It was not Jimmy Butler's best offensive game of the season, but he was crucial in their narrow 113-112 home win against the Phoenix Suns on Monday.
The Suns led 102-89 with just eight minutes remaining, before Heat center Bam Adebayo took over, scoring 12 points to ignite a 24-10 run to close the contest.
Adebayo's two free throws with 35 seconds on the clock gave the Heat the lead, but an offensive rebound on the Suns' next possession would give Devin Booker a chance to win the game.
Pulling up from mid-range, Booker was blanketed by five-time NBA All-Defensive selection Butler for a game-winning blocked shot.
Adebayo led the way scoring the ball for Miami, finishing with a game-high 30 points on nine-of-18 shooting and 10 rebounds, but Butler was doing everything else, chipping in 13 rebounds, seven assists, a steal and the decisive block to go with his 16 points (five-of-12 shooting).
Booker played well for the Suns, posting a team-high 25 points on 11-of-22 shooting with eight rebounds, five assists and three steals, while Duane Washington Jr caught fire off the bench for 21 points (eight-of-14) in 19 minutes.
The win pulls the Heat's record even at 7-7, while the Suns are still in a good position at 8-5.
Tatum leads Celtics comeback
Jayson Tatum flashed incredible defensive ability in the Boston Celtics' 126-122 come-from-behind win against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Young Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander continued his ridiculous start to the season, eclipsing 30 points for the ninth time in 14 games. He had 37 points on 13-of-26 shooting with eight assists, raising his averages to 31.1 points, 5.7 assists and 4.4 rebounds while shooting 54.3 per cent from the field.
But Tatum and running-mate Jaylen Brown were too much in the fourth quarter, leading a 37-26 final frame to swing the game in their favour. Tatum had 27 points on nine-of-23 shooting, but he was even better defensively, snatching three steals and blocking three shots.
Dalano Banton makes the most of his Raptors start
A second-round pick from the 2021 NBA Draft, Toronto Raptors point-forward Dalano Banton was tremendous in his side's 115-111 triumph on the road against the Detroit Pistons.
In his first start of the season due to Fred VanVleet, Pascal Siakam and Gary Trent Jr all missing through injuries, the six-foot-seven Banton scored a game-high 27 points on nine-of-16 shooting, adding four rebounds, four assists, three steals and two blocks in his 25 minutes.
The Raptors are now 8-7, and will be considered a threat in the Eastern Conference once fully healthy.
Philadelphia 76ers head coach Doc Rivers has never seen anything like Joel Embiid's performance at both ends in Sunday's 105-98 win over the Utah Jazz.
Embiid scored a career-best 59 points, with a joint career-high seven blocks, along with 11 rebounds and eight assists.
The Cameroonian scored 26 of Philadelphia's 27 final quarter points and more than half their total score, a feat not achieved in the NBA since Damian Lillard in 2019.
"I've seen a guy score a lot of points," Rivers told reporters. "I haven't seen guys score a lot of points, rebound, and then the blocked shots. That was impressive.
"He was just getting everything. I've never seen a more dominating performance when you combine defense and offense."
Embiid's teammates were left in awe too, with Matisse Thybulle labelling his stat line as "pretty ridiculous".
"It’s absurd. Actually, my friends were texting me after the game and they were like 'It's like a 2K stat line' and it's not one of those things you see in a real basketball game," Thybulle said.
"It's like when you pick one player on 2K and just do everything with him. It's pretty ridiculous if I'm being honest. It's amazing."
Embiid's 59 points is the best in the NBA this season, exceeding Darius Garland's mark of 51 set earlier on Sunday in the Cleveland Cavaliers' 129-124 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Despite his monstrous performance, Embiid played down the significance of his individual display.
"This is not about me. We did it as a team," the 28-year-old center said. "Obviously, the coaches put me in those positions, and obviously, my teammates fed me the ball. I thought we had great spacing around everything we were doing.
"Like I said, all the credit goes to my teammates just being in the right spots and trusting me and giving me the ball."
Embiid shot 19-of-28 from the field including making a three-pointer, which reinforced to him that it was going to be his game.
"When I finally made a three [I knew it was going to be a big game] because I’ve been shooting the ball so bad this year from three," he said.
"It was early in the game. I saw how they were guarding me. Just like last night, I'll take that every night. If they’re not gonna double team as much, I hope every team does it so I'll take it, but from the beginning... Obviously, in the fourth quarter with the game being so close, I just wanted to do whatever it took."
Joel Embiid flexed his muscles with arguably the best game of his career, with a season-best 59-point haul in the Philadelphia 76ers' 105-98 victory over the Utah Jazz on Sunday.
Embiid was dominant in every facet, with his 59 points coming on 19-of-28 shooting, making 20-of-24 from the stripe, while having 11 rebounds, eight assists and seven blocks.
