Gary Trent Jr.'s 31 points and Immanuel Quickley's near triple-double sparked Toronto to a 117-111 win over Milwaukee on Friday, which ended the Raptors' 15-game losing streak and extended the Bucks' late-season slump.

Quickley compiled 25 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists, while Trent went 7 of 15 from 3-point range to help the Raptors hand Milwaukee a fifth loss in six games. RJ Barrett contributed 26 points to Toronto's first win since March 3.

The Bucks' woes continued despite Damian Lillard returning from a three-game absence to record 36 points. Milwaukee was without its other superstar, however, as Giannis Antetokounmpo was held out with a sore hamstring.

Toronto seemed on the way towards another defeat after trailing 40-30 five minutes into the second quarter, but Trent led a 16-3 run later in the period that gave the Raptors a 56-51 advantage with a minute to go before half-time.

The Raptors eventually pushed the margin to 14 points when a Trent 3-pointer created a 77-63 lead midway through the third quarter, but the Bucks closed the gap later in the period. Lillard capped a 10-2 spurt with a 3-pointer that cut Milwaukee's deficit to 87-84 in the final minute of the third.

Milwaukee had a chance to pull ahead in the late stages, but Khris Middleton missed a potential go-ahead 3-point attempt with the Raptors up 113-111 with 20.4 seconds left. Quickley then made a pair of free throws and the Bucks were held scoreless the rest of the way.

Middleton finished with 21 points and Bobby Portis tallied 19 points with 10 rebounds off the bench for the Bucks.

Washington stars as Mavericks end Warriors' winning streak

P.J. Washington capped a 32-point night with a tie-breaking layup with 4.5 seconds left that lifted the Dallas Mavericks to a 108-106 victory over Golden State which halted the Warriors' season-high six-game winning streak.

After Golden State erased a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit on Stephen Curry's jumper with 13 seconds remaining that tied the game at 106-106, Dallas' Tim Hardaway Jr. found a cutting Washington for an inside basket that put the Mavericks back in front.

Klay Thompson then missed a 3-point shot just before the final buzzer as Dallas held on for its 13th win in its last 15 games.

Washington finished 12 of 18 from the field while stepping up with the Mavericks holding out star guard Luka Dončić in the second of a back-to-back, and Dallas also received a 26-point, eight-rebound, seven-assist effort out of Kyrie Irving.

Curry ended with 28 points, 14 of which came in the fourth quarter as the Warriors battled back from being down 98-88 with under six minutes left.

Golden State also rallied from a slow start, as Dallas built a 29–13 lead less than eight minutes into the game. The Warriors closed out the first quarter on a 19-2 run, however, to take a 32-31 edge into the second.

The game remained tight until the Mavericks scored the first five points of the fourth quarter to open up an 84-76 lead with under 11 minutes left to play.

Fast start propels Suns past Timberwolves

The Phoenix Suns used a quick start and a strong game from Grayson Allen to continue their late-season surge with a 97-87 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Allen gave Phoenix a lift on a night in which All-Star Devin Booker was held to 13 points on 3-of-12 shooting, as the former Duke star recorded 23 points along with eight rebounds.

Kevin Durant added 22 points in the Suns' third consecutive win, while Jusuf Nurkic compiled 11 points, 15 rebounds and six assists.

Booker did have 13 assists and scored the first five points of a 15-0 Phoenix run to open the game. The Suns never trailed at any point, as they shot 55 per cent in the first quarter to build a 32-20 lead and carried a 57-41 advantage into half-time.

Minnesota, on the other hand, struggled to score throughout the evening and fell behind by as many as 23 points in the fourth quarter.

The Timberwolves shot just 38.8 per cent for the game while being dealt just their second defeat in their past eight outings. All-Star Anthony Edwards was 6 of 19 while being limited to 17 points, while starting forward Naz Reid managed just eight points on 3-of-13 shooting.

Monday's loss dropped Minnesota into a tie with the Denver Nuggets for first place in the Western Conference.

Devin Booker was over the moon to share his historic NBA moment with numerous family and friends after scoring 52 points for the Phoenix Suns in Monday's victory over the New Orleans Pelicans.

Suns star Booker recorded his fifth-highest scoring game of his career after posting 50+ against the Pelicans, bringing Phoenix within a game of No.6 New Orleans in the Western Conference.

With that monumental haul, Booker became the first NBA player since Wilt Chamberlain to score 50 points in three straight games against a single opponent.

"It means a whole lot," said Booker, who registered 52 against the Pelicans in January and 58 in December 2022.

