James Harden scored 38 points and Clint Capela posted a double-double as the host Houston Rockets closed the gap on the Denver Nuggets in the race for the second seed in the Western Conference with a 112-85 victory
Thursday night's scores Denver Nuggets 85-112 Houston Rockets Los Angeles Clippers 118-128 Milwaukee Bucks Brooklyn Nets 110-123 Philadelphia 76ers Orlando Magic 98-115 Detroit Pistons Dallas Mavericks 99-105 Miami Heat Cleveland Cavaliers 110-116 San Antonio Spurs Toronto Raptors 117-92 New York Knicks Sacramento Kings 118-121 New Orleans Pelicans
NBA Conference standings Who is playoff-bound? Who's season is over?
Denver Nuggets 85-112 Houston Rockets James Harden scored 38 points and Clint Capela posted a double-double as the host Houston Rockets closed the gap on the Denver Nuggets in the race for the second seed in the Western Conference with a 112-85 victory.
Houston clinched the season series with the win, along with home-court advantage in the event the teams close the regular season with the same record and meet in the playoffs.
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Harden scored 16 points in the third quarter to help the Rockets fend off one Denver run after another. He tallied 11 consecutive points during one stretch in the period, with his two free throws with 54.7 seconds left stretching the lead to 85-65.
Denver had their lead over the Rockets for second in the conference sliced to three games.
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Capela totaled 17 points and 15 rebounds and claimed a spirited battle with Nuggets All-Star center Nikola Jokic (16 points, eight rebounds, six assists, two blocks), whose early thrust lifted Denver to a seven-point advantage late in the first quarter.
When the Rockets initiated their comeback, the charge was sparked not by Harden or Capela, but reserve guard Austin Rivers. Rivers began his scoring spree with a three-pointer late in the first quarter before adding two more triples early in the second.
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His trey in transition gave Houston a 30-27 lead, and when Rivers scored through a foul at the 6:58 mark of the second, the Rockets extended that advantage to 39-32. Rivers started 6-for-6 from the floor and finished with 15 points plus three assists.
Harden and Capela then took charge to close the first half, combining for 16 points as Houston surged to a 58-42 lead. A thunderous Harden dunk with 26.6 seconds gave the Rockets an 18-point half-time lead.
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Jamal Murray led the Nuggets with 20 points while Monte Morris scored 16 off the bench.
Los Angeles Clippers 118-128 Milwaukee Bucks Khris Middleton scored 39 points as the Milwaukee Bucks moved closer to securing the No 1 seed in the Eastern Conference with a 128-118 victory over the visiting Los Angeles Clippers.
The win came with some concern, however, as Giannis Antetokounmpo, one of the favorites for the MVP award, left the game with 7:46 remaining and did not return after a right foot injury that occurred when he stepped on the foot of the Clippers' Garrett Temple.
Antetokounmpo's status moving forward was not immediately known, although he did remain on the bench for the remainder of the contest.
Image: Giannis Antetokounmpo finishes at the rim against the Clippers Antetokounmpo finished with 34 points as the Bucks (57-19) approached the fifth 60-win season in franchise history and the first since the 1980-81 team went to the Eastern Conference finals. Milwaukee remained four games ahead of the second-place Toronto Raptors, who defeated the New York Knicks.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 21 points and JaMychal Green added 16 as the Clippers saw their season-best six-game winning streak come to an end. The Clippers went 3-1 on their four-game road swing, which included a victory at Minnesota on Tuesday to clinch a playoff berth.
Wilson Chandler added 15 points as the Clippers (45-31) dropped one spot in the Western Conference standings into sixth place with six games remaining.
Los Angeles was playing without leading scorer Lou Williams, who was getting a day of rest.
Antetokounmpo scored 12 points in the second quarter as Milwaukee built a 67-46 half-time lead.
The Clippers scored the first six points of the third quarter, but the Bucks finished off the period on a 23-11 run. Middleton had 13 points in the third as Milwaukee carried a 100-77 lead into the final quarter.
The victory gave the Bucks an NBA-best 32-6 record at home, one-half game better than the Denver Nuggets.
Brooklyn Nets 110-123 Philadelphia 76ers Joel Embiid had 39 points, 13 rebounds and six assists to lift the host Philadelphia 76ers past the Brooklyn Nets 123-110.
It was Embiid's league-best 27th game with at least 30 points and 10 rebounds this season. Embiid shot 12-of-20 from the field and 12-of-16 from the free throw line.
