MIAMI — Bam Adebayo had 30 points and 17 rebounds, Jimmy Butler added 24 points, and a pair of big third-quarter runs helped the Miami Heat beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 117-105 on Friday night.
Tyler Herro scored 22 points, and Max Strus finished with 17 points for the Heat, who improved to 16-7 in games following a loss. The Heat had a 13-0 run early in the third to open up an eight-point lead, then went on an 11-0 run later in the quarter to build an 84-67 lead.
Adebayo was 11 for 16 from the field and 8 for 8 from the line.
Darius Garland had 24 points and 10 assists for Cleveland, which has lost seven of its last 10 games. The Cavaliers were bidding to sweep the Heat for the first time since the 2009-10 season; instead, they fell to 1-21 in their last 22 trips to Miami, with the win coming earlier this season.
Evan Mobley had 19 points and 12 rebounds for the Cavs, who got 15 points from Lauri Markkanen and 11 from Kevin Love.
The Heat (45-23) moved 2 1/2 games clear of Milwaukee in the Eastern Conference standings, plus three games up on Philadelphia and four games ahead of Chicago, which leads Boston by percentage points for the No. 4 spot. Cleveland remained sixth, six games behind the Heat but still ahead of Toronto in the race for the final playoff berth outside of the play-in round.
MAGIC 118, TIMBERWOLVES 110: Mo Bamba scored 27 points, Markelle Fultz and Mo Wagner did most of Orlando’s scoring in a big second-half rally and the Magic ended visiting Minnesota’s winning streak at six games.
During a 23-4 run over a stretch of eight minutes, Fultz scored five points and Wagner had the final seven, leaving the Magic with a 107-95 lead after they had trailed by 18 in the first half.
Anthony Edwards led the Timberwolves with 25 points. Karl Anthony Towns had 21 points and 13 rebounds.
HAWKS 112, CLIPPERS 106: Trae Young scored 27 points to lead six Atlanta scorers in double figures and the Hawks held on for a win at home.
The Hawks began the night 10th in the Eastern Conference, holding the final spot in the play-in tournament. The Clippers are eighth in the West.
HORNETS 142, PELICANS 120: Miles Bridges had 27 points and nine assists, Terry Rozier highlighted his 27-point performance with seven 3-pointers and Charlotte won at New Orleans.
LaMelo Ball had 17 points, nine assists and three steals for Charlotte, which hit 22 3s (on 47 attempts) and shot 59.8% overall (52 of 87) to snap a two-game skid while sending New Orleans to its fourth straight loss.
Trey Murphy III, the Pelicans’ first-round pick last summer, hit seven 3s and set his game high in points with 32 to go with a career-high nine rebounds.
GRIZZLIES 118, KNICKS 114: Ja Morant keyed a fourth-quarter rally by scoring 15 of his 37 points, leading Memphis to a victory over visiting New York.
Julius Randle led the Knicks with 36 points, 12 rebounds and six assists, while RJ Barrett finished with 23 points.
NOTES
HEAT: Markieff Morris is finally on the cusp of returning for Miami.
A person with knowledge of the situation says Morris has received clearance to play again, a move that comes more than four months after he was injured in a scuffle with Denver’s Nikola Jokic on Nov. 8. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the clearance has not been revealed publicly.
One of the final steps in the process toward a return came this week when Morris’ case was heard by the NBA’s Fitness-to-Play Panel, consisting of three physicians who determine if a player is, as described by the league’s collective bargaining agreement, “medically able and medically fit to practice and play.”
That panel determined that Morris can indeed return, and the belief is that sometime during the remainder of Miami’s current homestand – Saturday against Minnesota, Tuesday against Detroit or next Friday against Oklahoma City – the 11-season veteran will be available to play.
Morris has been working out for several weeks, with hopes of returning to the Heat lineup. He has done several pregame shooting sessions on the floor before games, including one Friday before Miami played host to Cleveland.
Friday’s game was the 58th in a row that Morris has missed.
The scuffle with Jokic, the league’s reigning MVP, happened on Nov. 8. The Heat diagnosed the injury sustained that night as whiplash. Morris hasn’t played since.
He was averaging 7.7 points in 18.7 minutes per game off Miami’s bench in 10 appearances this season before getting hurt. For his career, Morris – who won a title with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020, a championship that came against Miami – has averaged 11 points over stints with six different teams.
The scuffle came late in that Nov. 8 game, shortly after Morris stopped play by intentionally crashing into Jokic from the side, a foul that referees called flagrant.
Jokic then blindsided Morris with a hard shove from behind. Heat players were livid at what they perceived to be a cheap shot from Jokic, who conceded afterward that it was “a stupid play.”
Jokic was suspended one game for the shove. Morris – who was signed by Miami this past offseason to a one-year, $2.6 million deal – was fined $50,000 for his role in the incident.
TRAIL BLAZERS: Portland guard Anfernee Simons is out for at least a week because of mild patellar tendinopathy in his left knee.
Simons has missed two games because of the injury, which was confirmed by an MRI. He will be reevaluated in one to two weeks.
Simons has played in 57 games this season with 30 starts, averaging 17.3 points, 2.6 rebounds and 3.9 assists.
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