"My family was in attendance for two of them. Any time you get named for something Wilt did – it's happened very few times in my career – you know you did something special."

Phoenix coach Frank Vogel lauded Booker's showing, having watched him record 52 points against New Orleans for the second time this year.

"There's something about playing in this building against this opponent," Vogel said. "[He] just really has a comfort zone here.

"To go for 50 three straight times against a single opponent, it just shows what kind of special player he is. Three times in a row is just incredible."

Kevin Durant added another 20 points, along with 19 for Jusuf Nurkic, as the Suns ran rampant in a 124-111 victory.

"It was like deja vu," Durant said of teammate Booker's exploits. "As it was happening, I couldn't believe he was doing it again."

Having already suffered from Booker's dominance previously, Pelicans coach Willie Green credited the Suns man but left no excuses for his team.

"He hit some shots that we gave him, and he also hit some tough shots," Green said. "We have to do better.

"There's no excuse to get 50, put on you twice [in a season]. Quite frankly, we were soft-guarding him.

"We just had a soft mentality when it came to being physical with him, and he's a great player, and you can't allow him to be comfortable."

Devin Booker racked up 52 points with a prolific shooting display that carried the Phoenix Suns to a 124-111 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Monday to tighten the Western Conference play-off race.

The win moved Phoenix within one game of New Orleans in the battle for the important No. 6 seed in the West. The top six teams in each conference are guaranteed a spot in the quarter-final round of the post-season, while teams seven through 10 will be forced to compete in the play-in tournament.

Phoenix was able to narrow the gap primarily behind Booker, who finished 19 of 28 from the field and 8 of 16 from 3-point range while adding nine assists.

The Suns also received 19 points and 19 rebounds from Jusuf Nurkic, while Kevin Durant had 20 points to help send the Pelicans to a second straight loss.

Both Booker and the Suns got off to sizzling starts, as the All-Star guard tallied 24 first-quarter points on 8-of-10 shooting during a dominant opening quarter. Seventeen of those points came during a 30-7 run that staked Phoenix to a 44-20 lead with under two minutes to go in the period.

Phoenix ended the first quarter up 46-28 and carried a 74-54 advantage into half-time with Booker amassing 37 points on 14-of-18 shooting over the first two quarters.

The Pelicans trailed by as many as 27 points in the second half but did make a belated push to get back in it, as Zion Williamson sparked an 8-0 run that CJ McCollum capped with a 3-pointer to pull New Orleans within 115-108 with 2:46 left.

That was as close as the Pelicans would get, however, as Booker scored his final two points on a layup with 1:34 to go that gave Phoenix a 119-110 lead.

Williamson paced New Orleans with 30 points and Trey Murphy recorded 21 in the loss. 

Krejci's perfect shooting night helps Hawks down Bulls

Vit Krejci went 6 of 6 from 3-point range for a career-high 18 points to help the surging Atlanta Hawks to a 113-101 win over the Chicago Bulls in a matchup of potential Eastern Conference play-in teams.

Krejci's flawless shooting, along with 20 points and six assists from Bogdan Bogdanović, powered the Hawks to a fifth win in six games and moved them within a half-game of ninth-place Chicago in the East standings. Dejounte Murray added 17 points, eight rebounds and six assists for Atlanta.

The Bulls got 31 points from DeMar DeRozan but failed to match Atlanta's accuracy from the perimeter, as they shot just 25 per cent (7 of 28) from 3-point range compared to 47.5 per cent (19 of 40) for the Hawks.

Krejci scored 15 points in the first half as Atlanta took a 61-53 lead into the break before extending the margin in the third quarter.

A DeAndre Hunter 3-pointer followed by Clint Capela's alley-oop dunk increased the Hawks' advantage to 75-62 five minutes into the third quarter, and Atlanta built a 90-74 lead entering the fourth after Garrison Mathews knocked down a triple in the final seconds of the third.

Coby White added 22 points for Chicago, which lost for the fifth time in seven games, while Andre Drummond accumulated 13 points and 18 rebounds off the bench.

Tatum, Hauser key Celtics' win over Hornets

Jayson Tatum and Sam Hauser had 25 points each as the East-leading Boston Celtics stayed hot with a 118-104 victory over the Charlotte Hornets.

Tatum added 10 rebounds and Hauser went 7 of 11 on 3-point attempts as the Celtics posted their 11th win in their last 13 games. Boston, which has already clinched the East's No. 1 play-off seed, also received 20 points from Kristaps Porzingis and 19 from Derrick White.

