Nigeria-descent Bam Adebayo helped the Miami Heats to a 115-110 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers at the FTX Arena.
Adebayo finished the game with 31 points and 10 rebounds in 36 minutes, his eleventh double-double of the season.
In his second game back from a right knee injury, Jimmy Butler provided the Heat with 26 points, 8 assists, and 5 rebounds in just 34 minutes.
The Clippers without Kawhi Leonard rushed to a first-quarter lead, but Adebayo and Butler sparked a second-quarter comeback for the Heat to establish a two-point lead into the third quarter.
After a lot of back and forth in the fourth quarter, Tyler Herro (19 points) hit a big 3-point shot to increase the Heats’ lead to seven points with less than five minutes to play. Paul George rallied the Clippers with four straight points, but Butler put the tie to bed with a mid-range shot with less than a minute to go.
Paul George ended the game with 29 points, 8 rebounds, and 7 assists, while Reggie Jackson added 20 points in 30 minutes for the Clippers.
However, with four players in double digits, the Heat ended their two-game losing streak to continue their push for a playoff spot
Adebayo sits in third place behind reigning Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic and Cameroonian-born Joel Embiid as the centers with the most points this season.
The 25-year-old is on course for his best season in the NBA with averages of 21.2 points, 9.2 rebounds and 3.3 assists so far.
In other games, the San Antonio Spurs put an end to their eleven-game losing streak by defeating the Houston Rockets 118-109 at the AT&T Center.
Keldon Johnson helped the Spurs with 32 points and 7 rebounds in 35 minutes, scoring on his first nine shot attempts and shooting perfectly from his first three 3-point attempts.
Spurs were down by three points heading into the third quarter but a career-high 26 points for Tre Jones and six other players in double digits points including Nigerian youngster Charles Bassey (10 points), sealed the win for the Western Conference team.
The Greg Popovich-led team were solid defensively, forcing 14 turnovers from the Rockets, with rookie Jabari Smith ending the game with 26 points—his fourth 20-point or more game this season.
The Portland Trailblazers lost by one point to the Denver Nuggets in a painful 121–120 defeat at the Moda Center.
Guard Damian Lillard scored 40 points in his second game since returning from a left calf injury that kept him out for seven games.
Lillard made nine of his seventeen 3-point attempts; he was also perfect from the free throw line, scoring all seven he attempted.
Reigning MVP Nikola Jokic led the Nuggets in scoring with 33 points, 10 rebounds, and 9 assists. However, it was Canadian point guard Jamal Murray who won the game for the Nuggets.
The 25-year-old, who missed the entire 2021-2022 season due to a torn ACL, made the game-deciding shot to put his side ahead with just eight seconds on the clock after receiving a pass from Jokic.
The Nuggets won their 15th game of the season, moving them up to fourth in the Western Conference standings, thanks to five players scoring in double figures.
