In a busy night of NBA basketball with plenty of playoff implications, the Golden State Warriors stayed on track to break the regular season wins record by beating the Utah Jazz in overtime. The Dallas Mavericks are right in the playoff mix with a close win over the New York Knicks and the Los Angeles Lakers, despite all of their problems, beat the Miami Heat in overtime, complicating things for them.
Atlanta Hawks 97 Toronto Raptors 105: The Raptors stay close to the Cavaliers with their win while picking up a franchise-best 50th win, getting 26 points from DeMar DeRozan while Kyle Lowry added 17 points and 11 assists in a nice battle between him and Jeff Teague, who led the Hawks with 18 points.
Denver Nuggets 109 Memphis Grizzlies 105: If the Grizzlies aren’t careful, they might find themselves falling out of the playoffs, losing for the fourth time in a row. Will Barton had a big game with 25 points, looking more and more like a lock to win Sixth man of the year. Zach Randolph led the Grizzlies with 26 points.
Phoenix Suns 94 Milwaukee Bucks 105: A game between two teams looking forward to next season with some young talent to count on. Khris Middleton finished with 26 points and Jabari Parker added 21. P.J. Tucker surprised and led the Suns with 20 points, as their entire starting lineup scored in double figures.
Los Angeles Clippers 99 Minnesota Timberwolves 79: Chris Paul scored 20 points, J.J. Redick added 17 points, holding the Timberwolves to just 34.5% from the field in one of the worst games by Minnesota recently. Karl-Anthony Towns finished with 16 points to lead Minnesota.
New York Knicks 89 Dallas Mavericks 91: A big win for the Mavs and another big night for J.J. Barea, scoring 26 points and the go-ahead basket for Dallas with 49 seconds left as they are now tied at 37-38 with the Houston Rockets (7th), Utah Jazz (8th) and they’re 9th. Dirk Nowitzki was terrible on 5-for-23 from the field.
New Orleans Pelicans 92 San Antonio Spurs 100: The Pelicans couldn’t stop the Spurs from making it to 38-0 at home this season. Manu Ginobili was back and led the team with 20 points, something that rarely happens these days. Kawhi Leonard added 16 points.
Golden State Warriors 103 Utah Jazz 96: The Jazz made Curry work hard for each and every of his 31 points, which was enough for overtime, nothing else. Curry and the Warriors ran away with the game in the final five minutes after the 89-89 tie in regulation, that included Klay Thompson making a three-pointer with 15 seconds left to send the game into overtime. Gordon Hayward led the Jazz with 21 points.
Washington Wizards 111 Sacramento Kings 120: The Kings have nothing to play for yet they dealt a huge hit to the Wizards playoff hopes, dropping them to 3.5 games behind 8th in the East. DeMarcus Cousins was unstoppable with 29 points, 10 rebounds, 5 steals and 4 blocks. Three more players (Gay, Rondo and Casspi) scored 15 points. Bradley Beal scored 24 points for the Wizards, who got awful nights from John Wall and Marcin Gortat.
Miami Heat 100 Los Angeles Lakers 102: A weird night for the Lakers, as Kobe Bryant left early being all banged up, which helped the Lakers. The crowed booed D’Angelo Russell, at time ignored by his teammates and still putting up 19 shots to score 16 points. Nick Young didn’t play, Jordan Clarkson scored 26 and the Lakers stunned the Heat in overtime as Julius Randle hit the game winning shot with 1.9 seconds left, pushing the Heat back down to 5th in the conference.
Eastern Conference Standings
| # | Team | W | L | PCT | GB | GP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cleveland Cavaliers | 52 | 22 | .703 | – | 74 |
| 2 | Toronto Raptors | 50 | 24 | .676 | 2.0 | 74 |
| 3 | Atlanta Hawks | 45 | 31 | .592 | 8.0 | 76 |
| 4 | Boston Celtics | 43 | 31 | .581 | 9.0 | 74 |
| 5 | Miami Heat | 43 | 31 | .581 | 9.0 | 74 |
| 6 | Charlotte Hornets | 43 | 31 | .581 | 9.0 | 74 |
| 7 | Detroit Pistons | 40 | 35 | .533 | 12.5 | 75 |
| 8 | Indiana Pacers | 39 | 35 | .527 | 13.0 | 74 |
| 9 | Chicago Bulls | 37 | 37 | .500 | 15.0 | 74 |
| 10 | Washington Wizards | 36 | 39 | .480 | 16.5 | 75 |
| 11 | Orlando Magic | 31 | 43 | .419 | 21.0 | 74 |
| 12 | Milwaukee Bucks | 30 | 44 | .405 | 22.0 | 74 |
| 13 | New York Knicks | 30 | 46 | .395 | 23.0 | 76 |
| 14 | Brooklyn Nets | 21 | 53 | .284 | 31.0 | 74 |
| 15 | Philadelphia 76ers | 9 | 66 | .120 | 43.5 | 75 |
Western Conference Standings
| # | Team | W | L | PCT | GB | GP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Golden State Warriors | 68 | 7 | .907 | – | 75 |
| 2 | San Antonio Spurs | 63 | 12 | .840 | 5.0 | 75 |
| 3 | Oklahoma City Thunder | 52 | 23 | .693 | 16.0 | 75 |
| 4 | Los Angeles Clippers | 47 | 27 | .635 | 20.5 | 74 |
| 5 | Memphis Grizzlies | 41 | 34 | .547 | 27.0 | 75 |
| 6 | Portland Trail Blazers | 39 | 36 | .520 | 29.0 | 75 |
| 7 | Houston Rockets | 37 | 38 | .493 | 31.0 | 75 |
| 8 | Utah Jazz | 37 | 38 | .493 | 31.0 | 75 |
| 9 | Dallas Mavericks | 37 | 38 | .493 | 31.0 | 75 |
| 10 | Denver Nuggets | 32 | 44 | .421 | 36.5 | 76 |
| 11 | Sacramento Kings | 30 | 45 | .400 | 38.0 | 75 |
| 12 | New Orleans Pelicans | 27 | 47 | .365 | 40.5 | 74 |
| 13 | Minnesota Timberwolves | 25 | 50 | .333 | 43.0 | 75 |
| 14 | Phoenix Suns | 20 | 54 | .270 | 47.5 | 74 |
| 15 | Los Angeles Lakers | 16 | 59 | .213 | 52.0 | 75 |