James scores 34, Heat hold off Hawks 98-90
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LeBron James scored 34 points as Miami locked up second spot in the Eastern Conference with a 98-90 win over the host Atlanta Hawks, who nearly rallied from a 20-point deficit while going with their backups in the fourth quarter last night.
Miami played its starters all the way, looking to clinch second place behind Chicago in the East. Shortly after beating the Hawks, the Heat got the news they wanted: third-place Boston lost at Washington in overtime.
The Hawks went with a makeshift lineup with the fifth seeding already locked up.
Atlanta leveled the game at 88 in the closing minutes, but Miami outscored the Hawks 10-2 the rest of the way, with James Jones making two huge 3-pointers - including one that turned into a four-play when he was fouled by a leaping Josh Powell.
Cavaliers 110, Pistons 101
At Auburn Hills, Daniel Gibson scored 17 points, including a five-point play late in the third quarter, as the Cavaliers won a testy game in which two players were ejected after a skirmish.
Ryan Hollins and the Pistons' Charlie Villanueva became entangled with 5:47 left in the game, and appeared to push each other in the face. Both were ejected, and Villanueva had to be restrained as he headed off.
Later, Villanueva came out of the Pistons' locker room and sprinted toward Cleveland's locker room, but was stopped by police on a loading dock.
Magic 95, 76ers 85
At Philadelphia, Dwight Howard returned from a suspension to score 19 points and grab 13 rebounds, while Ryan Anderson added 18 points and 14 rebounds for the Magic.
Howard served an NBA suspension Sunday after picking up his 18th technical foul.
Jameer Nelson also scored 13 for Orlando, which used a 16-2 run in the third quarter to shake off the Sixers.
Elton Brand led the Sixers with 22 points. Philadelphia is stuck on 41 wins and needs one in Wednesday's finale for its first winning record since 2004-05.
Jazz 90, Hornets 78
At New Orleans, C.J. Miles and Devin Harris each scored 18 points and Paul Millsap added 16 as the Jazz won for only the second time in 12 games.
Chris Paul, who went scoreless for the first time in his career in a loss at Memphis a night earlier, had 15 points. Marco Belinelli, who had 13 points, was the only other starter in double figures for New Orleans, which shot 37.8 percent (28 of 74) while dropping its second straight.
The Hornets (46-35), who are already playoff-bound, now hold the eighth seed in the Western Conference, a half game behind Memphis (46-34) and 1? games behind Portland (46-33).
Bucks 93, Raptors 86
At Milwaukee, Brandon Jennings broke free for three straight fast-break scores to give Milwaukee the lead in the fourth quarter, and the Bucks held on to beat undermanned Toronto.
John Salmons scored 24 points and Jennings added 21 for the Bucks in their final home game of what has been a disappointing season.
It may have been the final game at the Bradley Center in a Bucks uniform for Michael Redd, the team's longest-tenured player. Redd played 14 minutes, scoring two points on 1-for-6 shooting.
Jerryd Bayless scored 20 for Toronto in a matchup between two teams eliminated from playoff contention. The injury-riddled Raptors used only eight players.
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