MIAMI, United States — Slumping Miami surrendered the
NBA Eastern Conference lead on Saturday after a weak performance in a 110–95
home loss to Kevin Durant and the suddenly sizzling Brooklyn Nets.
اضافة اعلان
Durant scored 23 points,
Seth Curry added 17,
and Andre Drummond had 13 points and 11 rebounds in Brooklyn's seventh victory
over nine games.
The Heat suffered a season-high fourth
consecutive loss and fell to 47–28, percentage points behind the
Philadelphia 76ers 46–27 for the top spot in the East.
"We're not concerned in the sense of
panicking but yeah, we have to fix some stuff," Heat guard
Kyle Lowry
said. "This is one of those games where you really have to say, 'All right
we need to figure some things out.' They took it to us tonight."
Bam Adebayo led Miami with 14 points while
star forward
Jimmy Butler had only seven points on 2-of-9 shooting.
"We have to find ways to get more shots
and less turnovers," Lowry said. "On the defensive end we need to
figure out where we're going to be at all times. We still have some
indecisiveness."
The
Nets forced 21 Heat turnovers in
improving to 39–35, staying three games behind sixth-place Toronto and the last
automatic East playoff spot.
"It's disappointing," Miami's
Tyler Herro said. "At this point in the year we want to be playing our
best ... We'll continue to work and figure it out before the playoffs."
Brooklyn guard Kyrie Irving had 11
points on 4-of-11 shooting. Irving makes his season home debut Sunday when the
Nets entertain Charlotte. New York City
COVID-19 safety rules kept the
unvaccinated star from playing in home contests before a recent change exempted
athletes from the protocol.
"I'm looking forward to the
opportunity," Irving said. "We want to build something here, a
legacy, something sustainable, not just put this together real quick and see
what happens."
Idle Philadelphia moved past Miami but
reigning NBA champion
Milwaukee missed a chance to leap ahead of both clubs
with a 127–102 loss at Memphis.
Reserve guard
DeAnthony Melton scored 24
points, Desmond Bane added 20 and Dillon Brooks had 19 to spark the Grizzlies,
Memphis improving to 17–2 without injured guard Ja Morant and 52–23, the NBA's
second-best record.
Giannis Antetokounmpo had a game-high 30
points plus 11 rebounds and four blocked shots but Milwaukee fell to 48-28, the
same record as Boston and a half-game behind Miami.
Denver's
Nikola Jokic scored 35 points on
13-for-15 shooting and grabbed 12 rebounds for his 25th straight double-double
as the host Nuggets beat Oklahoma City 113–107.
"In the last quarter we were much
better, getting stops when we needed to get them," the Serbian playmaker
said. "I'm doing whatever I can do to win."
Denver moved one game ahead of Minnesota for
the sixth and final automatic playoff berth in the Western Conference.
Evacuation at Toronto
A speaker fire near the rafters forced the
Toronto Raptors to halt their home game against Indiana and evacuate Scotiabank
Arena before the contest was completed without spectators.
Police said there were no injuries. Toronto
Fire Services had requested the evacuation as a precaution.
The contest was stopped with the Raptors
leading the Pacers 66–38 with 4:05 remaining in the second quarter.
Toronto
went on to win 131–91 with Pascal Siakam scoring 23 points and Scottie Barnes
adding 19.
The
Raptors climbed to sixth with an eighth triumph in 10 games and pulled within a
game of fifth-place
Chicago, which edged Cleveland 98–94.
Zach
LaVine scored 25 points and DeMar DeRozan added 20 to power visiting Chicago
(43–31). The Cavaliers (41–33) fell to seventh.
Keldon
Johnson netted 21 points to lead seven double-digit scorers for the San Antonio
Spurs in a 107–103 victory at New Orleans.
C.J. McCollum had 32 points for the
Pelicans, who fell to 31–43, one game ahead of the Spurs for the last play-in
berth in the West.
Davion Mitchell had 22 points to lead
Sacramento in a 114–110 overtime triumph at Orlando.
Turkish 19-year-old rookie center
Alperen Sengun scored 27 points off the bench to lead the Houston Rockets over host
Portland 115–98.
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