Brandon Miller and Miles Bridges each had 14 first-half points to keep the underdog Hornets close for much of the first two quarters. The teams were tied at  53-53 with under two minutes to go until half-time before the Celtics closed out the second quarter with six straight points to forge ahead.

Boston then got further separation by outscoring Charlotte by a 36-26 margin in the third quarter, which Hauser capped with a 3-pointer to extend the lead to 95-79. Porzingis recorded 11 of his points during the period.

Bridges ended with 26 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists in Charlotte's eighth loss in its past nine games. Miller finished with 19 points and Grant Williams had 23 along with seven rebounds for the Hornets.

Frank Vogel hit out at the Phoenix Suns for an "unacceptable" defeat to the San Antonio Spurs.

San Antonio were shorn of star player Victor Wembenyama on Monday, yet ran out 104-102 winners over the Suns.

Phoenix have now lost three of their four meetings against the Spurs this season, despite San Antonio having been rooted to the bottom of the Western Conference.

And Vogel did not hold back in criticising his team.

"It's just unacceptable to lose that game," Suns coach Vogel said.

"For our guys, we all said the right things. We all did the right preparation. But we didn't play with the necessary focus in this position throughout, I would say, the first half."

Bradley Beal added: "It's disappointment.

"We came in here and laid an egg. We thought it was going to be easy with no Wemby. Just got our a** kicked.

"They came out aggressive, just like the coach told us they would, and we didn't respond. Well, we did, but we didn't withstand their punches."

Devin Booker says the Suns knew what to expect of the Spurs, but just did not deliver.

"I'm not into disrespecting our opponents," Booker said.

"These guys are NBA guys. There are some talented young players over there. We weren't unprepared. We knew what to expect."

Jeremy Sochan and Devin Vassell both finished with 26 points for the Spurs.

"I was confident," Sochan said.

"Even at the start, I was asking for the ball, I had my hands up. I felt like a couple of the last games the ball hasn't going in for me from the 3-point line. But no matter what, I believe in myself."

The Suns sit eighth in the West, but are about to embark on what ESPN class as the toughest end to the season in the NBA, but Vogel dismissed those concerns.

"We like our chances against anybody. We don't worry about the schedule," he said.

The Phoenix Suns signed Isaiah Thomas to a 10-day contract on Wednesday, bringing the two-time All-Star guard back to the NBA for the first time since 2022.

Thomas joins Phoenix after playing in four games with the Salt Lake City Stars in the NBA G League, averaging 32.5 points and 5.3 assists.

The 60th and final pick of the 2011 NBA Draft by the Sacramento Kings, Thomas has appeared in 550 regular-season contests with 10 teams and averaged 17.7 points to go along with 4.8 assists per game.

He earned All-Star selections in 2015-16 and 2016-17 while with the Boston Celtics and was voted second-team All-NBA in 2016-17,

Thomas previously played for the Suns in 2014-15 and averaged 15.2 points and 3.7 assists in 46 games before being traded to Boston in February 2015.

Phoenix (39-29) enters Wednesday’s visit from the Philadelphia 76ers in eighth place in the Western Conference.

Jaylen Brown scored 37 points and Jayson Tatum added 26 as the league-leading Boston Celtics rolled to a 127-112 victory over the Phoenix Suns on Thursday, becoming the first team to clinch a playoff spot.

Al Horford had 24 points with six of Boston’s season high-tying 25 3-pointers as the Celtics defeated Phoenix for the second time in a week to win its fourth straight.

Tatum and Brown combined for 43 of the Celtics’ 65 first-half points and Boston broke open the game with an 18-6 run in the third quarter for a 97-78 cushion.

Devin Booker scored 23 points and Bradley Beal added 22 and seven assists for the Suns, who have lost four of six on the road.

Brunson’s big game powers Knicks

Jalen Brunson poured in 45 points and the New York Knicks rolled to a 105-93 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers.

Brunson shot 14 of 30 from the field and was 2 of 10 from 3-point range while making 15 of 17 free throws. He reached the 40-point mark for the sixth time this season.

Donte DiVincenzo and OG Anunoby each added 12 points for the Knicks, who won consecutive games for the first time since a nine-game streak from Jan. 17-Feb. 1.

Deandre Ayton had 31 points and 14 rebounds as Portland completed a 2-4 homestand.

Antetokounmpo leads Bucks over 76ers

Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 32 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to propel the Milwaukee Bucks to a 114-105 win over the struggling Philadelphia 76ers.

