MIAMI -- Picture the Miami Heat as Uma Thurman's character in "Kill Bill."

Just when it appeared the Heat might be buried, they punched a hole in their casket and dug themselves out of the dirt.

On a night in which the Heat failed to get help from the three teams they needed to lose, they kept their slim playoff hopes alive, defeating the Cleveland Cavaliers 124-121 in overtime on Monday at AmericanAirlines Arena.

Cleveland rested its two superstars, LeBron James and Kyrie Irving, but still looked as if it would secure the victory, which would have eliminated Miami from playoff contention.

Miami overcame an 11-point deficit at the start the fourth quarter as well as a season-high 35-point effort by Cavs guard Deron Williams and a 25-point, 10-rebound performance by Kevin Love. Both players had four-point plays in overtime.

"It's a testament to our season," Heat guard Josh Richardson said, referring to the team's 11-30 start and everything Miami has overcome. "We had a lot of injuries and a lot of losses. But we fought back."

The Heat (40-41) will need to win their regular-season finale on Wednesday against the visiting Washington Wizards, to have any hope of making the playoffs. The Heat are 3-0 against Washington this season.

But even with a win over the Wizards, the Heat still would need a loss by the Indiana Pacers or the Chicago Bulls to make the postseason. The Pacers (41-40) play host to the Atlanta Hawks, and the Bulls (40-41) play host to the Brooklyn Nets.

Asked if he was aware that the Pacers, Bulls and Milwaukee Bucks (42-39) all won on Monday, Spoelstra smiled.

"Purposely, I did not (know their scores)," he said. "It would have totally distracted me, especially now, knowing what happened. I would have been going crazy. Our game was enough. I don't need the ancillary stress."

Cleveland (51-30) fell one game behind the Boston Celtics (52-29) for first place in the conference. The Cavaliers own the tiebreaker and can overtake the Celtics if they beat the Toronto Raptors and the Celtics lose to the visiting Bucks, both games on Wednesday.

Monday's game continued two interesting trends. The Cavaliers are 0-7 without James this season and have lost 13 consecutive games in Miami.

James reportedly has a slight calf injury and Irving has been bothered by a knee issue.

"The most important thing is for us to give those guys a rest," Cavs coach Tyronn Lue said. "They have carried the load all season."

Carrying Miami were Tyler Johnson (24 points) and Hassan Whiteside (23 points, 18 rebounds) as the Heat snapped a three-game home losing streak. Johnson had seven of his points in overtime.

Cleveland, by shooting 71.4 percent, raced to a 37-24 first-quarter lead. Miami cut its deficit to 60-56 at halftime. But Cleveland got hot again in the third, shooting 57.1 percent from the floor, including 5 of 10 on 3-pointers, taking a 91-80 lead into the fourth quarter.

The Cavaliers blew all of their lead in the fourth, and the Heat seemingly took a 110-108 lead with 11.7 seconds left. But Miami's James Johnson was called for an offensive foul, pushing off Kyle Korver. The quarter then ended with a Cleveland turnover and Miami running out of time to score on the other end.

Williams, 32, finished with nine assists in a season-high 46 minutes. He also had a season-high 10 turnovers and went a combined 2 of 7 for six points in the fourth quarter and overtime, missing both of his free throws.

"He got tired," Lue said of Williams. "Kay (Felder, the third-string point guard) went down (with a left-leg injury). We didn't have another ball-handler to put in to spell (Williams)."

Even so, with the playoffs beckoning, Korver said the Cavs are ready.

"We just want it to come," Korver said of the postseason. "I think we've shown that when we're focused we're a really good team."

NOTES: Cavs F Lebron James hasn't played in a regular-season finale since 2007. ... Three Heat players are close to returning from injury but are not quite there yet: SG Dion Waiters (left ankle), SF Luke Babbitt (right hip) and PF Josh McRoberts (left foot). ... Heat SG Josh Richardson has made 12 straight starts since Waiters got hurt, and Miami is 6-6 during that span. The Heat is 12-23 without Waiters this season. ... If you remove the Boston Celtics from the equation, the Heat are 6-4 against four of the top five teams in the league. And if you remove the Brooklyn Nets, the Heat are 6-9 vs. five of the worst six teams in the league. ... Cleveland PF Tristan Thompson (right thumb) missed his fourth straight game, but he could return Wednesday.