JJ Redick added 18 points while Ben Simmons and Boban Marjanovic had 16 each for the Sixers, who snapped a two-game losing streak.
Joe Harris paced the Nets with 22 points, while Rondae Hollis-Jefferson added 19 points and 10 rebounds. Caris LeVert contributed 18 points for the Nets, who completed their seven-game road trip, going 2-5.
The Sixers bolted to a 20-point lead before with about eight-and-a-half minutes left in the second quarter before the Nets rallied to close within nine about four minutes later.
Image: Joel Embiid finishes at the rim against Brooklyn Philadelphia pushed their advantage back to 56-42 with under three minutes left in the first half after a driving lay-up by Simmons.
The Nets went nine straight possessions without scoring in the third and the Sixers extended their lead to 79-65.
The Sixers pulled ahead by 18 early in the fourth quarter, but the Nets scored seven straight to close within 11 at 102-91. Russell's lay-up cut the Sixers' lead to 108-99 with 5:55 remaining.
Embiid scored in the post to put the Sixers ahead 118-105 with three minutes left, and then he hit two free throws with 2:28 left for a 120-105 lead.
Orlando Magic 98-115 Detroit Pistons Wayne Ellington tied his season high with 25 points, including 17 in the third quarter, as the host Detroit Pistons ended the Orlando Magic's six-game winning streak with a 115-98 victory.
Blake Griffin had 20 points, 10 rebounds and five assists for Detroit, who returned home after a 1-4 road trip. Andre Drummond added 18 points, 18 rebounds, four assists and six blocks.
Ish Smith contributed 15 points and six assists off the bench, while Langston Galloway added 12 points for the Pistons.
Aaron Gordon led Orlando with 20 points and DJ Augustin had 18. Evan Fournier added 13 points and Nikola Vucevic contributed 12 points and 12 rebounds.
Image: Blake Griffin celebrates a big play in Detroit's win over Orlando The Pistons won the season series 3-1, which could prove valuable with both teams fighting for playoff spots in the Eastern Conference.
The Pistons scored 30 points in each of the first two quarters and led 60-46 at half-time. A long-range barrage by Ellington stretched the lead in the first 3:08 of the second half. He made four three-pointers in that span to give Detroit a 20-point lead.
Galloway helped the Pistons keep the lead above 20 with two long shots later in the quarter giving Detroit an unassailable 94-71 lead entering the fourth.
Dallas Mavericks 99-105 Miami Heat Goran Dragic posted his second career triple-double with 23 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists as the host Miami Heat defeated the Dallas Mavericks 105-99.
Miami's win - coupled with an Orlando Magic loss earlier on Thursday - moved the Heat back into the eighth and final playoff position in the Eastern Conference.
In Miami on Thursday, an estimated 2,500 fans from Slovenia were at the game to cheer on two star players from their home country: Dragic and Mavs rookie shooting guard Luka Doncic.
Dragic, who has been slowed this season due to a knee injury, made his first start since December 10. He had nine of his points in the fourth quarter.
Image: Luka Doncic guards Goran Dragic in Dallas' visit to Miami Doncic, who has seven triple-doubles this season - tying an NBA record for players under the age of 21 - had 19 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. However, he had just one point in the fourth quarter.
The game featured a video tribute to Dallas' Dirk Nowitzki, the MVP of the 2011 NBA Finals, and Miami's Dwyane Wade, MVP of the 2006 NBA Finals. Miami beat Dallas in the 2006 NBA Finals. Dallas beat Miami in the 2011 NBA Finals.
Since Wade is retiring, this was the last time these players will face each other in an NBA game. With the win on Thursday, Wade can walk away with an 18-17 lead in 35 matchups against Nowitzki. Wade had 11 points on Thursday. Nowitzki had 13.
Dallas led 29-26 after a first quarter that featured nine lead changes. The Mavs stretched their lead to 59-49 at half-time, but Miami cut the deficit to 82-75 after three quarters and then made their run to victory in the fourth.
Cleveland Cavaliers 110-116 San Antonio Spurs DeMar DeRozan scored 25 points, 21 of them in the second half, but his assist on a three-pointer by Patty Mills with 14.5 seconds left proved to be the key play in the San Antonio Spurs' 116-110 win over the visiting Cleveland Cavaliers.