Brook Lopez had 19 points and seven rebounds and Damian Lillard added 17 points and seven assists for the Bucks, who returned home after losing three of four on a West Coast swing.

Tyrese Maxey scored 30 points for the 76ers, who have lost 16 of their last 23 games.

Kevin Durant scored 24 of his 37 points in the second half to help rally the Phoenix Suns to a 117-111 win over the hobbled Cleveland Cavaliers in a key inter-conference clash on Monday.

Durant added eight rebounds and six assists for Phoenix, which overcame a 19-point deficit in the second quarter while being boosted by All-Star Devin Booker's return from a sprained ankle.

Booker contributed 27 points on 11-of-22 shooting along with seven rebounds in 38 minutes after missing the Suns' last four games.

Darius Garland went 7 of 10 from 3-point range and finished with 30 points for the Cavaliers, who were again without three injured starters in All-Star Donovan Mitchell, forward Evan Mobley and guard Max Strus. Caris LeVert recorded 17 points and 11 assists in the loss. 

Cleveland has lost two straight and dropped a game behind the Milwaukee Bucks for first place in the Central Division.

Garland and the Cavs came out hot, as the standout guard put up 21 first-quarter points and Cleveland shot 66.7 per cent for the period to build a 41-32 lead. The margin grew in the second quarter, as Garland buried a 3-pointer to cap an 11-2 run that put the hosts up 63-44 with 4:50 left before half-time.

Phoenix closed the gap to 70-63 at the intermission before outscoring the Cavaliers by a 34-21 margin in the third quarter to pull ahead. Durant led the way with 19 points for the period on 6-of-8 shooting. 

Cleveland fought back to tie the game at 104-104 with under eight minutes left, but Booker and Durant led the Suns on a 9-3 flurry that the latter finished with a 3-pointer that gave the Suns a 113-107 lead with 3:43 remaining.

Doncic extends triple-doubles streak, but 30-point run ends

Luka Dončić posted his seventh consecutive triple-double, though his record run of six straight games of at least 30 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists came to an end in the Dallas Mavericks' 127-92 rout of the Chicago Bulls.

Doncic recorded 14 assists and 12 rebounds but failed to hit the 30-point mark after being removed from the blowout win midway through the fourth quarter. He finished with 27 points.

Dallas also dominated inside en route to its third consecutive victory, as post players Derrick Lively and Daniel Gafford combined for 44 points on 20-of-21 shooting. Lively missed just one of his 12 attempts while compiling a career-high 22 points, while Gafford was 9 of 9 from the field to end with 20 points.

Gafford is now a perfect 28 of 28 on field goal attempts over his last four games.

The Mavericks set the tone right from the start, as they outscored Chicago by a whopping 44-16 margin in the first quarter while shooting 64.3 per cent as a team. Doncic had 15 points and seven assists for the period and Lively chipped in 10 points in just six minutes.

Chicago never mounted a serious threat the rest of the way, as Dallas took a 62-42 lead into half-time and went ahead by as many as 34 points in the third quarter.

Onuralp Bitim led the Bulls with a career-high 17 points off the bench. Chicago has now lost two straight following a three-game winning streak on the road from March 4-7.

Jokic, Nuggets overcome 22-point deficit to top Raptors

Nikola Jokić compiled a 35-point, 17-rebound, 12-assist triple-double that helped spark a big second-half comeback which lifted the Denver Nuggets to a hard-earned 125-119 win over the Toronto Raptors.

Denver trailed by 21 points in the third quarter and as many as 22 in the game before rallying behind Jokic and Jamal Murray, who recorded 12 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter and scored the go-ahead bucket with 6:48 left to play.

Jokic also had a season-high six steals in addition to his 21st triple-double of the season.

The Nuggets moved to 9-1 since the All-Star break, though the underdog Raptors gave the defending NBA champions all they could handle for much of the night.

Toronto opened the second quarter on an 11-0 run to build a 45-32 lead and extended the margin to 68-51 at the break behind 15 points from RJ Barrett and 13 from rookie Gradey Dick.

The Nuggets began chipping away late in the third quarter, as they closed out the period on a 16-5 spurt to trim the deficit to 98-93 entering the fourth. Jokic had 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting for the quarter.

Murray's floater midway through the fourth quarter gave Denver a 108-107 lead, though the Raptors continued to keep it close until Michael Porter Jr.'s 3-pointer with 1:02 left to play proved to be too much to overcome as the Nuggets took a 124-119 edge into the final minute.

