NBA: Philadelphia rally past Miami 109-105 to tighten East race

MIAMI (AP) — Tyrese Maxey scored 37 points, Joel Embiid added 29 and the Philadelphia 76ers topped the Miami Heat 109-105 in the NBA on Thursday night to tighten the Eastern Conference playoff chase.

Maxey was one rebound shy of a triple-double, finishing with 11 assists and nine boards for Philadelphia. Kelly Oubre Jr. scored 18 points for the 76ers, who moved within a half-game of Miami for No. 7 in the East.

Terry Rozier had 22 points and Jimmy Butler added 20 for Miami, which entered the night No. 6 in the East but ceded that spot back to Indiana. Bam Adebayo had 14, Haywood Highsmith scored 12, Kevin Love had 11 points and 16 rebounds off the bench and Nikola Jovic added 11 points for Miami.

Embiid, in his second game back after missing two months following surgery on the meniscus in his left knee, shot 11 for 25, and the 76ers were outscored by 19 points in his 32-plus minutes.

MAVERICKS 109, HAWKS 95

DALLAS (AP) — Luka Doncic finished with 25 points after a rare scoreless first quarter and Dallas Mavericks stayed alone in fifth place in the Western Conference with a victory over Atlanta Hawks.

Kyrie Irving scored 26 points and Doncic had 12 rebounds and eight assists as the Mavericks opened a rare stretch of three home games in four days with their 12th victory in 14 games.

The juggled home slate came after a scheduled game at Golden State in January was postponed following the death of Warriors assistant coach Dejan Milojevic.

KNICKS 120, KINGS 109

NEW YORK (AP) — Jalen Brunson had 35 points and 11 assists, Josh Hart scored a season-high 31 points and New York Knicks erased a 21-point deficit and beat Sacramento Kings to snap a three-game losing streak.

Hours after announcing that Julius Randle would have right shoulder surgery and miss the rest of the season, the Knicks showed why they might still be dangerous without him. Hart shook off a sprained right wrist to shoot 14 for 19 and add nine rebounds and eight assists, and Donte DiVincenzo scored 21 points.

The Knicks tied Orlando for the fourth-best record in the Eastern Conference at 45-31. The Magic own the head-to-head tiebreaker and would have home-court advantage in a first-round series if they finish with the same record.

WARRIORS 130, ROCKETS 110

HOUSTON (AP) — Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson scored 29 points each and Golden State Warriors stretched their winning streak to a season-high six games with a win over Houston Rockets.

The Warriors, who are in 10th place in the Western Conference, never trailed and built a 15-point lead by halftime behind 21 points by Thompson. He made seven 3-pointers with five of them coming in the first half.

They improved to 3-0 against Houston this season and have won the last 13 regular-season games against the Rockets.

Jabari Smith Jr. had 24 points to lead the Rockets, who dropped their third game in a row after winning their previous 11 games. Rookie Cam Whitmore added 17 points off the bench.

The Warriors moved to 42-34 with the win to give them a winning season for the 38th time in franchise history and the fourth in a row.

CLIPPERS 102, NUGGETS 100

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Paul George scored 28 points, James Harden added 20 and the Los Angeles Clippers overcame an early 17-point deficit to beat Denver Nuggets.

The Clippers snapped a five-game skid at home despite the absence of Kawhi Leonard, who missed his second straight game because of a sore right knee.

Nikola Jokic had 36 points, 17 rebounds and 10 assists — his 24th triple-double of the season — to lead Denver, which had won two in a row and six of eight. Aaron Gordon added 18 points.

Nuggets coach Michael Malone was ejected with 7:54 remaining in the game. He came on the court to argue with the officials and was hit with two technical fouls.

The Clippers took a 75-70 lead into the fourth. They made 9 of 10 free throws while extending their lead to 90-79.