The Sixers center is the first player since blocks became official in 1973-74, to record 50-plus points, 10-plus rebounds, five-plus assists and five-plus blocks in a game.
Embiid is also the first player since Damian Lillard in 2019 to have more than half of his team's points in a game.
The Cameroonian erupted in the fourth quarter with 26 points, taking him into fifth spot for the best scoring performances in franchise history. It was a career-best points haul for 28-year-old Embiid.
Tyrese Maxey was Philadelphia's next best with 18 points and four steals, with James Harden still out with a foot injury.
The Jazz had no answers to Embiid, who had scored 42 points on Saturday against the Atlanta Hawks, with Malik Beasley scoring 18 off the bench while Lauri Markkanen had 15 points with 10 rebounds.
Garland briefly holds season-high points haul
Darius Garland piled on 27 fourth-quarter points for a career-high 51 points, but he could not lift the Cleveland Cavaliers past the Minnesota Timberwolves, losing 129-124.
Garland's 51 points, which included 10 triples, was briefly a league season-high, before Embiid's monster game for the Sixers.
The Timberwolves led by 24 points late in the third before the Cavs rallied, led by Garland, who became the fourth Cleveland player to reach 50 points.
Karl-Anthony Towns scored 29 points with 13 rebounds, while D'Angelo Russell added 30 points with 12 assists.
AD lifts Lakers without LeBron to snap skid
Anthony Davis stepped up in LeBron James' absence, scoring 37 points with 18 rebounds as the Los Angeles Lakers snapped their five-game losing run with a 116-103 win over the Brooklyn Nets.
Davis shot 15-of-25 from the field, while bringing down 10 offensive rebounds among his 18 for the game, with Lonnie Walker adding 25 points, making four-of-five from beyond the arc.
Kevin Durant was a lone hand on offense for the Nets with Seth Curry, Ben Simmons and Kyrie Irving all absent. Durant scored 31 points with nine rebounds and seven assists.
Meanwhile, Stephen Curry hit 27 points as the Golden State Warriors' winless road run (0-7) extended to 0-7 after being downed 122-115 by the Sacramento Kings.
Joel Embiid flexed his muscles with arguably the best game of his career, with a season-best 59-point haul in the Philadelphia 76ers' 105-98 victory over the Utah Jazz on Sunday.
Embiid was dominant in every facet, with his 59 points coming on 19-of-28 shooting, making 20-of-24 from the stripe, while having 11 rebounds, eight assists and seven blocks.
The Sixers center is the first player since blocks became official in 1973-74, to record 50-plus points, 10-plus rebounds, five-plus assists and five-plus blocks in a game.
Embiid is also the first player since Damian Lillard in 2019 to have more than half of his team's points in a game.
The Cameroonian erupted in the fourth quarter with 26 points, taking him into fifth spot for the best scoring performances in franchise history. It was a career-best points haul for 28-year-old Embiid.
Tyrese Maxey was Philadelphia's next best with 18 points and four steals, with James Harden still out with a foot injury.
The Jazz had no answers to Embiid, who had scored 42 points on Saturday against the Atlanta Hawks, with Malik Beasley scoring 18 off the bench while Lauri Markkanen had 15 points with 10 rebounds.
Garland briefly holds season-high points haul
Darius Garland piled on 27 fourth-quarter points for a career-high 51 points, but he could not lift the Cleveland Cavaliers past the Minnesota Timberwolves, losing 129-124.
Garland's 51 points, which included 10 triples, was briefly a league season-high, before Embiid's monster game for the Sixers.
The Timberwolves led by 24 points late in the third before the Cavs rallied, led by Garland, who became the fourth Cleveland player to reach 50 points.
Karl-Anthony Towns scored 29 points with 13 rebounds, while D'Angelo Russell added 30 points with 12 assists.
AD lifts Lakers without LeBron to snap skid
Anthony Davis stepped up in LeBron James' absence, scoring 37 points with 18 rebounds as the Los Angeles Lakers snapped their five-game losing run with a 116-103 win over the Brooklyn Nets.
Davis shot 15-of-25 from the field, while bringing down 10 offensive rebounds among his 18 for the game, with Lonnie Walker adding 25 points, making four-of-five from beyond the arc.
Kevin Durant was a lone hand on offense for the Nets with Seth Curry, Ben Simmons and Kyrie Irving all absent. Durant scored 31 points with nine rebounds and seven assists.
Meanwhile, Stephen Curry hit 27 points as the Golden State Warriors' winless road run (0-7) extended to 0-7 after being downed 122-115 by the Sacramento Kings.
Kyrie Irving remains suspended by the Brooklyn Nets for his sharing of problematic material on Twitter, and he took to the social media platform again on Sunday in an attempt to explain himself.
Irving, 30, played a career-low 29 games last season as he took a stand against New York's vaccine mandate, and he has a list of tasks to complete before he can return to the floor for this campaign.