DeRozan drove the lane and made a difficult pinpoint pass to Mills in the corner that the reserve guard drained to expand the Spurs' lead to four points. San Antonio shrugged off a ragged first half, moved to the lead in the third quarter and held off the Cavaliers in the fourth for the win, their 11th in their past 14 games.
The victory allowed the Spurs (44-32), the eighth-place team in the Western Conference standings, to gain a half-game on seventh-place Oklahoma City (44-31), who were idle, and pick up a full game on the sixth-place Los Angeles Clippers (45-31).
Image: Patty Mills celebrates after hitting a game-winning shot for the Spurs San Antonio, who have six games to play, can clinch a playoff berth for the 22nd straight year if Sacramento lose at Houston on Saturday or with a win over the Kings on Sunday in the Alamo City.
Bryn Forbes added 19 points for San Antonio, with Marco Belinelli scoring 16, LaMarcus Aldridge hitting for 14 points and Rudy Gay and Mills contributing 12 and 11 points, respectively, for the Spurs.
Collin Sexton had 24 points for the Cavaliers (19-57), who have lost four straight games. Kevin Love scored 18, Brandon Knight added 14, Larry Nance Jr tallied 13 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for Cleveland.
After the game, the Spurs retired the jersey and number of Manu Ginobili, who played all 16 of his NBA seasons in San Antonio and won four league titles as one of the Spurs' Big Three along with Tim Duncan and Tony Parker.
Toronto Raptors 117-92 New York Knicks Pascal Siakam scored 14 of his 31 points in the third quarter as the visiting Toronto Raptors never trailed in rolling to a 117-92 victory over the league-worst New York Knicks.
Siakam scored at least 30 points for the fifth time in his career and each instance has occurred since January 1. The forward shot 11-of-19 from the floor while collecting five rebounds and five assists in a game the Raptors led by as many as 31 pounts.
Danny Green added 15 for the Raptors. Fred VanVleet contributed 12 and eight assists while Norman Powell chipped in 11 and Serge Ibaka collected 10 points and 10 rebounds.
The Raptors rested Kawhi Leonard for the second straight meeting with the Knicks but encountered little difficulties beating New York for the sixth straight time and 17th time in the last 20 meetings.
Image: Pascal Siakam scores with a lay-up in Madison Square Garden Toronto also limited the minutes of Kyle Lowry and Marc Gasol. Lowry played 25 minutes and scored all seven of his points in the first quarter while Gasol played 23 minutes and finished with two points.
Rookie Mitchell Robinson led the Knicks with 19 points and 21 rebounds. Kadeem Allen added 18 but New York shot 36.5 per cent, missed 20 of 26 three-pointers and committed 17 turnovers.
The Raptors took their first 20-point lead at 52-31 on a three-pointer by Powell with 2:11 left and held a 55-36 lead at half-time.
The Raptors expanded the lead to 87-64 entering the fourth quarter on a three-pointer by Powell with one second remaining and took their first 30-point lead at 97-67 on Siakam's alley-oop dunk with 7:52 remaining.
Sacramento Kings 118-121 New Orleans Pelicans Julius Randle had 34 points and 10 rebounds as the host New Orleans Pelicans beat Sacramento 121-118, pushing the Kings closer to elimination from playoff contention.
Christian Wood had a career high in points for the second consecutive game with 25, Elfrid Payton added 16, Jahlil Okafor scored 12 and Stanley Johnson 10 for the Pelicans, who won for just the second time in 11 games.
Pelicans All-Star forward Anthony Davis missed his second consecutive game because of lower back spasms.
Former Pelican Buddy Hield scored 27 points, De'Aaron Fox had 25 points and 12 assists, Willie Cauley-Stein had 18 points and 12 rebounds, Bogdan Bogdanovic scored 14, and Marvin Bagley III and Harrison Barnes had 10 points each for the Kings, who are in ninth place in the Western Conference.
Image: Julius Randle attacks the rim during the Pelicans' win over Sacramento There were six lead changes and four ties during the third quarter, which ended with New Orleans holding a 93-88 lead.
Yogi Ferrell's three-pointer gave Sacramento a 99-97 edge early in the fourth quarter. The Pelicans tied the score seven times in the next five minutes but could not regain the lead until Randle broke the seventh tie with a jumper with 3:08 to go.
Cauley-Stein's dunk tied the score again before Ian Clark's three-pointer gave New Orleans the lead for good at 117-114 lead with 2:33 left.
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