Second to Nunn as Heat sink Sixers, Celtics down Mavs

Los Angeles:Kendrick Nunn scored 26 points as the Miami Heat ended the Philadelphia 76ers’ unbeaten home record with a 108-104 victory on Wednesday.

Nunn led the scoring in a solid all-round offensive display for Miami, who improved to 20-8 to finish the night in third place in the Eastern Conference standings.

Power forward Bam Adebayo had 23 points with nine rebounds while Jimmy Butler added 14 points, seven rebounds and five assists for Miami.

The Heat seized control of the contest after a see-saw opening two quarters which saw the Sixers dominate offense early on.

The hosts raced into a 29-19 lead by the end of the first quarter and had opened up a 41-29 lead with just over seven minutes of the second quarter remaining.

But the Heat exploded for a 27-7 scoring run to close the half with an eight-point lead, leading 56-48 at the break. Miami never lost their grip on the lead after that second-quarter blitz as the Sixers struggled to find their shooting range.

Joel Embiid led the scoring for the Sixers with 22 points and 19 rebounds while Tobias Harris added 20 points. The Sixers fell to 20-9 with the loss.

Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said his team had been determined to deliver a strong performance after a chastening 118-111 defeat in Memphis on Monday.

“Everyone was really frustrated, disappointed, angry yesterday with our performance in Memphis,” Spoelstra said.

“So all you can do is get to work. We had a long painful film session going through the autopsy of our lack of winning plays, and I thought we made a lot more winning plays tonight.”

Spoelstra said Nunn and other younger members of the Heat squad carried the team to the win.

Sixers head coach Brett Brown said his team had struggled to adapt to the Heat’s zone defense when the points dried up in the second quarter.

Elsewhere Wednesday, the Boston Celtics exploited the injury absence of Luka Doncic to claim a 109-103 win over the Dallas Mavericks in Texas.

Kemba Walker led the Boston scoring with 32 points, with Jaylen Brown adding 26 and Jayson Tatum 24.

Kristaps Porzingis top scored for Dallas, who fell to 18-9 following the defeat. The Mavericks remain in fourth spot in the West.

Agencies