THURSDAY IN THE NBA
PHILADELPHIA—Tobias Harris had 12 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter, JJ Redick hit a late 3-pointer and the Philadelphia 76ers overcame All-Star center Joel Embiid’s absence to beat the Miami Heat 106-102 on Thursday night.
Ben Simmons added 21 points, Boban Marjanovic had 19— including three free throws in the final 1 1/2 minutes—and Jimmy Butler 18. Embiid will be out at least a week with a sore left knee.
Dwyane Wade scored 19 points for Miami, and Dion Waiters added 18.
Miami led 99-98 after Wade’s runner with 1:56 left. Marjanovic made two free throws to put Philadelphia ahead 100-99. Following Wade’s missed jumper, Redick made the 3 from the top of the key to make it 103-99 with 1:04 left.
Kelly Olynyk then missed a 3-point attempt, and Marjanovic made the first of two free throws with 38.3 ticks left to put Philadelphia up five.
Cavaliers 111, Suns 98
CLEVELAND—Cedi Osman scored 19 points, Kevin Love had 16 points and 11 rebounds and the Cleveland Cavaliers sent the Phoenix Suns to a franchise-record 16th straight loss, 111-98.
NBA-worst Phoenix (11-49) topped the record of 15 set March 2- April 1, 2018. The Suns’ last victory was Jan. 12 over Denver.
Devin Booker scored 30 points for Phoenix, and Kelly Oubre Jr. had 23. The Suns have allowed at least 110 points in each game of the losing streak.
Love played 22 minutes in his third game since returning from foot surgery and was 6 of 13 from the field. He played nearly 16 minutes Feb. 21 against New York and sat out the final game before the All-Star break against Brooklyn two days later.
The Cavaliers plan to steadily increase Love’s minutes over the next several games as he rebuilds his stamina after missing over 50 games because of the surgery in November.
Ante Zizic had 15 points and 12 rebounds for the Cavaliers.
Cleveland trailed 72-71 late in the third quarter before taking control with a 12-0 run. The Cavaliers scored 34 points in the fourth quarter, leading by as much as 17.
Trail Blazers 113, Nets 99
NEW YORK—Jusuf Nurkic had 27 points and 12 rebounds, new backup Enes Kanter added 18 points and nine boards in his Portland debut, and the Trail Blazers beat the Brooklyn Nets 113-99.
The center tandem was so good that the Trail Blazers didn’t even need a big night from All-Star guard Damian Lillard, who was just 5 for 21 from the field. He finished with 13 points, eight rebounds and eight assists.
Kanter, who signed last week with the Blazers after losing his job with the Knicks, made his first seven shots and finished 8 for 9, missing only a 3-pointer.
C.J. McCollum added 21 points in a good return from the break for the Blazers after going into it with a 129-107 victory over Golden State. They opened a seven-game road trip and don’t play their first home game after the AllStar break until March 7 against Oklahoma City.
Allen Crabbe had 17 points for the Nets, who came out of the AllStar break above .500 for the first time since 2013. All-Star guard D’Angelo Russell shot only 4 for 16, finishing with 14 points and eight assists.
Lillard’s 3-pointer midway through the third—his only one through three quarters—gave Portland a 69-63 lead that the Blazers would extend largely through Kanter’s work inside. He followed with four baskets in the period, including one that gave Portland its largest lead at 82-67.
The lead was 14 after his free throws with 10:40 to play before Ed Davis, Shabazz Napier and Crabbe—all former Blazers— fueled a 15-2 surge that trimmed it to 90-89. But Portland pushed the lead back into double digits, with Lillard contributing a 3-pointer with a little over 3 minutes to go and Nurkic getting a three-point play when he was fouled on a powerful dunk.