(The Sports Xchange) -Ray Allen came off the bench to score 14 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter where Miami closed the game on a 15-2 run to beat Houston 113-104 and break out of their malaise.
The Heat, who entered the contest having lost five of their past six games, also got 24 points each from forward LeBron James and guard Dwyane Wade.
Houston led 102-98 with four-and-a-half minutes remaining but failed to compete in the closing stages.
James Harden finished with 30 points, while Dwight Howard had 21 points, 14 rebounds, five assists and two blocked shots for the Rockets (44-22).
The Heat (45-19) trail the Indiana Pacers by two games in the loss column in the battle for the best record in the Eastern Conference.
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Mavericks 109, Thunder 86
Shawn Marion scored 19 points to lead the Dallas Mavericks to victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The 23-point loss represented the largest margin of defeat for the Thunder this season.
With Thunder guard Russell Westbrook sitting out to rest, the Oklahoma City offense ran through forward Kevin Durant, who scored 30 points but made just 8-of-20 shots.
Dallas (40-27) received a balanced attack as Vince Carter recorded 18 points off the bench and Dirk Nowitzki added 17 to help the Mavs snap an 11-game losing streak to Oklahoma City.
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Spurs 122, Jazz 104
Manu Ginobili scored 21 points and the San Antonio Spurs won their 10th straight game, beating the Utah Jazz.
Spurs guard Tony Parker scored 18 points and the Spurs improved to 50-16, the best record in the NBA.
Utah fell to last in the Western Conference at 22-45.
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Pelicans 121, Celtics 120 (overtime)
Anthony Davis recorded career highs with 40 points and 21 rebounds and guard Tyreke Evans scored five of his 26 points in overtime to carry the New Orleans Pelicans to victory over the Boston Celtics.
Just one game after setting his career high with 36 points in a loss to Portland, Davis made 14-of-22 from the field and all 12 of his free throws to set a new record points tally.
Jeff Green had 39 for Boston. He made a three-point play to pull the Celtics (22-45) within one with 5.7 seconds left but the Pelicans (27-39) were able to run down the clock.
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Suns 121, Raptors 113
Gerald Green scored 28 points off the bench as the Suns defeated the Toronto Raptors.
With the victory, Phoenix (38-28) swept the season series with Toronto (37-27) and snapped the Raptors’ four-game home winning streak.
Raptors guard Kyle Lowry finished with a team-high 28 points but appeared to hurt his neck after taking a knee to the head from Suns forward PJ Tucker with 1:36 remaining in the fourth quarter.
Lowry was checked on the bench during a timeout and remained in the game.
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Timberwolves 104, Kings 102
Kevin Martin made six free throws in the final 30 seconds and the Timberwolves held on for a victory that officially eliminated the Kings (23-44) from playoff contention.
Martin scored a game-high 31 points and Kevin Love added 26 points and 10 rebounds for the Timberwolves (33-32), who won for the third time in the last four home games to keep their own wafer-thin playoff hopes alive.
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Bobcats 101, Bucks 92
Kemba Walker scored 21 points to lead the Charlotte Bobcats to a win over the Milwaukee Bucks.
Gary Neal continued to shine for his new team with 18 points for the Bobcats (33-34), while Milwaukee fell to a league-worst 13-54.
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Clippers 102, Cavaliers 80
The Los Angeles Clippers captured their 11th consecutive win, rolling to a 22-point rout of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Blake Griffin led the way for the Pacific Division-leading Clippers, who had seven players score in double figures, with 21 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists.
Chris Paul scored 16 points and handed out 15 assists for the Clippers, while center DeAndre Jordan added 15 points and 11 rebounds.
