Kyrie Irving scored 27 points as the Brooklyn Nets took control early and recorded a wire-to-wire 114-105 victory over the Toronto Raptors Friday night.

Brooklyn won its sixth straight home game, improved to 4-0 on its season-long seven-game homestand that continues with Sunday’s visit against the NBA-best Boston Celtics. The Nets also won for the 11th time in 16 games after losing six of their first eight contests.

Brooklyn survived a shaky second half to record its third win this season against Toronto by setting season highs for points in an opening quarter (41) and first half (72). The Nets led by double-digits for most of the final 42-plus minutes before letting the lead slip to seven in the final minute.

Irving, who scored at least 20 points for the seventh straight game, made 10 of 17 shots in 39 minutes.

Kevin Durant added 17 points, nine rebounds and seven assists as the Nets needed to play him for 38 minutes because of their shaky final 24 minutes. Joe Harris also contributed 17 and Nic Claxton finished with 15 and nine rebounds as the Nets shot 53.7 percent.

Royce O’Neale added 11 points and eight rebounds and reserve T.J. Warren chipped in 10 during his first appearance since Dec. 29, 2020 due to foot injuries.

Pascal Siakam, who recorded a triple-double in his last trip to Brooklyn Oct. 21, scored 24 points but the Raptors could not overcome missing 14 of their first 16 shots and fell to .500 for the sixth time this year. O.G. Anunoby added 21 and Scottie Barnes contributed 17 for the Raptors, who shot 43.7 percent.

Claxton’s layup gave the Nets their first double-digit lead at 21-10 with 6:38 remaining and Brooklyn opened a 30-10 lead on a basket by Durant with 4:10 left and held a 41-17 after one. Brooklyn took its largest lead when Warren’s jumper made it 67-31 with about 5 1/2 minutes left and the Nets held a 72-49 lead by halftime.

Toronto got the lead under 20 when Barnes hit a layup to make it 74-55 with 9:19 remaining. The Nets carried a 93-72 lead into the fourth and sank four free throws in the final 37.8 seconds after a dunk by Barnes got Toronto within 110-103.

–Field Level Media

Jimmy Butler returned to the Miami lineup and produced 25 points and 15 rebounds, leading the Heat to a 120-116 overtime win over the host Boston Celtics on Friday.

The Celtics saw their five-game winning streak end as they fell for the second time in 16 games.

Butler’s first appearance since Nov. 16 proved to be a hit for the Heat, as the four-time All-NBA honoree and five-time All-Defensive Team selection bolstered Miami.

He led a defensive effort against Boston’s prolific scorer, Jayson Tatum, holding the standout wing to 14 points on 5-of-18 shooting from the floor — more than 17 points below Tatum’s season average coming into the contest and 35 points fewer than Tatum scored in the Celtics’ win over the Heat on Wednesday.

On offense, Butler’s contributions included a clutch fallaway jumper with 5.6 seconds remaining in regulation, pushing Miami’s lead to three points.

Jaylen Brown answered, however, sinking a 3-pointer just before the buzzer to force overtime. Brown scored a game-high 37 points and shot 12 of 23 from the floor, including 5 of 11 from 3-point range. He also grabbed a team-high 14 rebounds to go with five assists.

In the extra frame, Butler and Bam Adebayo took control down the stretch, scoring Miami’s final eight points. Adebayo led the Heat overall with 28 points on 10-of-18 shooting, and he pulled down seven rebounds.

Tyler Herro shot 6 of 10 from beyond the 3-point arc, accounting for more than half of the Heat’s 11 made 3-pointers, en route to 26 points. Kyle Lowry put up 20 points, five rebounds and four assists.

The Celtics were denied a 6-0 homestand before they hit the road for six in a row starting Sunday in Brooklyn.

Marcus Smart and Grant Williams each scored 18 points in the loss. Smart dished nine assists.

Tatum finished with a double-double in spite of his uncharacteristic poor shooting, grabbing 12 rebounds.

–Field Level Media

Dejounte Murray saved nine of his game-high 34 points for the stretch run Friday night as the Atlanta Hawks, playing without Trae Young, outlasted the visiting Denver Nuggets 117-109.

Coming off a 30-point effort Wednesday in a win at Orlando, Young was a late scratch due to a sore right shoulder. The injury is not considered to be serious.

Seeking a fifth straight win, Denver led for 21 seconds, but rallied from double-digit deficits multiple times to get within arm’s length of the hosts.

Atlanta had the answer on every occasion, however, including one final time after a Kentavious Caldwell-Pope 3-pointer had capped a 9-0 burst that turned a 12-point Nuggets deficit into a 104-101 game with still 5:16 to play.

A.J. Griffin stopped the bleeding with a 19-footer and, after a Bruce Brown hoop for the Nuggets, Murray hit consecutive shots to begin a Hawks pull-away.

When Griffin polished off a 24-point night with another hoop at the 1:57 mark, Atlanta had a nine-point lead and was able to coast to a second consecutive victory. Murray added a late basket and three free throws to assure the win.

Murray hit 13 of his 22 shots and four of his seven 3-point attempts for the Hawks, who outshot the Nuggets 55.7 percent to 52.9 percent. He also found time for a game-high-tying eight assists.

Clint Capela (12), Jalen Johnson (10), Jarrett Culver (10). Aaron Holiday (10) and Onyeka Okongwu (10) also scored in double figures for the Hawks. Capela and Johnson completed double-doubles with a game-high-tying 10 rebounds.

Nikola Jokic had a team-high 24 points and Jamal Murray 20 for the Nuggets, who took their only lead of the game at 79-78 on a Jokic 3-pointer with 2:37 remaining in the third period.

