MIAMI (AP) — Fred VanVleet scored 37 points and the surging Houston Rockets won their ninth straight, beating the Miami Heat, 102-98, Friday night, March 21.

VanVleet shot 13 for 17 from the field and made a season-high 9 of 11 3-pointers as the Rockets extended the league’s longest active winning streak. Houston also snapped a nine-game skid against Miami, which lost its 10th straight. It is the Heat’s longest skid since they lost 11th straight in 2007-08.

Amen Thompson returned after missing the last six games because of a sprained left ankle and finished with 18 points and seven steals while Dillon Brooks and Jabari Smith each added 11 points for the Rockets.

Houston rallied from an 11-point deficit early in the third quarter and got to 80-78 on Jalen Green’s jumper to close the period.

Miami’s Andrew Wiggins scored 30 points, his highest total since the Heat acquired him from Golden State for Jimmy Butler on Feb. 6. Kel’el Ware had 16 points and 14 rebounds, while Bam Adebayo also scored 16 points for the Heat.

Meanwhile in Oklahoma City, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 30 points and the Thunder won their fifth in a row, 141-106,  over the Charlotte Hornets.

Gilgeous-Alexander, the NBA’s top scorer at 33.0 points per game, returned to the lineup after sitting out Wednesday night’s lopsided win against Philadelphia. He made 13 of 18 shots to go with six rebounds and nine assists before sitting out the fourth quarter.

Chet Holmgren added 14 points, five rebounds and three blocks for Oklahoma City, which clinched the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference for the second consecutive season when Milwaukee beat the Lakers on Thursday.

Isaiah Hartenstein had 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Thunder, who played without injured starters Lu Dort and Jalen Williams. Oklahoma City led 66-49 at halftime after Kenrich Williams banked in a 29-foot shot at the buzzer, and 103-76 after three quarters.

In Salt Lake City, Kristaps Porzingis scored 27 points and Jayson Tatum added 26 to lead the Boston Celtics to a 121-99 victory over the Utah Jazz.

Porzingis added 10 rebounds and six assists, and Tatum chipped in six boards, six assists, and three steals as Boston won its four straight and ninth in its last 10 games.

Collin Sexton led Utah with 30 points on 12-of-15 shooting. Keyonte George added 19 points and seven assists as the Jazz lost for the seventh time in their last eight games.

In Dallas, Spencer Dinwiddie scored a season-high 31 points while P.J. Washington Jr. added 27, with a season-high five 3-pointers, as the Mavericks beat the Detroit Pistons,123-117. 

Eleven of Dinwiddie’s points came at the free-throw line, where Dallas hit 27 of 36 to Detroit’s 14 of 19.

In San Antonio, eremy Sochan had 23 points, Keldon Johnson added 20 points and the Spurs rallied to close on an 11-3 run and beat the injury-depleted Philadelphia 76ers, 128-120.

Stephon Castle added 17 points and a season-high 14 assists for San Antonio, which won consecutive games for the first time since Jan. 3.

In Minneapolis, ulius Randle had 20 points, six rebounds and five assists and the Minnesota Timberwolves avoided losing to one of the Western Conference’s worst teams for the second time in three days with a 134-93 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans.

Jaden McDaniels and Anthony Edwards each scored 17 points, and Rudy Gobert had 13 points and 12 rebounds for Minnesota, which moved back within a game of Golden State for the No. 6 seed in the Western Conference with 10 games left in the regular season.