Tobias Harry leads 76ers charge as they beat Knicks in a thriller

Easter Conference leaders post sixth straight victory

Philadelphia 76ers' Tobias Harris, right, and New York Knicks' Julius Randle battle for the ball. AP

Tobias Harris scored 30 points and Seth Curry 20 as the Philadelphia 76ers powered home to beat the New York Knicks 99-96 in an NBA thriller on Tuesday night.

The Eastern Conference leaders were staring at a major upset as they trailed the seventh-placed Knicks 82-73 at the last break but swamped the visitors 26-14 in the final term to post a sixth straight victory.

Ben Simmons had a double-double with 16 points and 13 rebounds, with Dwight Howard notching a similar stat with 11 points and 12 boards.

New York had six double-digit scorers, with Julius Randle ending with 19 points and 15 rebounds and Alec Burks also scoring 19.

Zach Lavine scored 40 points to lead the Chicago Bulls to a comfortable 123-102 win against the visiting Oklahoma City Thunder.

The Bulls exploded out of the blocks with a 42-28 first quarter, shoring up the win with a dominant 31-16 third term.

Lauri Markkanen had 22 points and Thaddeus Young 17 for Chicago, while the injury-plagued Oklahoma, with just nine players fit to start, were led by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's 21 points and Moses Brown's 20.

The Miami Heat scored a 113-98 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers, with Jimmy Butler leading the way with 28 points and 12 rebounds.

The Heat, fourth in the East, led throughout to post their fifth straight win with little trouble from the visiting 13th-placed Cavaliers, who have lost four in a row.

Collin Sexton had 21 points for Cleveland while JaVale McGee scored 16.

In other games, the Utah Jazz won 117-109 at the Boston Celtics, the Atlanta Hawks won 119-107 away to the Houston Rockets, the Portland Trail Blazers edged the visiting New Orleans Pelicans 125-124, and the Los Angeles Lakers won at home over the Minnesota Timberwolves 137-121.