The Miami Heat defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves at American Airlines Arena on Friday night.

The Heat (36-31) was the team with postseason-related incentive coming in Friday, but the visiting Timberwolves (20-47), which had already given multiple quality teams trouble during the second half of the season, came out of the gate sharp. Minnesota owned a 32-28 lead after one quarter before Miami surged back to outscore their visitors by a 61-46 margin during the middle periods. That gave the hosts an 11-point edge going into the fourth quarter, and although the T-Wolves would get as close as within seven on multiple occasions during the final period, Erik Spoelstra's squad emerged with a solid margin of victory.

Karl-Anthony Towns led the Timberwolves with 27 points, adding six rebounds and four assists. Anthony Edwards followed with 25 points, six boards, three assists and one block. D'Angelo Russell managed 17 points, four assists and three rebounds. Ricky Rubio contributed 16 points, nine assists, three rebounds and two steals. Jarred Vanderbilt furnished eight points, 11 rebounds, one assist, five steals and two blocks.

Tyler Herro paced the Heat with 27 points, supplementing them with four assists and three rebounds. Jimmy Butler supplied 25 points, eight rebounds, six assists and five steals. Goran Dragic delivered 23 points, four boards and three assists. Bam Adebayo finished with 15 points, four rebounds, four assists, two steals and two blocks. Kendrick Nunn poured in 12 points.

The Timberwolves visit the Orlando Magic on Sunday night, while the Heat visit the Boston Celtics on Sunday afternoon.