The Miami Heat warmed up for a Christmas Day blockbuster by beating the Utah Jazz 105-89 on Saturday, with LeBron James scoring 30 points.
The Heat's next game is on Christmas Day against the Oklahoma City Thunder in a reprise of last year's NBA finals series.
Elsewhere on Saturday, the Memphis Grizzlies were convincingly beaten by the Houston Rockets, the Los Angeles Lakers edged the Golden State Warriors in overtime and the Atlanta Hawks were too good for the Chicago Bulls in a clash of Eastern Conference heavyweights.
Miami's James has scored at least 20 points in all 24 Heat games this season, matching the longest run of 20-or-more efforts to start a campaign since Karl Malone did it for Utah in 1989-90. Dwyane Wade added 21 points and seven assists as the Heat rode the strength of a big third quarter to beat Utah, going on a 22-6 run to open the second half.
Marvin Williams scored 16 for Utah, which played the second half without Mo Williams, who appeared to hurt his thumb.
The Memphis Grizzlies slipped half a game behind San Antonio in the Southwest Division - despite having a better winning percentage, owing to the peculiarities of the standings - after a 96-121 loss at Houston.
The Grizzlies entered the game allowing an NBA-low 89.2 points a game. But they had no answer for James Harden, who scored all of his 31 points in the first three quarters and reached at least 20 points for an eighth straight game. Jeremy Lin added 15 points and 11 assists.
Houston used a big run midway through the second quarter to take the lead, and didn't trail after the break, winning their 13th straight home game against Memphis. Mike Conley had 16 points for the Grizzlies on a night when leading scorer Rudy Gay finished with a season-low six points.
The Lakers came from 14 points down in the fourth quarter to force overtime and beat the Warriors 118-115. Kobe Bryant had 34 points and 10 rebounds, while Steve Nash finished with 12 points and nine assists in his first game in almost two months.
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