But Jackson was instrumental in helping the Pistons take control in a game Monday that was tied at 79 after three quarters.
Detroit started the fourth with a 12-3 run and held Chicago to 16 points in the quarter. A hanging jumper by Jackson from near the elbow turned into a three-point play when he was fouled, and that gave the Pistons a 102-88 lead with 3:13 to play. Jimmy Butler scored 27 points for Chicago.
Jazz 88, Pelicans 83
Gordon Hayward scored 23 points and Utah led from start to finish against New Orleans. The Jazz pushed their win streak to three games despite a choppy performance on both ends. The Jazz led 43-34 at halftime after leading by 18 following a dominant first quarter. Utah had a 20-6 run in which eight players scored.
Rudy Gobert posted his 44th double-double of the season with 15 points and 15 rebounds. The Pelicans shot a season-low 35.7 percent. Anthony Davis had 20 points and 12 rebounds, while DeMarcus Cousins added 15 points.
Hornets 100, Pacers 88
Kemba Walker scored 28 points, Nicolas Batum added 21 and Charlotte beat Indiana. Returning home after their victory Saturday in Denver, the Hornets notched consecutive wins for the first time since Jan. 20-21. Paul George had 36 points on 15-of-25 shooting for the Pacers (32-31), who were playing the final game of a five-game road trip.
Charlotte (28-35) used a fast start to provide enough cushion to cruise to the victory, despite Indiana’s second-half comeback attempt that sliced the Hornets’ lead to 82-75 with 8:12 remaining.
Jeremy Lamb sank a 3-pointer and a layup for the Hornets, however, to keep the Pacers at bay.Five players scored in double digits for the Hornets, including 14 from Lamb, 13 points and 11 rebounds from Cody Zeller, and 11 points and 13 rebounds from Michael Kidd-Gilchrist.
Nuggets 108, Kings 96
Wilson Chandler scored a career-high 36 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, helping Denver weather the absence of Nikola Jokic to beat Sacramento. The Nuggets snapped a five-game skid against Sacramento and remained entrenched in the Western Conference’s final playoff spot.
Jokic was a late scratch because of an illness. With him went 15.9 points, 9.3 rebounds and 4.6 assists. Mason Plumlee stepped in and posted Jokic-like numbers — 10 points, 12 rebounds and five assists.
Darren Collison led seven Kings players in doubles figures with 17 points as they dropped their fifth straight. The team was coming off a tough loss the night before when Utah’s Rudy Gobert tipped in a missed jumper as time expired in overtime on a play that was initially ruled goaltending.
Nets 122, Grizzlies 109
Jeremy Lin scored 18 points, including nine straight in a fourth-quarter Brooklyn rally, Sean Kilpatrick added 23 and the Nets won for only the second time in 20 games with a victory over Memphis. Isaiah Whitehead scored 15 points, while Randy Foye and Caris LeVert added 14 apiece as Brooklyn shot 53 percent in snapping a two-game losing streak.
Mike Conley led Memphis with 32 points and Marc Gasol added 18 as Memphis lost its third straight and fifth in the last seven. The teams had traded leads until 4:22 remained when a dunk by Rondae Hollis-Jefferson started a stretch of six straight Brooklyn points, part of a 13-2 run for the Nets.
Lin scored nine straight in the spurt, including a 3-pointer to give the Nets a 116-106 lead with 1:43 left.
Bucks 112, 76ers 98
Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 24 points, Tony Snell had 18 of his season-high 21 in the first half and Milwaukee trailed in a victory over Philadelphia. Malcolm Brogdon and Khris Middleton added 13 apiece for the Bucks, who won their third straight game to stay close in the Eastern Conference playoff race. Milwaukee began the day 1 ½ games behind Detroit for the final playoff spot in the East. The Pistons hosted Chicago on Monday night.
Justin Anderson tied his career high with 19 points for Philadelphia, which has lost five of six. The 76ers were without big man Jahlil Okafor (knee) for the second straight game. They are so short of bodies that they received a hardship exception to sign Shawn Long to a 10-day contract on Monday. Long, in his NBA debut, had 13 points and seven rebounds.
Knicks 113, Magic 105
Courtney Lee scored 20 points, Lance Thomas added 17 and New York used a big fourth quarter to rally past Orlando. Willy Hernangomez had 14 points and eight rebounds, while Kristaps Porzingis scored 14 points for the Knicks, who stopped a two-game losing streak. Kyle O’Quinn sparked the comeback with 11 points and eight rebounds, all in the fourth quarter.
Elfrid Payton had his first triple-double of the season with 16 points, 10 assists and 11 rebounds. Evan Fournier led Orlando with 25 points and Aaron Gordon had 17 in the Magic’s third loss in four games.
New York outscored Orlando 28-13 in the fourth period, holding the Magic to just 17.6 percent shooting (3 of 17), while shooting 54.5 percent (12 of 22).
