Obi Toppin scored 13 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter and drained the go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:27 left for the visiting New York Knicks, who overcame a 12-point deficit to beat the undermanned Philadelphia 76ers 106-104 on Friday night.

Jalen Brunson scored 23 points and Julius Randle (17 points, 10 rebounds) had a double-double for the Knicks, who snapped a three-game losing streak. RJ Barrett finished with 22 points and nine rebounds while Cam Reddish added 11 points off the bench.

Tyrese Maxey scored 31 points and Tobias Harris had 23 points for the 76ers, who have lost two straight. Philadelphia was without defending NBA scoring champion Joel Embiid, who missed a third straight game with a non-COVID illness, as well as James Harden, who suffered a right foot tendon strain Wednesday night that is expected to sideline him the remainder of the month.

Substitute starters Montrezl Harrell had 14 points and De’Anthony Melton added 12 points for the 76ers. Philadelphia’s starting backcourt of Maxey and Melton (4-for-18 shooting) combined to shoot 14-for-47 (29.8 percent) from the field.

The 76ers held an eight-point lead in the first quarter before the Knicks took a pair of eight-point edges, one late in the second quarter and one early in the third. Philadelphia went on a quarter-spanning 14-2 run — a span in which New York went 0-for-7 with four turnovers — and took its biggest lead at 86-74 on a 3-pointer by Furkan Korkmaz 1:22 into the fourth.

Toppin, who opened the final quarter by missing two 3-pointers and committing a turnover, began the comeback by draining a 3-pointer with 10:15 left for the Knicks, who outscored the 76ers 32-18 the rest of the way. Philadelphia was 5-of-20 from the field with five turnovers following Korkmaz’s 3-pointer.

The Knicks got within one point twice before Toppin’s go-ahead 3-pointer. After a turnover by Maxey, Brunson converted an old-fashioned 3-point play to extend the lead to 100-96 with 1:05 left. The teams then combined to hit 10 of 12 free throws before Georges Niang drilled a 3-pointer with 9.1 seconds left to pull the 76ers within 105-104.

Brunson converted the second of two free throws and Melton missed a 3-pointer with 3.3 seconds left. Brunson tossed the subsequent inbounds pass well beyond half-court to Reddish, who dribbled out the clock.

–Field Level Media

Buddy Hield tied his season high with 25 points, leading the Indiana Pacers to a 101-99 win over the Miami Heat on Friday night in Indianapolis.

Miami’s Tyler Herro, who had a game-high 29 points, missed a would-be winning 3-pointer off the front rim at the buzzer.

Indiana’s Tyrese Haliburton had a near triple-double with 22 points, nine assists and nine rebounds. Bennedict Mathurin, Indiana’s rookie first-round pick, added 23 points off the bench, going 10 for 12 from the foul line.

Miami, which was without leading scorer Jimmy Butler for a second straight game due to a sore left hip, also received 18 points and 10 rebounds from Bam Adebayo. Max Strus added 17 points, Gabe Vincent had 15 and Kyle Lowry 10.

The first quarter featured seven lead changes and six ties before Miami emerged with a 29-28 lead.

Indiana used a 10-0 run midway through the second quarter, taking a 45-38 lead with 6:27 left. Later in the period, the Pacers put together a 14-0 run for a 59-43 lead with 2:32 remaining.

By halftime, the Pacers led 62-50 behind 22 points from Hield on 9-for-12 shooting overall, 4-for-7 on 3-pointers. Mathurin added 14 points, including 9-of-10 free-throw shooting.

Herro led Miami with 14 first-half points, but the Heat shot 34.9 percent from the floor, making just 5 of 24 3-pointers (20.8 percent). Indiana shot 50 percent from the floor.

Miami held Hield scoreless in the third as the Heat cut its deficit to 80-77. Herro had 10 points in the quarter.

With 5:35 left in the fourth, Vincent’s 3-pointer allowed Miami to tie the game, 94-94.

