SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The Miami Heat needed to hold on for dear life Friday night to complete a 112-106 victory over the Sacramento Kings at Sleep Train Arena.

It was the kind of game that Heat coach Eric Spoelstra said should surprise nobody.

"We've said this all along," he said. "It's going to be a harrowing ride down the stretch."

Spoelstra was speaking of the Heat's drive to win a division championship for the first time in three seasons, but he might as well have been summarizing his team's fight to hold off Sacramento. The Heat saw a 24-point lead dwindle to a point in the second half before holding off the Kings and moving into a tie atop the Southeast Division.

Playing without guard Dwyane Wade, the Heat rode Gerald Green's season-high 30 points and key buckets in the final minute from Luol Deng and Joe Johnson to post their fifth victory in seven games.

Miami (44-31) stayed tied with the Charlotte Hornets (44-31) for the Southeast Division lead and moved percentage points ahead of Atlanta Hawks (45-32), a 110-108 overtime loser to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday.

The three teams take up the Nos. 3, 4 and 5 spots in the Eastern Conference standings.

"All of us are in virtually the same spot for a reason. It's very even," Spoelstra said. "So you can get caught watching the other teams, but ultimately it's in our hands, and you have to go out there and do it. You can't wait for somebody else to not do it."

Wade sat out after injuring his neck while taking a hard fall in Miami's loss at the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday night. Green responded by making 8 of 10 shots en route to a 15-point first quarter, and Miami shot 58 percent from the floor in the first three quarters.

The Heat saw most of that work go to waste in the fourth quarter. The Kings cut an 87-63 third-quarter deficit to 105-104 with under 90 seconds left, but Johnson's short jumper and a 3-pointer by Deng on Miami's next possession amid the din of stomping, hollering by Kings fans helped the Heat hold on.

Deng finished with 17 points. Teammate Gorgan Dragic had 18 points and seven assists, and Johnson finished with 14 points and eight assists.

"When that noise is there, you really want to make the shot," Deng said. "I've missed a lot of shots when it's been quiet."

Kosta Koufos' dunk for Sacramento made it 110-106. After a Miami offensive foul on Johnson, Rudy Gay missed back-to-back shots inside the key, and Koufous missed a putback on the same possession to seal the deal.

Darren Collison scored 11 of his season-best 26 points in the fourth quarter to lead the desperate Kings rally.

Sacramento blitzed Miami with a 41-18 run that bridged the third and fourth quarters. But the Kings still couldn't avoid the end of their three-game home losing streak, and they were swept by the Heat for the eighth time in nine seasons.

The Kings also were mathematically eliminated from playoff contention, the 10th consecutive season they will be left out of the postseason.

"We just tried to put pressure on them," Collison said. "It's actually been tough playing under these circumstances, but it's a profession. We've got to keep playing, and we've got to keep playing hard."

Sacramento fell to 2-11 without center DeMarcus Cousins, whose one-game suspension for receiving his NBA-high 16th technical foul in Wednesday's win over the Washington Wizards was upheld by the league. It was the third suspension that Cousins received this season.

The Kings also lost reserve forward Omri Casspi in the second quarter to a hamstring injury.

"It's tough," Collision said. "We've also been dealing with injuries, and we've been dealing with other things off the court. I'm just proud of the guys that have continued to stay with it, continued to fight."

Seth Curry matched a career best with 21 points for the Kings, and Gay produced 20 points and 11 rebounds.

The Kings outscored Miami 46-36 in the paint and forced 18 turnovers.

NOTES: Heat G Dwyane Wade is not expected to play Saturday at Portland. The 34-year-old Wade, who is in his 13th season, has missed consecutive games only one other time this season. ... C DeMarcus Cousins missed both of Sacramento's games against Miami this season while serving a suspension. He missed the Nov. 19 game at Miami for throwing a forearm at Atlanta F Al Horford. Cousins also sat out a March 11 home game against Orlando while serving his suspension for conduct detrimental to the team after berating coach George Karl on the sideline. ... Heat assistant coach Keith Smart, undergoing skin cancer treatment in San Francisco, visited the team during its morning shootaround. He told the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel that his goal is to be back on the Miami bench for the playoffs. ... Karl told reporters that Cousins won't play in any of the Kings' final three road games, starting Saturday in Denver.