In a Thursday NBA night without any marquee matchups, the Chicago Bulls demolished the Los Angeles Lakers, the Toronto Raptors kept winning at the expense of the depleted New York Knicks, the Indiana Pacers made things worse for the Atlanta Hawks while the Memphis Grizzlies looked convincing by handing the Milwaukee Bucks another loss.

Atlanta Hawks 92  Indiana Pacers 111: The Hawks are in the trade rumor business for a reason – something isn’t working. Meanwhile, the Pacers finally won a game without having Paul George do all the work (11 points). Monta Ellis with 25 and rookie Miles Turner scoring 20 did the heavy lifting, while Jeff Teague finished with 20 points.

Denver Nuggets 117  Washington Wizards 113: The Wizards lose for a third consecutive time while Danilo Gallinari, having a fantastic season, scored 26 points, supported by rookie Emmanuel Mudiay scoring 20. Seven different players on the Wizards scored in double figures, led by Garrett Temple with 20, but their injury crisis is dropping them like a stone in the Eastern conference standings.

New York Knicks 93  Toronto Raptors 103: The Raptors are up to 10 wins in a row, with the Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan backcourt splitting their 52 points exactly in the middle. The Knicks were playing without both Kristaps Porzingis and Carmelo Anthony.

Milwaukee Bucks 83  Memphis Grizzlies 103: The Bucks might soon be pressured to make a trade considering they’re already 8 games below .500. The Grizzlies enjoy a pretty hot Jeff Green (21 points) and a defense that held the Bucks to 36.7% from the floor.

Sacramento Kings 105  New Orleans Pelicans 114: The Pelicans have won four of their last five, not letting the absence of Anthony Davis get in the way. Ryan Anderson took over with 36 points (five three-pointers) while the Kings lost for the third time in a row, still missing Rudy Gay, as DeMarcus Cousins and Ben McLemore scored 26 points each.

Chicago Bulls 114  Los Angeles Lakers 91: The Chicago Bulls might be inconsistent, but losing to the Lakers takes a level of sucking they’re not at most of the time. An 8th consecutive loss, but Kobe Bryant is going to the All-Star game, so who cares? Bryant scored 10 points on 4-of-13 from the field. Jimmy Butler led the Bulls with 26 points (10 assists as well). Pau Gasol added 21 against his former team.

Eastern Conference Standings

Western Conference Standings

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