Mario Chalmers scored 26 points and Chris Bosh added 24 as the Miami Heat won their 18th straight game, easily topping the Indiana Pacers 105-91 on Sunday night.
The 18-game streak ties the seventh-longest in NBA history, and is the league’s best since the Boston Celtics won 19 straight during the 2008-2009 season.
Miami will try for No. 19 when they host Atlanta tonight.
The win also gave Miami (47-14) a victory over every NBA team this season.
The Heat lost both previous meetings with Indiana.
Dwyane Wade scored 23 points for the Heat, who controlled the game, despite a season-low 13 points from LeBron James. Ray Allen added 11 for Miami.
David West scored 17 of his 24 points in the first half for the Pacers, who fell nine games behind Miami in the Eastern Conference standings.
Roy Hibbert scored 15, D.J. Augustin had 14 and Paul George scored 10 for Indiana.
Raptors 100, Cavaliers 96
In Toronto, Amir Johnson scored 17 points and matched his career high with 16 rebounds, while Alan Anderson scored 10 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter.
Cavaliers star guard Kyrie Irving was knocked out by an apparent shoulder injury late in the third quarter as Cleveland lost for the fourth time in five games.
Irving was hurt when he collided with Toronto rookie Jonas Valanciunas on a baseline drive with 2 minutes, 4 seconds left in the third. He shot the resulting free throws one-handed. Irving made the first, but missed the second, before walking off and heading to the locker room. He finished with 12 points.
Irving missed 11 games between Nov. 21 and Dec. 8 last year with a broken finger. He also sat out three games between Feb. 26 and March 1 with a sore right knee.
Lakers 90, Bulls 81
In Los Angeles, Dwight Howard scored 16 points and grabbed 21 rebounds, while Kobe Bryant chipped in with 19 points, nine assists and seven rebounds for Los Angeles as the Lakers improved their win-loss record to 33-31, the first time this season they have been two games over .500.
They also moved one-half game ahead of the Utah Jazz and into sole possession of the No. 8 and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
The Lakers led almost throughout, only briefly falling behind by two points in the second quarter, and led by as many as 18 in the third period.
Nate Robinson led the Bulls with 19 points, while Joakim Noah had 18 points and 17 rebounds.
Howard made eight of 14 shots from the floor, but missed all five free throws.
Thunder 91, Celtics 79
In Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Kevin Durant had 23 points and 11 rebounds, and Russell Westbrook scored 15 points as the Thunder stretched their winning streak to five games.
The Thunder limited Boston to 25 percent shooting in the second half after the Celtics shot 51 percent in the first.
Oklahoma City used an 11-2 run at the start of the fourth quarter to close it out.
The Celtics had pulled within 68-65 after three quarters, before going without a basket for the first five minutes of the fourth, and they never could recover.
Paul Pierce had 20 points to lead Boston, who had their own run of five straight wins broken. Kevin Garnett chipped in 10 points and 11 rebounds.
Magic 99, 76ers 91
In Orlando, Florida, Jameer Nelson had 24 points and 10 assists, while Nik Vucevic added 14 points and 17 rebounds. The win ended the Magic’s seven-game home losing streak, their longest skid in Orlando since 2003-04.
In other NBA action, it was:
‧ Hornets 98, Trail Blazers 96
‧ Mavericks 100, Timberwolves 77
‧ Bucks 115, Kings 113
‧ Clippers 129, Pistons 97
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