Atlanta Hawks’ Pero Antic, right, of Macedonia, reacts while falling to the floor after making a layup and drawing the foul from San Antonio Spurs’ Boris Diaw, left, of France, during the fourth quarter of an NBA basketball game
San Antonio won comfortably at Atlanta 114-95 in weekend’s clash of two teams with form lines heading in opposite directions leading up to the NBA playoffs.
The Spurs have won three straight and the Hawks have lost three straight, though they can afford to ease up given they are still eight games clear atop the Eastern Conference, ahead of Cleveland, which won at Milwaukee.
In the key games among playoff aspirants in the West, the Los Angeles Clippers defeated New Orleans, and Phoenix won a close one against Dallas.
Defending champion San Antonio got a season-high 23 points from Tiago Splitter and 20 from Kawhi Leonard. The Spurs never trailed and led by as much as 26 points in the third quarter.
Paul Millsap finished with 22 points for the faltering Hawks.
The Clippers won a fourth straight game by beating New Orleands 107-100.
Blake Griffin scored 23 points and Chris Paul contributed 23 points and 11 assists for Los Angeles, which converted 18 Pelicans turnovers into 30 points and had a 25-6 advantage on second-chance points.
Anthony Davis led New Orleans with 26 points and 12 rebounds in 39 minutes after missing two games with a sprained ankle. Tyreke Evans was sidelined because of the same injury and was replaced in the starting lineup.
Phoenix’s Archie Goodwin sank the go-ahead 3-pointer and Markieff Morris added a critical jumper in the final 30 seconds to secure a 98-92 win for the Suns against Dallas.
The Mavericks rallied from a 17-point, third-quarter deficit and were up 86-80 with 5 minutes to play, but then went four minutes without scoring while the Suns climbed back into the lead.
Eric Bledsoe had 20 points, nine assists and six rebounds for Phoenix.
Chandler Parsons scored 19 points for Dallas, which has lost all three games against Phoenix this season.
Cleveland’s LeBron James scored 28 points and sparked a key second-half run with an emphatic dunk to lead the Cavaliers to a 108-90 win against Milwaukee.
J.R. Smith added 23 points for Cleveland, including three straight 3s to close out the decisive run that turned a six-point deficit into a 93-78 lead with 6:19 left.
Giannis Antetokounmpo had 15 points and nine rebounds for the Bucks, who have won six straight.
Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook had 12 points, 10 rebounds and 17 assists for his 10th triple-double of the season to lead the Thunder past Miami 93-75.
Enes Kanter had been expected to miss again with an ankle injury, but took his place and delivered 27 points and 12 rebounds for the Thunder, which has won three in a row.
The Heat had five players score in double figures but none with more than 13 points.
Sacramento led most of the game and comfortably beat Washington 109-86, with Rudy Gay scoring 26 points.
DeMarcus Cousins had 20 points, seven rebounds and five assists despite foul trouble for the Kings, who stretched the lead to 20 points in the third quarter and were never threatened from there.
Bradley Beal scored 19 points for the Wizards, who have lost 11 of their past 13 road games.
Toronto’s DeMar DeRozan scored 23 points as the Raptors beat New York 106-89.
Detroit won 105-97 in overtime against Boston, with Andre Drummond having 18 points and 22 rebounds.
Denver’s Danilo Gallinari scored a career-high 40 points to lead the Nuggets to a 119-100 victory over Orlando, winning at an Eastern Conference opponent for the first time in 12 games.
Charlotte moved into a playoff-yielding eighth place in the East by beating Minnesota 109-98, with Mo Williams scoring 24 points.
Los Angeles’ Jeremy Lin scored a season-high 29 points as the Lakers beat Philadelphia 101-87 in the first meeting of the season between two of the NBA’s worst teams. AP
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