Julius Randle scored 43 points, the last of them on a go-ahead 3-pointer with 1.7 seconds left, and New York beat Miami 122-120 to extend its winning streak to eight games.
Randle was 16 of 25 from the floor, including 8 of 13 from 3-point range. Jalen Brunson scored 25 points, Immanuel Quickley added 21 and RJ Barrett had 17. At 38-27, the Knicks have already topped last season´s win total.
‘A lot of energy,’ Randle said. ‘Friday night in Miami.’
Tyler Herro had a steal and layup to put Miami up by one with 23.1 seconds remaining. Randle got the ball from Knicks teammate Jalen Brunson with 11 seconds left. It bounced away and Randle had to scurry to just inside the midcourt line to pick it up, clock then down to 9 seconds and with Miami’s Jimmy Butler right on him.
Randle headed toward the sideline, only to have Butler knock the ball away with 5.7 seconds left – yet it somehow stayed inbounds and skipped right back into Randle´s hands. His shot was good, and the celebration was on.
The New York Knicks beat the Miami Heat 122-120 to extend its winning streak to eight games
Julius Randle scored 43 points, the last of them on a go-ahead 3-pointer with 1.7 seconds left
‘If you did that play 100 times … 99 times out of that, it´s going to end up in our favor,’ Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.
Butler was more succinct: ‘We didn´t deserve to win,’ he said after Miami lost for the sixth time in its last seven games.
Randle was 16 of 25 from the floor, including 8 of 13 from 3-point range. Brunson scored 25 points, Immanuel Quickley added 21 and RJ Barrett scored 17 for New York.
Butler scored 33 points and Herro scored 29 for Miami, which got 18 from Bam Adebayo and 14 from Caleb Martin.
Now at 38-27, the Knicks have topped last season´s win total – the sixth team in the NBA to do so already this season, joining Sacramento, Indiana, Oklahoma City, Portland and Orlando.
It was a bad night for Miami (33-31) in the standings. They´re now 4 1/2 games behind No. 5 New York, fell 2 1/2 games behind No. 6 Brooklyn after the Nets erased a 28-point deficit to stun Boston, and saw their lead over No. 8 Atlanta trimmed to a half-game after the Hawks beat Portland.
Atlanta plays its next two games at Miami, the first Saturday and the rematch Monday.
New York led 71-56 at the half, after another first two quarters of Miami being unable to get stops. The Heat also gave up 71 points by the break on Wednesday in a loss to Philadelphia; it’s the first time in the team´s 35-year history that Miami allowed at least 71 points in consecutive first halves.
SUNS 125, BULLS 104
Devin Booker scored 35 points and matched his career high with six 3s, Kevin Durant added 20 points in his second game with Phoenix and the Suns beat Chicago.
Josh Okogie scored 25 and made five 3-pointers and the Suns withstood big efforts by DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine to win for the eighth time in 11 games.
Durant continued to make a seamless transition following the trade from Brooklyn and once again showed no lingering issues from a sprained right knee that sidelined him for seven weeks. The 34-year-old star took just 10 shots. He had nine rebounds and six assists, helping the Suns win their seventh in a row against Chicago.
DeRozan led the Bulls with 31 points, and LaVine had 27.
Kevin Durant added 20 points and continued seamless transition following trade from Nets
TIMBERWOLVES 110, LAKERS 102
Rudy Gobert had 22 points and 14 rebounds, Anthony Edwards scored 19 points and Minnesota completed a two-game Los Angeles sweep with a victory over the short-handed Lakers.
Minnesota moved back above .500 and rebounded from an 0-3 stretch with back-to-back wins over the Clippers and Lakers,.
Anthony Davis scored 38 points for the Lakers, who lost for only the second time in six games. Los Angeles couldn´t keep up without injured LeBron James and D’Angelo Russell, who wasn´t able to suit up against the team that traded him February 9 after parts of four seasons in Minnesota.
James missed his third straight game with a right foot injury, and the NBA´s career scoring leader won´t even be re-evaluated until late this month.
HAWKS 129, TRAIL BLAZERS 111
Dejounte Murray scored a career-high 41 points and Atlanta overcame Portland star Damian Lillard´s 33-point night to give new coach Quin Snyder his first victory with the Hawks.
Snyder, the former Utah coach, agreed to a five-year deal as Atlanta´s coach on Feb. 26, five days after the firing of Nate McMillan. The Hawks lost to Washington 119-116 on Tuesday night in Snyder´s debut.
Murray scored 15 points in the second quarter. He made 17 of 22 shots from the field for the game and all five of his 3-point attempts. Trae Young took over with 15 in the third quarter and finished with 23 points and 11 assists.
Dejounte Murray scored a career-high 41 points and Atlanta overcame Portland Trail Blazers
MAGIC 117, HORNETS 106
Paolo Banchero scored 31 points and finally got a couple of shots to fall from long range to help Orlando beat Charlotte.
The No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 NBA draft was 1 of 33 on 3-point attempts in February and started this month 0 for 2 before going 2 of 6 from against the Hornets. It was his first game with multiple 3s since Jan. 30.
Kelly Oubre Jr. scored 29 points for Charlotte. The Hornets have lost two straight since LaMelo Ball went down with a season-ending ankle injury.
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THUNDER 130, JAZZ 103
Aaron Wiggins scored 27 points and Oklahoma City beat Utah to snap a five-game losing streak.
Oklahoma City´s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, an All-Star who averages 31 points, missed his fourth straight game. He was out due to health and safety protocols and an abdominal strain.
Lauri Markkanen had 20 points and 10 rebounds for the Jazz.
PELICANS 99, WARRIORS 108Â
Klay Thompson scored 27 points and hit the go-ahead 3-pointer, helping the Golden State Warriors wrap up a perfect homestand with a 108-99 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday night.
The Warriors went 5-0 on the homestand despite missing injured star Stephen Curry to strengthen their playoff positioning in the ultra-tight Western Conference.
Jonathan Kuminga added 19 points off the bench to help the Warriors overcome a 17-point deficit in the first half. Golden State rallied from double-digit deficits to win the last four games – the first time they have done that since at least the 1997-98 season.
Klay Thompson scored 27 points and hit the go-ahead 3-pointer, helping Warriors winÂ
GRIZZLIES 97, 113 NUGGETS
Nikola Jokic had 18 points, 18 rebounds and 10 assists for his 25th triple-double this season to lead the Denver Nuggets over the Memphis Grizzlies 113-97 Friday night in a showdown of the top two teams in the Western Conference.
Denver won the season series 2-1 and holds a six-game lead – five in the loss column – over Memphis for the top seed in the Western Conference. Sacramento is seven games back.
Michael Porter Jr. scored 26 points and Jamal Murray scored half of his 22 points in the fourth quarter for the Nuggets, who are 25-0 this season whe Jokic has a triple-double.
Ja Morant had 27 points and 10 assists for Memphis despite wearing a face mask due to a nasal fracture suffered at Houston on Wednesday night. Desmond Bane had 19 points, Jaren Jackson Jr. scored 15 and Xavier Tillman Sr. had 11 points and 10 rebounds.
CLIPPERS 127, KINGS 128
Domantas Sabonis made two free throws with seven seconds left to cap a near-triple double in the Sacramento Kings’ 128-127 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday night.
Sabonis had 23 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists to help the Kings win their fifth straight game.
Paul George missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer for Los Angeles. He finished with 28 points, hitting a 3-pointer to give the Clippers a one-point lead with 51.2 seconds left.