Dejounte Murray countered with a three of his own 21 seconds later, however, and the hosts never trailed again.

Jokic also had 10 rebounds and eight assists.

Bones Hyland added 16 points, Aaron Gordon 14 and Vlatko Cancar 12 for the Nuggets, who were opening a three-day, two game trip.

–Field Level Media

Terry Rozier poured in 25 points and Kelly Oubre Jr. racked up 22 points as the Charlotte Hornets held on to beat the visiting Washington Wizards 117-116 on Friday night.

The Wizards had a fourth-quarter comeback fizzle when they failed to score on their final four possessions.

Charlotte won despite not scoring for the last 3:45, managing only 10 fourth-quarter points after free-flowing offense for most of the first three quarters.

P.J. Washington hit five 3-pointers and ended up with 21 points for the Hornets, Mason Plumlee turned in 17 points and 10 rebounds and his backup at center, Nick Richards, supplied 12 points and nine rebounds.

Bradley Beal pumped in 33 points and Kristaps Porzingis provided 21 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Wizards. Beal was 12-for-24 from the field.

Kyle Kuzma and Corey Kispert had 14 points, Monte Morris finished with 12 points and Daniel Gafford had 10 points.

The Hornets put on an offensive display in the first half by bursting to a 74-59 lead by the break.

Charlotte looked in good shape through three quarters, but the Wizards put together a strong comeback. They outscored the Hornets 18-6 across nearly seven minutes to begin the fourth quarter.

The gap was down to 115-112 on Beal’s 3-pointer. Washington answered with a basket off a drive for his sixth field goal of the game but his first 2-pointer.

Beal’s layup made it 117-116 with 2:30 to play before the teams combined to go scoreless the rest of the way. Near the end of that stretch, the Wizards committed two turnovers before the final seconds when Beal’s potential winning shot was off the mark and Gafford couldn’t get a tip to fall.

Rozier didn’t play Monday night at Boston because of illness, but he logged a team-high 41 minutes. He was 8-for-21 from the field.

The Hornets shot 25-for-31 on free throws.

Since beating the Hornets at home Nov. 20, the Wizards have gone 1-5.

–Field Level Media

The Portland Trail Blazers said Friday that forward Nassir Little suffered a mild fracture of his right hip and is expected to miss the next six weeks.

The injury occurred Tuesday during Portland’s loss to the Los Angeles Clippers. Little left the game in the fourth quarter with what was called a hip strain at the time.

However, imaging on the hip revealed a mild femoral head impaction fracture.

The Blazers didn’t mention required surgery. Little could return in mid-January based on the given timeline.

In his fourth NBA season, all spent with Portland, Little has been averaging 5.5 points and 2.4 rebounds per game over 21 games. In 42 games (23 starts) last season, he posted career highs of 9.8 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.3 assists per contest.

He owns career averages of 5.8 points, 3.3 rebounds and 0.7 assists over 159 games.

–Field Level Media

A pair of stars are expected to be missing when the Minnesota Timberwolves play host to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday at Minneapolis.

The Timberwolves are working to adjust their game plan for extended life without Karl-Anthony Towns, who came away with a right calf strain in Monday’s loss to the Washington Wizards that will keep him out four-to-six weeks.

Oklahoma City doesn’t figure to be without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander for that long, but their leading scorer missed Wednesday’s victory over the San Antonio Spurs after he came away with a left hip contusion in Monday’s road loss to the New Orleans Pelicans.

Without Towns, Minnesota figures to lean heavily on third-year shooting guard Anthony Edwards, who had 29 points, five assists, five steals, three blocks and just one turnover in Wednesday’s 109-101 home win over the Memphis Grizzlies.

“It’s energy. When he plays with great energy, it pulsates through our guys,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said of Edwards. “He makes big plays. He makes plays that can swing a game. He’s always had a great sense of timing.”

Finch said Edwards’ leadership role had been expanding even before Towns’ injury.

“His voice in the locker room is growing and growing, and it’s great to see and much needed for this team. He’s got it in him,” Finch said. “He’s an extremely likable teammate, everything believes that when you have him on the floor, he’s going to do great things, and now he’s learning how to back it up with some words to help his teammates as well.”

While Minnesota has players like Edwards and Rudy Gobert to fill the void with Towns out, the Thunder are not quite as equipped to succeed without Gilgeous-Alexander. The guard is averaging 31.1 points and 6.1 assists per game, while reaching the free-throw line 9.3 times per game – all career highs.

Before missing Wednesday’s game, Gilgeous-Alexander had only missed one game this season – the Thunder’s 116-106 home loss to Minnesota on Oct. 23.

Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault said the Thunder are doing the same things structurally with or without Gilgeous-Alexander.

“Systematically it doesn’t change anything,” Daigneault said. “Certainly personnel wise it does, but systematically it doesn’t.”

If Gilgeous-Alexander can’t play, more of the weight for Oklahoma City’s offense falls on the shoulders of Josh Giddey, who moves into the role as the Thunder’s primary ball-handler.

Without Gilgeous-Alexander against the Timberwolves early in the season, Giddey had 10 points, two rebounds, five assists and four turnovers in 22 minutes.

In Wednesday’s win over the Spurs, Giddey was much better. He had 14 points, 13 rebounds, five assists and no turnovers.

Saturday’s game is the third of four between the teams this season. The first two, both wins by the Timberwolves, came in the season’s first week. Minnesota beat the Thunder at Minneapolis 115-108 in the season opener for both teams.

The Timberwolves are likely to be without Taurean Prince, who has missed the last four games with a shoulder injury. Jaden McDaniels, who has missed the last three games with an illness, and Jordan McLaughlin, who has missed five with a calf injury, both practiced Friday.

–Field Level Media