Barrett finished with 26 points, seven rebounds and nine assists for Toronto, which also received 24 points from Kelly Olynyk but lost for a fourth consecutive time.

LeBron James scored his 40,000th point, but the Denver Nuggets closed strong and won their sixth straight game, 124-114 over the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday.

James finished with 26 points and nine assists while reaching his latest milestone on a layup with 10:39 left in the second quarter. He extended his lead as the league’s career scoring leader.

Nikola Jokić had 35 points and 10 rebounds, Michael Porter Jr. added 25 and 10 and Jamal Murray had 24 points, 11 assists and six boards to help Denver get within one-half game of Minnesota for the Northwest Division lead.

The Nuggets closed the game on a 16-6 run, with Aaron Gordon’s 3-pointer with 3:49 left putting them ahead for good.

Jokic made a turnaround hook before Murray hit a jumper and Justin Holiday converted a running layup for a 117-110 advantage. After Anthony Davis’s basket got the Lakers within 117-112 with 1:49 left, Murray made a layup and Jokic added a layup of his own.

Booker injures ankle in Suns’ loss

Jalen Green poured in 34 points with six 3-pointers to lead the Houston Rockets to a 118-109 win over the Phoenix Suns, who lost star guard Devin Booker to an ankle injury.

Booker left late in the game after he injured his right ankle when he stepped on teammate Royce O’Neale’s foot. Booker had 24 points in 38 minutes before departing.

Fred VanVleet scored 24 points and Alperen Sengun added 21 with 10 rebounds as the Rockets snapped a three-game skid and avenged Thursday’s loss at Phoenix.

Kevin Durant had 30 points for the Suns, who had a nine-game home winning streak snapped.

Butler leads Heat past Jazz

Jimmy Butler scored 18 of his season-high 37 points in the third quarter and the Miami Heat defeated the Utah Jazz 126-120 for their 10th win in 13 games.

Bam Adebayo added 23 points and Caleb Martin had 18 for the Heat, who beat the Jazz at home for the seventh straight time.

Butler hit all three of his 3-point attempts and had a steal, extending his streak of having at least one 3 and one steal to 13 consecutive games – the fourth-longest run in the NBA this season and tying Tim Hardaway for the second-longest such streak in Heat history.

Keyonte George scored 31 points and Lauri Markkanen added 25 as the Jazz lost their third straight and eighth in nine games.

LeBron James and Darvin Ham were left frustrated with the officiating after the Los Angeles Lakers went down to the Phoenix Suns.

The Lakers lost 123-113 in Arizona on Sunday, with Los Angeles awarded just eight free throws in contrast to Phoenix's tally of 19.

It was a season-low for the Lakers, who averaged 24.7 free throws per game heading into the game.

Of those eight free throws, none came in the second half, and James was left exasperated.

"A lot of people, a lot of coaches, a lot of teams are like, 'That's all the Lakers do is get to the free throw line,'" James said.

"It's like this narrative out there that that's all we do is get to the free throw line. I mean, we have attackers. That's what we do. We have attackers. Yeah, we shoot the ball from the perimeter, but we're not shooting 40 to 50 3s a game. We're not that team. We don't have the luxury of being that team. So, working it into the paint, that's what we're really good at.

"To have eight free throw attempts is definitely not us. I know, definitely, I got hit a couple of times when I got to the paint tonight that wasn't called. But it is what it is."

Lakers coach Ham, though, was left reserved.

"I'm not one to use referees as an excuse," he said.

"But it's becoming increasingly tough because of the inconsistency. I'm seeing our guys get the same contact on them as we're supposedly committing. And the whistle is not being blown."

Anthony Davis did not record a single free throw attempt for the first time in a game this season.

He added: "We live on getting to the line. We attack the basket.

"Especially how much we struggle from the 3, we're kind of up and down, so we try to live in the paint and get to the line.

"I'm not sure if it was just the refs missing it or they weren't fouling. I felt I got fouled a couple of times. But that's part of our identity, our DNA, is getting to the line and guys catching rhythms like that and then playing from there."

While the Suns are sixth in the Western Conference after the win, the Lakers are in ninth, with a 31-28 record.

In other news on Sunday, the NBA banned five players – including Jimmy Butler – for their involvement in an on-court spat in Friday's meeting between the Miami Heat and the New Orleans Pelicans.

Butler, Nikola Jovic and Naji Marshall were each suspended for one game without pay, while Jose Alvarado and Thomas Bryant were slapped with three-game bans.

