East Notes: Heat, Terry Rozier, Knicks, Julius Randle, Bucks

Heat

Guard Terry Rozier went off in the Heat’s 109-99 win over the Knicks in a game with NBA playoff implications. Rozier scored 34 points, including a 3-pointer at the shot-clock buzzer in the final minute.

Miami (42-33) inched closer to a playoff spot and perhaps getting out of the play-in tournament. The Heat trail the Pacers by just a half-game for the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference.

Along with that, the Heat enabled the idle Magic to move a half-game ahead of the Knicks for the fourth spot in the East.

• Power forward Kevin Love played for the first time in more than a month, missing 16 games with heel soreness. Love finished with eight points.
• Meanwhile, guard Tyler Herro missed his 19th straight game with right foot tendinitis.

Knicks

The Knicks (44-31) fell a half-game back of the Magic for the fourth seed in the NBA East, and if the playoffs were to start today, the teams would face each other in the first round. Only now, Orlando would have home-court advantage.

Not that any of that really matters. New York still has seven games left and when the race is this close, anything can happen.

• Forward OG Anunoby (elbow) missed his 26th of the last 29 games, while power forward Julius Randle (shoulder) has missed 29 straight.
• Coach Tom Thibodeau addressed Randle with reporters before the game. “You have to have a belief that it will turn, which I do,” Thibodeau said. “Maybe it’s tomorrow, maybe it’s the day after, who knows when it is, but just keep putting everything you have into each day. So, work out, do your rehab, try to strengthen your shoulder as much as you can and go from there.”

Bucks

Coach Doc Rivers was none-too-pleased after the Bucks lost to the Wizards in Washington on Tuesday. Milwaukee is now 18-20 on the road.

Rivers indicated a team that intends to compete for a championship needs to be better than that.

“We don’t bring the necessary professionalism, seriousness, on the road,” he told reporters. “That’s something that we can fix. That’s something that we’re going to have to fix.”

• Star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo finished with yet another triple-double, erupting 35 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists. Yet it wasn’t enough to save the Bucks, now just 1.5 games ahead of the Cavaliers for second in the NBA Eastern Conference.
• Milwaukee was without star guard Damian Lillard, who sat with a right groin strain.
• Guard Patrick Beverley exited in the second quarter after Wizards guard Jordan Poole slipped on a drive to the basket and fell into Beverley’s leg. Rivers suggested Beverley may have sprained his ankle.