Payton Pritchard scored 27 points, and the Boston Celtics used a big second half to post their 20th victory and roll past the visiting Detroit Pistons 123-99 on Thursday night.

Pritchard finished with seven 3-pointers to continue to build his early case for Sixth Man of the Year honors. Derrick White added 23 points and also had seven 3s help the Celtics win for the fourth time in five games. Pritchard made his 500th career 3-pointer, becoming the 10th Celtic to reach that mark.

Boston connected on 20 3s for the night and led by as many as 32 points in the fourth quarter. Six Celtics reached double figures.

Cade Cunningham had 18 points, eight rebounds and eight assists for the Pistons.

Boston played without All-Star Jayson Tatum, who rested with a sore right knee. Sam Hauser also sat out with a strained abdominal muscle. Coach Joe Mazzulla said Tatum’s knee issue isn’t serious.

heat 114, raptors 104 >> Bam Adebayo had 21 points and 16 rebounds and five assists and Miami beat Toronto for its fourth straight victory.

Tyler Herro led Miami with 23 points, Nikoli Jovic added 14 and Jimmy Butler and Dru Smith each had 11.

Grady Dick scored 22 points, and Jako Poetl added 16 for the Raptors. Team scoring leader RJ Barrett had 13 points on 5-of-18 shooting. Toronto is 1-12 on the road.

lakers’ james out vs. timberwolves >> LeBron James has been ruled out of the Los Angeles Lakers’ game at Minnesota tonight due to soreness in his left foot.

James will miss his second straight game when the Lakers return from a four-day break to face the Timberwolves, the Lakers announced Thursday.

The top scorer in NBA history was away from the team this week with an excused absence attributed to “personal reasons,” coach JJ Redick said Wednesday. It’s unclear whether James will even make the quick round trip to Minnesota before the Lakers’ next game at home against Memphis on Sunday.

James missed his first game of his record-tying 22nd NBA season when the Lakers beat Portland at home last Sunday. That absence also was attributed to his foot injury.

James is averaging 23.0 points, 9.1 assists and 8.0 rebounds for the Lakers (13-11), who have lost seven of 10 after a 10-4 start.

The Lakers upgraded starter Austin Reaves to questionable for the game at Minnesota after he missed L.A.’s previous five games with a pelvic bruise. Anthony Davis is listed as probable with left plantar fasciitis.