Detroit Pistons coach Monty Williams was left unimpressed by the Phoenix Suns issuing a statement following Isaiah Stewart's arrest.

Pistons center Stewart was arrested after he punched Phoenix's Drew Eubanks before Wednesday's meeting between the Suns and Detroit.

Stewart, who was already out of the game due to an ankle injury, was issued with a citation and released, reported ESPN, citing Phoenix police.

Eubanks, meanwhile, helped the Suns win 116-100. The Phoenix center said the altercation with Stewart took place as he was coming into the arena, explaining an argument sparked before security intervened.

In a statement, the Suns said: "The attack on Drew Eubanks was unprovoked, and acts of violence such as this are unacceptable.

"We unequivocally support Drew, and will continue to work with local law enforcement and the NBA."

Williams, who was sacked by the Suns last season, questioned his former team, however.

"The thing is to get all of the information. The NBA will do an investigation," Williams said.

"For me to come here and make a statement would be a bit irresponsible. I know the Suns said it was unprovoked; I think that is irresponsible for sure. You really don't know.

"That did not need to happen. There is a time for the information to be gathered, and then you can make a statement."

A Pistons statement added: "We are in the process of gathering information about what happened and what provoked it, and responding to the NBA and local authorities."

Suns talisman Kevin Durant, who finished with 25 points, said: "Keep the game first. There's a lot of noise. 

"It's unfortunate what happened before the game, it's supposed to be a brotherhood. But I also understand, dudes get into stuff. We try to avoid that in this league, hopefully we can move on from it. We all support Drew."

Jusuf Nurkic hit out at Draymond Green after the pair exchanged words and taunts during the Golden State Warriors' Stephen Curry-inspired win over the Phoenix Suns.

The resurgent Warriors won 113-112 thanks to Curry's 33-foot 3-pointer in the dying seconds on Saturday.

But while Curry wrote the headlines, and received high praise from all involved, including former teammate Kevin Durant, Green and Nurkic were involved in a verbal tussle.

Green has been careful with his behaviour since he returned from an indefinite NBA suspension in January. He had been banned because he had hit Nurkic in the face during a clash between the Warriors and the Suns in December.

But Nurkic does not believe Green has learned any lessons.

"It's sad," he said. "He didn't learn anything. It's just a matter of time.

"He's going to hit somebody else again. I take everything back, what I said. He doesn't deserve a chance."

Nurkic taunted Green by slapping the floor twice with a "too small" gesture during the third quarter, with the Warriors star returning the favour when he scooped the ball over the Suns center two minutes later.

"You can't be a nothing defender if you're going to do that," Green said of Nurkic.

"You probably outweigh me by 70 pounds and you get put in the rim? Got to be more careful.

"I thought I was great tonight. He tried to get in my head, and it didn't work. If he wants me to walk around quiet, like him, I'm never going to do that. Quiet guys don't win.

"He can keep rocking with that same horse that he rode in on. He can ride his a** right out of here on that same horse. It's not working."

Curry laughed off Nurkic's comments.

"He's given us a lift every game he's been back," Curry said of Green. "He connects, obviously, our defense, but you can talk about his defense every game.

"What he did offensively tonight, especially in the fourth quarter, he gave us great energy in the sense of having that competitive spirit you need to win a game like tonight, to meet the moment.

"Draymond knows how to walk the line that he needs to walk. This is probably the best game that you've seen it.

"You can tell when someone is in your head when you go out of your way to celebrate. Then Draymond comes back at him. All of the talk, Draymond was in his head, plain and simple."

Warriors coach Steve Kerr likewise defended Green.

"That month off, that suspension was real," Kerr said. "[Draymond] knew that his career was on the line or is on the line. He understands that he's got to be the guy he's been the last nine years, not the one he's been the last year. I see him doing that."

Ultimately, it was Curry's quality that settled the contest. The two-time MVP finished with 30 points, nine rebounds and six assists, with his match-winning moment coming when Bradley Beal missed an attempted steal, after Brandin Podziemski had picked out Golden State's talisman.

"He's the best to ever shoot it," Beal said. "So you know the result after that."

For Durant, who played alongside Curry with the Warriors, there was not much more the Suns could have done to deny his former teammate.

"You give him a look like that for the game, he's licking his chops," Durant reflected. "I still think we could've had that steal. It's a tough play. Sometimes guys are just that great."

Kerr added: "We were due. We were due for one of these tight games to go our way. But the guys earned it. It didn’t just happen."

