PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Bam Adebayo scored 22 points and Jimmy Butler added 20 to lead the Miami Heat to a 107—98 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday night.
The Heat, who have won six of their last seven games, led by as many as 20 points early in the fourth quarter.
CJ McCollum and Norman Powell each finished with 17 points for the Blazers, who were hurt by 17 turnovers. Damian Lillard had just 12 on an off night when he made just three shots from the field, all 3-pointers.
The Heat were without Victor Oladipo indefinitely because of right knee soreness. Oladipo, acquired by the Heat on March 25 in a trade with Houston, was injured in the fourth quarter of Miami’s victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday.
Kendrick Nunn started in Oladipo’s place. Nunn, who didn’t play in six straight games after injuring his ankle early in a March 26 game against Charlotte, finished with 15 points.
The Blazers started Jusuf Nurkic, who sat out of Saturday night’s victory over the Detroit Pistons due to injury management of knee inflammation. In his place, Enes Kanter set a franchise record with 30 rebounds in the game, which the Blazers dominated 118-103.
Nurkic, who was on a minutes restriction against the Heat, picked up two quick fouls and went to the bench with 7:02 left in the first quarter. With about 3:50 left in the opening half, Nurkic left the court, his hand on his lower back. But he returned to start the second half.
Derrick Jones Jr.’s 3-pointer put Portland up 29-19 early in the game but the Heat closed the gap in the second quarter and went into the break with a 56-48 lead. The Heat stretched their advantage to 65-50 early in the third quarter.
Portland got another scare in the third quarter when Kanter went down after knocking heads with another player. But he also returned.