The former champion with the 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers is facing intense backlash after sharing a film containing anti-semitic conspiracies, and when initially asked to apologise, he refused, instead choosing to dance around the subject without taking accountability.
Irving eventually did issue an apology after his suspension was announced, and he vaguely tweeted again on Sunday in defense of his character.
"I was not put here on earth to participate in any religious/political wars or incite racial disharmony/prejudice within communities," he wrote.
"We are all equal under the sun and I am here to participate in the building of an Equal world and follow the Word from the Most High/GOD/YAH."
Irving has met with league commissioner Adam Silver, who is Jewish, and still has to meet with Jewish leaders in order to fulfil the requirements set before he can begin the process of returning to play.
Kevin Durant insists suspended Brooklyn Nets teammate Kyrie Irving's spirit is high despite there being no timetable on his return to the side.
Irving was handed an indefinite team-imposed suspension by the Nets, for at least five games, after the seven-time All-Star shared an allegedly antisemitic film and book on social media a fortnight ago.
The Nets point guard's minimum five-game ban elapsed after Brooklyn won 110-95 over the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday.
Brooklyn owner Joe Tsai put out a statement on Friday stating that "the Nets and Kyrie, together with the NBA and NBPA, are working constructively toward a process of forgiveness, healing and education". Irving met with Tsai this week along with NBA commissioner Adam Silver as they move toward a resolution on the saga.
Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn confirmed that Irving would not play in Sunday's game with the Los Angeles Lakers and added there was no timetable for his return.
"The good thing is Joe put out that statement that shows where the collaboration or alignment is right now," Vaughn told reporters. "I have no idea or timetable at all.
"I do know not available [for Sunday], I have been told that. So I can give you that."
Durant, who top scored with 27 points against the Clippers, said he was eager for Irving to return to the court and move on from the episode.
"His spirit is high," Durant told reporters about Irving. "[He's] looking forward to playing again. He's a gamer. He loves to play. Hopefully all this stuff is over with, we can move past it and get him back on the floor soon.
"That's been out of our control. And as players we try to lock in on the game, practices. We just try to lock in and whenever that figures itself out, it will. That's over a lot of our heads right now so we just got to control what we can."
The Nets showed they can win without Irving, claiming victories in four of the five games he has missed during this ban, with Seth Curry popping up with 22 points off the bench against the Clippers following off-season ankle surgery.
Durant added: "We're going to have to be one of those teams that any given night, somebody will have to step up and make huge plays for us.
"Obviously we're missing [Irving], so we're going to have to look for where those points are going to come from. I think the guys are doing it as a group."
The Brooklyn Nets secured their third win from their past four games led by Kevin Durant and Seth Curry as they pulled away late to secure a 110-95 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday.
Durant top scored with 27 points along with six rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocks, while Curry drained four three-pointers in his 22 points off the bench. Nic Claxton also had 13 points with 14 rebounds.
Curry scored 14 points with two assists in the fourth quarter as the Nets extended their four-point lead with a 35-24 final period.
The Nets, who confirmed the permanent appointment of Jacque Vaughn as head coach on Wednesday, were excellent defensively again, keeping their opposition below 100 points for the fifth straight game.
For the Clippers, who were still without Kawhi Leonard due to knee stiffness, Paul George scored 17 points with four rebounds and four assists, while Ivica Zubac added 16 points with 15 rebounds.
Nets guard Edmond Sumner (11 points, four assists and three steals) reached double-figure scoring for the third time in five games since stepping into the starting lineup in place of Kyrie Irving for a team-imposed suspension.
Irving's five-game minimum suspension has now ended but Vaughn confirmed he would not play in Sunday's game against the Los Angeles Lakers. The victory starts the Nets' four-game road trip in style, improving Brooklyn to 6-7 on the season, while the Clippers are 7-6.
Doncic responds after form dip
Luka Doncic responded to his drop-off in form with 42 points as part of a triple-double as the Dallas Mavericks won 117-112 over the Portland Trail Blazers.
Doncic had started the season with an historic run of nine 30-point games, but that was halted in the past two games, both where he scored less than 30.
The Slovenian guard turned that around on 13-of-22 field shooting, also making 15-of-18 from the stripe, along with 13 rebounds, 10 assists and two steals.
Tatum and Embiid both score 40-plus
Jayson Tatum reached 40 points for the 13th time in his career, the third most in Boston Celtics history, as he scored 43 points in their 117-108 win over the Detroit Pistons.
Tatum finished with 43 points, including seven three-pointers, along with 10 rebounds and three assists. The Celtics small forward scored 28 of his points in a dominant first half.
Joel Embiid produced a season-best scoring return of 42 points as the Philadelphia 76ers triumphed 121-109 over the Atlanta Hawks after a brilliant first-half shooting display.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
