The Miami Heat inched closer to top spot in the Eastern Conference with a 107-91 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers Tuesday. Dwyane Wade scored a game-high 26 points and LeBron James had 24 against his former team as the Heat put the game out of reach with a fourth-quarter surge. Miami led 84-78 with just over nine minutes left before embarking on an 8-0 run that padded the advantage to double digits and helped the Heat (19-6) move within a game of the conference-leading Chicago Bulls. The Cavaliers (9-14) are moving forward from losing James to Miami in 2010 with a surprisingly solid start to the season behind No. 1 overall draft pick Kyrie Irving, who recorded 16 points against the Heat. Antawn Jamison had 25 points and nine rebounds for the Cavaliers. Chris Bosh had 15 points and nine rebounds for the Heat. Clippers 107, Magic 102: Clippers guard Chauncey Billups will miss the remainder of the season after tearing his left Achilles' tendon during Los Angeles's victory over the Magic at Orlando. The team said a magnetic resonance imaging test Tuesday confirmed Billups's injury. He will return to Los Angeles Thursday for further evaluation. The Clippers said a date for surgery had not been determined. Celtics 94, Bobcats 84: Paul Pierce passed Larry Bird for second place on the Celtics' career scoring list in Boston's win over visiting Charlotte. Pierce needed 9 points to tie Bird's total of 21,791; he had 7 at halftime, then made a 3-pointer with 10:23 left in the third quarter to overtake Bird's total. Timberwolves 86, Kings 84: Nikola Pekovic (23 points) and Michael Beasley (14 rebounds) had double-doubles and Ricky Rubio added 14 assists and 5 steals for host Minnesota in its first game without the suspended Kevin Love who was suspended for two games Monday for stepping on Houston forward Luis Scola last Saturday. In other games, Steve Nash hit a driving layup with five seconds left to give Phoenix a 107-105 win at Milwaukee and Danny Granger scored 12 of his 16 points in the fourth quarter, Darren Collison scored 25 points to lead host Indiana over Utah, 104-99 and Oklahoma City edged Golden State 119.
