Atlanta Hawks’ DeMarre Carroll (L) steals the ball from Miami Heat’s Luol Deng during the first half of an NBA game at Philips Arena in Atlanta. (UPI)

AFP/Atlanta


DeMarre Carroll scored 24 points, Paul Millsap had 21 and the Atlanta Hawks clinched the top seed in the NBA’s Eastern Conference with a 99-86 win over Miami on Friday.
Al Horford added 15 points and Dennis Schroder had 12 points and 11 assists for Atlanta, who have bounced back from a three-game losing streak with two straight victories.
The Hawks had already secured the Southeast Division title. With the win, Atlanta secured the top seed and home court advantage throughout the Eastern Conference playoffs with 19 days left in the regular season.
Luol Deng scored 17 points to lead Miami, who finished their four-game road trip 1-3.
Dwyane Wade returned from a knee injury to score 13 points, but the Heat were without Hassan Whiteside, who needed stitches after cutting his hand on the basket rim in a game on Tuesday. Miami also had to make do without Chris Andersen, who is nursing a calf injury.
The Heat remained in seventh place in the Eastern Conference, one game ahead of the Boston Celtics who occupy the eighth and final playoff spot.
Boston kept pace with a 96-92 win over New York on Friday, but Brooklyn, Indiana and Charlotte were well within striking distance.
The Nets buoyed their hopes with a crucial 106-98 win over LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in Brooklyn.
The Nets’ reserves out-scored their counterparts 54-20, led by Bojan Bogdanovic’s 18 points. Jarrett Jack added 16 points and Alan Anderson scored 13. Kyrie Irving led the Cavs with 26 points, while James finished with 24, nine assists and five steals.
Rockets nab playoff berth with win over Timberwolves
The Houston Rockets secured their third straight NBA post-season berth on Friday with a 120-110 victory over Minnesota.
Houston drained a season-high 20 three-point shots, led by James Harden’s six and Jason Terry’s five.
Harden led all scorers with 33 points, and chants of “MVP” rained down when he touched the ball as fans made their feelings known on his chances of winning the coveted NBA Most Valuable Player award.
“The guy has been there all season long,” Timberwolves veteran Chase Budinger said of Harden. “He hasn’t gotten hurt. He has had to carry them the whole season.”
Indeed, Harden’s efforts this season kept Houston afloat during the extended absence of star big man Dwight Howard.
Howard, playing his second game since missing 26 contests with swelling in his right knee, scored 18 points in 20 minutes on the floor. The Timberwolves lost for the third time in four games despite 31 points from star rookie Andrew Wiggins.
Budinger added a season-high 23 points in the setback.
Trailing 90-80 going into the fourth quarter, Minnesota pulled within seven points with just over four minutes to play.
The Rockets responded with a 9-2 scoring run that put the game out of reach. Although the playoffs are some three weeks away, the league-best Golden State Warriors began tuning up for them with another impressive victory. Stephen Curry fired in 17 of his 38 points in the decisive third quarter along with 10 assists Friday, and the Warriors shot past the struggling Memphis Grizzlies 107-84 for an eighth straight victory, in a mis-match of the best in the west.
“We feel good, we understand these are building blocks for where we’re trying to go,” said Curry, the league MVP front-runner. “We don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves and feel like we won a championship already.
“This is the kind of pressure you face in the playoffs every night, so if we play like the way we did tonight, we’ll be OK.”