But Hield, after missing his first five second-half shots, made a 3-pointer with 3:22 left to give Indiana a 97-94 lead. Indiana never trailed again.

With 10.1 seconds left, a layup by Strus was ruled goaltending. However, the call was overturned upon review, and it was a valid block by Myles Turner. Miami got the ball back, and Herro made two free throws to cut the Heat’s deficit to 100-99 with 8.4 seconds left.

Miami fouled Mathurin, who made the second of his two free throws for a 101-99 lead with 7.6 seconds remaining. Herro, who made 8 of 20 shots from the floor, then missed his final try to give Indiana the victory.

–Field Level Media

Jarrett Allen had 23 points and seven rebounds and the depleted Cleveland Cavaliers stretched their winning streak to seven games with a 112-88 win over the host Detroit Pistons on Friday night.

Kevin Love supplied 21 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds off the bench. Caris LeVert and Cedi Osman contributed 15 points and six assists apiece, while Evan Mobley tossed in 11 points with eight rebounds. Mobley added a career-high eight blocked shots.

Raul Neto added 10 points, five assists and five rebounds for Cleveland, which hasn’t lost since its opener.

Cleveland’s starting backcourt was held out of action. Darius Garland was sidelined with a left knee sprain, while Donovan Mitchell sat out with a left ankle sprain.

Cade Cunningham led the Pistons with 19 points, five assists and five rebounds. Saddiq Bey and Jaden Ivey had 18 points apiece and Isaiah Livers added 11 points off the bench.

The Cavaliers had a 58-24 advantage in points in the paint. The Cavs’ reserves outscored Detroit’s bench 54-21.

The Cavaliers led 24-21 after the first quarter. Cleveland then opened the second quarter with a 16-2 run. Allen was the sparkplug, scoring 10 points during that stretch. Osman knocked down a pair of 3-pointers and Love racked up five assists as the Cavs led 40-23.

A 7-0 Cleveland spurt soon nudged the lead to 21 points. Mobley dunked in the closing seconds to give the Cavaliers a 57-39 halftime advantage. Allen and Mobley combined for 28 points at the break, while Cunningham topped the Pistons with 16 points.

LeVert’s layup three minutes into the second half gave Cleveland a 68-46 lead. Detroit then reeled off nine consecutive points, capped by Bojan Bogdanovic’s 3-pointer, to cut the Cavs’ advantage to 13 points.

That’s as close as the Pistons got. Cleveland pushed the lead to 22, 90-68, by the end of the quarter.

Love then opened the fourth quarter with a four-point play. Love connected on a 3-point shot three minutes into the quarter to make it 99-72. Okoro’s layup with 3:48 left increased the lead to 30 points.

–Field Level Media

The Sacramento Kings can steal from Golden State’s game plan once again Saturday night as they play their fourth consecutive game against a recent Warriors opponent when they visit the Orlando Magic.

The Kings have taken advantage of the unusual schedule to triumph in two of their last three games, winning at home over the Miami Heat two days after they had faced the Warriors, prevailing at Charlotte two days after they’d seen the Warriors and losing in a rematch with the Heat one day after the Warriors had visited Miami.

In the Magic, Sacramento will see a team coming off its most impressive win of the season. Yes, it came against the Warriors on Thursday, a 130-129 thriller at home.

Coincidentally, the Kings and Warriors will meet Monday in San Francisco in each team’s first game after a lengthy Eastern swing.

Both the Kings and Magic have had more than their fair share of close contests so far.

Sacramento is coming off a 110-107 loss at Miami on Wednesday that was its sixth game out of seven determined by seven or fewer points.

In fact, Wednesday’s tight defeat might have gone into overtime if the referees had called Miami’s Tyler Herro for traveling before his game-winning 3-pointer.

As is customary, the NBA reviewed the play a day later and agreed with Kings coach Mike Brown that Herro had indeed traveled.

