Hassan Whiteside scored 20 points while Chris Bosh added 18 to spark the Miami Heat over the Boston Celtics 83-75 to open a four-game road trip.
In the NBA's other game on Sunday, Carmelo Anthony scored 31 points and grabbed eight rebounds to spark the New York Knicks in their 92-80 win over the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Heat had lost 11 of their past 12 regular-season games at Boston but held off a second-half rally by the Celtics in improving to 21-26, seventh in the Eastern Conference.
Miami's Tyler Johnson came off the bench to score an NBA career-high 13 points and match Whiteside with a game-high nine rebounds.
Avery Bradley and Tyler Zeller each scored 17 points for the Celtics, while Marcus Smart passed off a career-high nine assists.
But Boston suffered a fifth home defeat in a row, falling to 16-30, 3.5 games behind Charlotte for the final playoff berth in the Eastern Conference.
The Heat led 44-31 at halftime but the Celtics hit their first seven shots from the floor in the third quarter, pulling even at 55-55 before Miami pulled ahead 61-59 entering the fourth quarter and scored the first eight points of the final period.
The Knicks improved to 10-38, matching Philadelphia for the second-worst record in the NBA ahead of Minnesota (8-39), while the Lakers stumbled to 13-35, second-worst in the Western Conference.
Langston Galloway had 13 points while Lou Amundson grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds for the Knicks.
Jordan Clarkson and reserve Carlos Boozer each scored 19 points to lead the Lakers, still reeling from the season-ending shoulder injury suffered by star guard Kobe Bryant. Boozer also grabbed 10 rebounds.
It was the 11th loss in the Lakers' past 12 road games. Los Angeles made only 5-of-20 shots from the floor in the first quarter, falling behind 32-19.
"We just got off to a bad start," said Lakers coach Byron Scott.
Anthony scored the Knicks' last 12 points of the third quarter, pushing New York's lead to 72-57 entering the fourth quarter.
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