NBA: Cavaliers rally past Heat for 12th straight victory

Donovan Mitchell scored 26 points, Darius Garland had 10 assists and the Cleveland Cavaliers survived some sloppiness in the final two minutes to win their 12th straight game, 112-107, over the banged-up Miami Heat on Wednesday night.

With the win, the Cavs became the first team to clinch a playoff berth.

It wasn't easy as the Heat, who were missing several rotational players, led 107-106 with 2:55 left. But Miami didn't score again and Duncan Robinson's apparent tying 3-pointer with 17.4 seconds left was waved off because he stepped out of bounds.

Bam Adebayo scored a season-high 34 points for Miami, which was without leading scorer Tyler Herro.

The Heat were already missing Jaime Jaquez Jr. (ankle sprain), Nikola Jovic (broken hand), Kel’el Ware (knee sprain) and Andrew Wiggins (ankle sprain) before Herro came down with a head cold in the past 24 hours.

Evan Mobley and De'Andre Hunter added 16 points apiece for Cleveland, which is one of just seven teams to have three double-digit winning streaks in the same season.

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Harden pours in 50 in Clippers’ win

James Harden scored 50 points, his 24th career 50-point game and first with the Clippers, and Los Angeles beat the Detroit Pistons 123-115.

Harden scored 23 in the first quarter and ended up with the eighth 50-point game in franchise history, the first since Lou Williams on Jan. 10, 2018, at Golden State.

Bogdan Bogdanovic added 23 points and Ivica Zubac had 22 points and 11 rebounds for the Clippers, who played without Kawhi Leonard (knee) and Norman Powell (hamstring) on the second night of back-to-back games.

Cade Cunningham had 37 points and 10 assists for the Pistons, who lost for just the second time in 12 games.

Los Angeles had lost three straight and six of seven after its collapse against Phoenix on Tuesday, so Harden's throwback performance was a timely one.

With the Clippers trailing by two midway through the fourth quarter, Bogdanovic made consecutive 3-pointers and then drew an offensive foul before Harden got the next four points for a 10-0 run and 107-99 lead.

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Antetokounmpo reaches milestone as Bucks win

Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 32 points to bring his career total to over 20,000, Damian Lillard added 34 points and Kevin Porter Jr. had a triple-double as the surging Milwaukee Bucks trounced the short-handed Dallas Mavericks 137-107.

Antetokounmpo, 30, has scored 20,010 career points, becoming the 52nd player to reach 20,000. The only players to get to the 20,000-point mark at a younger age were LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Kobe Bryant, Wilt Chamberlain and Michael Jordan.

Antetokounmpo, who played less than 25 minutes, also had 15 rebounds as the Bucks won for the eighth time in their last nine games.

Porter had 10 points and 11 rebounds while playing 26 minutes off the bench, and he matched a career high with 14 assists. His previous triple-doubles came in March 2022 and March 2023 with the Houston Rockets.

Klay Thompson scored 28 for the Mavericks, who had only eight available players in their first game since Kyrie Irving tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee on Monday.

Dallas led 19-18 just over seven minutes into the game before the Bucks went on an 18-3 run. Lillard scored eight points during that stretch and capped the spurt by hitting a jumper with 1:13 left in the opening period.

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