Oklahoma City set aside some bad news off the court to beat NBA Eastern Conference leaders Atlanta 123-115 on Friday, with Russell Westbrook scoring 17 of his 36 points in the fourth quarter and notching yet another triple-double to steer the Thunder to an important victory.
The Thunder earlier in the day conceded that reigning league MVP Kevin Durant would probably miss the rest of the season with a foot injury, yet the team came out with an impressive performance that lifted Oklahoma City two games clear of New Orleans in the fight for the last playoff-yielding spot in the West.
Oklahoma’s Westbrook recorded his seventh triple-double since the All-Star break, his ninth of the season and the 17th of his career. He had 10 rebounds and 14 assists while making all 17 of his free throws.
Dion Waiters matched a season high with 26 points for the Thunder, who face an uphill task to make the playoffs without Durant.
Pero Antic scored a career-high 22 points for the Hawks, whose lead atop the mediocre East was trimmed to nine games.
NETS 129, BUCKS 127, 3 OT
Brook Lopez scored 32 points and had a season-high 18 rebounds, helping Brooklyn to a victory over Milwaukee in the second triple-overtime meeting between the teams this season.
Lopez threw down a powerful dunk on a three-point play to open the scoring in the third OT as the Nets finally held on to hand the Bucks their fifth straight loss.
Milwaukee had pulled out a 122-118 triple-overtime win on Nov. 19 last year in former Nets coach Jason Kidd’s first trip back to Brooklyn. The Bucks (34-35) led this game by 14 points in the second half before falling for the 10th time in 12 games, falling below .500 for the first time since December last year.
Zaza Pachulia had 22 points, 21 rebounds — 18 offensive — and seven assists for Milwaukee.
HEAT 108, NUGGETS 91
Dwyane Wade scored 22 points, while Goran Dragic added 18 as Miami clamped down in the fourth quarter to beat Denver.
Luol Deng scored 15, Hassan Whiteside added 14 and Mario Chalmers 10 for Miami, who won their third straight game — their longest such streak since starting 3-0.
The Heat have won a season-best four straight at home.
Kenneth Faried scored 20 for Denver, who got 16 apiece from Jusef Nurkic and Randy Foye.
The Nuggets missed 13 of their first 14 shots from the field in the fourth quarter — plus their first six tries from the foul line in that quarter.
WARRIORS 112, PELICANS 96
Stephen Curry overcame a subpar shooting performance to score 16 points with 11 assists, while Harrison Barnes added 22 points as Golden State topped New Orleans.
Curry missed 12 of his first 13 shots from the floor and was zero for seven from three-point range before making back-to-back shots from beyond the arc in the third quarter. He finished four for 17 for the Warriors, who improved to 55-13, the second-most wins in team history — and four shy of the franchise record.
Alexis Ajinca scored 15 points with eight rebounds for banged-up New Orleans, who played without four of their top six players, including leading scorer Anthony Davis.
BULLS 108, RAPTORS 92
Nikola Mirotic matched a career high with 29 points to propel the Chicago Bulls to a victory over Toronto, who were without All-Star guard Kyle Lowry.
Joakim Noah had 10 rebounds, equaled a career high with 14 assists and scored eight points to come within one basket of a triple-double, while Mike Dunleavy had 21 points for Chicago.
The Bulls pulled a half-game ahead of the Raptors for third place in the Eastern Conference. They also took a 3-0 lead in the season series, assuring them the edge in any potential playoff tiebreaker.
DeMar DeRozan led Toronto with 27.
In other results, it was:
‧ 76ers 97, Knicks 81
‧ Magic 111, Trail Blazers 104
‧ Spurs 101, Celtics 89
‧ Grizzlies 112, Mavericks 101
‧ Kings 101, Hornets 91
‧ Clippers 113, Wizards 99
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