The Warriors have now won their last four games and sit 10th in the Western Conference with a 25-25 record, while the Suns are sixth on 31-22.

Bradley Beal delivered his best game with his new team in his first encounter with his old one.

Beal poured in a season-high 43 points to lead the visiting Phoenix Suns to a 140-112 blowout of the Washington Wizards on Sunday in the three-time All-Star's return to the arena he called home for 11 seasons.

The veteran guard was facing the rebuilding Wizards for the first time since being traded by Washington to the Suns in June. Beal missed the Suns' win over the Wizards in Phoenix in December due to a sprained ankle.

Beal was selected by the Wizards with the third overall pick in the 2012 draft and ranks second in franchise history in points and third in games played.

The 30-year-old had 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting in the first quarter to help stake Phoenix to an early 42-28 lead, then added 12 more in the second as the Suns opened up a commanding 79-58 advantage at half-time.

Phoenix's lead never got to under 19 points in the second half as it coasted to its 10th win in 13 games. The Suns also received 18 points each from Kevin Durant and Jusuf Nurkic, who added 13 rebounds and eight assists. 

Deni Avdija had 24 points on 10-of-13 shooting to lead Washington, which lost its third straight game to drop to 9-40 on the season.

Jazz beat Bucks behind dominant fourth quarter

Lauri Markkanen led a balanced Utah attack with 21 points and the Jazz dominated the fourth quarter to rally for a 123-108 win over the Milwaukee Bucks.

Utah trailed by 16 points late in the third quarter before outscoring Milwaukee by a whopping 40-13 margin in the fourth to halt a three-game losing streak and drop the Bucks to 1-3 since head coach Doc Rivers took over the team last week.

Playing for the second time in as many nights, Milwaukee ran out of gas in the final period as it missed 13 of 17 field-goal attempts in the fourth quarter. The Jazz, meanwhile, shot 60 per cent over the final 12 minutes.

Keyonte George had 10 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter and was one of seven Utah players to score in double figures. The rookie added 10 rebounds, while John Collins also posted a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds.

Down 95-83 after three quarters, the Jazz began the fourth on a 21-7 run to take a 104-102 lead on Markkanen's 3-pointer with 6:26 left. They put the game away soon afterward with an 18-3 flurry that staked Utah to a 122-108 advantage with under two minutes to go. George had eight points during that spurt.

The Bucks lost despite a 33-point, 13-assist effort from Giannis Antetokounmpo and a 27-point performance from Bobby Portis.

Clippers stay hot by extending Heat's woes

Kawhi Leonard had 25 points and 11 rebounds and the Los Angeles Clippers pulled away late to hand the still-slumping Miami Heat a 103-95 loss.

James Harden scored 11 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter and finished with 11 assists as the red-hot Clippers won for the eighth time in nine games. Los Angeles is an NBA-best 25-5 since Dec. 1.

After breaking out of a seven-game losing streak by winning their previous two games, the Heat struggled to an 8-for-30 shooting effort from 3-point range on a night they were without one of their best outside shooters in Tyler Herro, who was scratched due to a headache.

The Clippers, meanwhile, went 16 of 39 (41 per cent) from beyond the arc with Harden leading the way by hitting five of his nine 3-point tries.

Despite its shooting woes, Miami held a 72-71 edge with nine minutes left before the Clippers took control. Los Angeles broke open the game with a 20-6 run, capped by back-to-back Harden 3-pointers, to take a 91-78 lead with five minutes remaining.

The Heat fought back and got to within 99-95 on Jimmy Butler's 3-point play with 13.3 seconds left, but Paul George and Leonard each made two free throws in the closing stages to end any comeback hopes. 

Butler had 21 points and Terry Rozier scored 17 for Miami, which also received 14 points and 13 rebounds from Bam Adebayo.

Kevin Durant likes where the Phoenix Suns are trending after pouring in 33 points to seal a victorious return to Brooklyn.

The Suns won 136-120 over the Nets, as Durant shot 10 of 16 from the field and added eight assists in his first game in Brooklyn since being traded to Phoenix nearly a year ago.

Jusuf Nurkic had 28 with 11 rebounds, Devin Booker scored 22 points and Eric Gordon added 17 for the surging Suns.

The win at Barclays Center was the Suns' ninth win in 11 NBA games before they play the Atlanta Hawks on Friday night and the Washington Wizards on Sunday.

"We were just floating from two to three games under .500 and .500 for most of the year," Durant said after the game, per ESPN. 