“Tyler Herro’s a great player,” Brown said, “but at the end, he traveled. My guys fought their behind off for close to 48 minutes, and to (see Herro) pump-fake on a sidestep — a sidestep or hop — and then one-two and a shot and not make that call, to me, it’s just unbelievable.”

The Kings had rallied into a tie on a pair of Domantas Sabonis free throws with 12.5 seconds left. Sabonis finished with 22 points and 12 rebounds, his fourth double-double of the season.

Jalen Suggs was the Magic’s hero in their one-point win over the Warriors. He buried a tiebreaking 27-footer with 37.7 seconds remaining, then stole Stephen Curry’s pass, got fouled and dropped in what turned out to be the difference-making point 6.2 seconds later.

He finished with 26 points, leading seven Orlando players in double figures in a balanced attack.

The narrow win came after the Magic had lost seven of their first eight games by an average of just 8.7 points.

Suggs afterward took a 48-minute view of the win over the defending champs, rather than focus on his late heroics.

“The shots went in and we got stops,” Suggs said. “All of us contributed all night long. I ended up getting the ones at the end. The ones that happened before that are at the same level. If they don’t do those things and us as a team didn’t play like that, I don’t get those opportunities.”

The Kings swept the two-game season series from the Magic last season, but needed overtime to prevail 114-110 in Orlando in March.

It was Sacramento that had the balanced scoring that night, with Davion Mitchell leading seven Kings in double figures with 22 points.

–Field Level Media

Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant took to Twitter in an attempt to clarify his remarks earlier on Friday when asked about the fallout surrounding Kyrie Irving’s social media posts that centered on an antisemitic book and movie.

Initially, speaking to reporters after morning shootaround, Durant labeled it as an “unfortunate situation” and that it “just (stinks) all around for everybody. Hopefully, it will come to pass.”

“I’m not here to judge somebody or talk down on the life or how they feel their views,” he said. “I just didn’t like anything that went on. I felt like it was all unnecessary. I felt like we could have just kept playing basketball and kept quiet as an organization. I just don’t like none of it.”

“It’s just the way the NBA is now, media, so many outlets now and their stories hit pretty fast now,” Durant said. “So that’s where all the chaos is coming from. Everybody has an opinion on the situation, and we’re hearing it nonstop.”

Durant then went the social-media route as a means to clarify his comments.

“Just wanna clarify the statements I made at shootaround, I see some people are confused..I don’t condone hate speech or anti-semetism (sic), I’m about spreading love always. Our game Unites people and I wanna make sure that’s at the forefront,” he wrote on Twitter.

Just wanna clarify the statements I made at shootaround, I see some people are confused..I don’t condone hate speech or anti-semetism, I’m about spreading love always. Our game Unites people and I wanna make sure that’s at the forefront

— Kevin Durant (@KDTrey5) November 4, 2022

The Nets suspended Irving for no fewer than five games Thursday night, saying they were “dismayed” that the guard did not denounce antisemitism when speaking to reporters.

The Nets issued a three-paragraph statement saying they’d originally hoped a “path of education” would be enough for Irving to learn his lesson after a recent social media post promoted a book and film with antisemitic messages.

The suspension came one day after Irving and the Nets each pledged to donate $500,000 to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) to combat “hate and intolerance” in a statement that did not mention Irving’s actions nor include an apology from the controversial point guard.

On Friday morning, the CEO of the ADL, Jonathan Greenblatt, said the organization would not accept the contribution from Irving.

In a tweet, Greenblatt called Irving’s apology “an encouraging step from” the NBA star, but he said there was “a lot more to do to undo this damage.”

“Although we will not accept any funds from him, if Kyrie is open to direct dialogue to repair the harm that he has caused and to engage in a process of healing and learning in a sincere manner, @ADL is open to engaging with him. Time and action will tell.”

–Field Level Media