"Now we look up, we're 28-20 with a good opportunity to be 10 games over .500 with our next two games on the road. 

"So, we're going home at the 50-game mark, hopefully we can be 30-20, and I like where we are. 

"It's a grind throughout the whole season, especially with the new group, new coaching staff, new team, guys in and out the lineup. You got to build some continuity, and we are on our way to that."

There was huge hype around Durant’s return to his former team, but Suns coach Frank Vogel was impressed by how he focused on the job at hand.

"Hell of a performance," said Vogel. "He put the team first.

"He went out and competed, played team-first basketball, had eight assists and several other plays where made the extra pass and allowed his teammates to play through his double-teams.

"He played a team-first type of game and ended up with 33 and eight."

Durant spent almost four years at Brooklyn, playing alongside James Harden and Kyrie Irving. But the stars only played 16 games together and the Nets won just one playoff series.

The two-time NBA champion gave his reflections on that time but said he did not ponder what might have been, instead focusing on the facts of his time in a Nets jersey.

Durant said: "No, I don’t think about what could have been, that's just a pointless exercise, in my opinion. What happened. That's what I thought about: what actually happened, the reality of it.

"We didn't have enough time together. That's just it. Guys wanted to go their separate ways. 

"We tried our hardest to salvage everything together. We had three or four different teams [from] when I signed here until when I left. 

"But at the end of the day, I enjoyed coming to work, playing for, being a part of this community and playing, representing Brooklyn; regardless of what went on, what was said or how I felt, I still came to work.

"I was an All-Star every year. I was the leading vote-getter every year in All-Star games. Sold a lot of jerseys. [Averaged] 50-40-90, averaged 30, [made] All-NBA. 

"I mean, was that successful? You know what I mean? But team success is a different thing.

"You'd like to put the team, how the team does, you'd like to put that on one of the best players and call it a failure, but if you want to talk about me individually, you can just look at the work that I put in here.

"I think I've grown as a player. I'm on my way to mastering the game. I think coming here helped me, pushed me far closer to that. So that's what I try to take from my time here."

The Nets played a tribute video for Durant before the game and he had a mixture of cheers and boos from the home crowd over the course of the night.

"That wasn't going to stop me from just doing my job regardless," Durant said about the video.

"But there's class people here. They appreciate everybody who donned the jersey and that shows a great organization. I respect that."

Cam Thomas scored 25 points and Mikal Bridges, who came to Brooklyn in the Durant trade, had 21 but the Nets (19-28) failed in their bid to win three straight for the first time since early December.

They next play at Philadelphia on Friday.

Anthony Edwards scored 27 points and helped spark a late run that propelled the Minnesota Timberwolves to a 107-101 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday in a clash of teams that had been tied for the Western Conference lead. 

Karl-Anthony Towns had 21 points and 10 rebounds and Rudy Gobert amassed 12 points and 18 rebounds as the Timberwolves bounced back from Saturday's one-point loss at Sacramento and dropped the Thunder to third place in the tightly bunched conference standings.

The Denver Nuggets moved a half-game ahead of Oklahoma City and remained a half-game behind Minnesota with Monday's win over the Milwaukee Bucks. 

Oklahoma City had erased a 10-point third-quarter deficit to take a 97-96 lead on two Shai Gilgeous-Alexander free throws with 2:43 left, but Minnesota's Jaden McDaniels hit a 3-pointer on the ensuing possession to start a pivotal 9-0 spurt.

The Thunder would miss their next four shots as the Timberwolves began pulling away. Edwards followed McDaniels' trey with a running dunk and McDaniels scored on a tip-in before Towns capped the run with two free throws that put Minnesota up 105-97 with 15.5 seconds to go. 

Minnesota owned a 62-52 advantage nearing the midway mark of the third quarter before the Thunder seized momentum with an 11-0 run. Gilgeous-Alexander had six points and Jalen Williams scored the last five of the flurry, which gave Oklahoma City a 63-62 edge with five minutes left in the period.

The Thunder, who were coming off a stunning 120-104 loss to the NBA-worst Detroit Pistons on Sunday, received 37 points and eight assists from Gilgeous-Alexander and 20 points from Williams. 

Chet Holmgren, Oklahoma City's third-leading scorer at 17 points per game, was held to just four points on 2-of-9 shooting, however, as the Timberwolves finished with a 46-34 point advantage in the paint.

Jokic has another triple-double as Nuggets spoil Rivers' debut with Bucks

Jamal Murray scored 35 points and Nikola Jokić posted his 14th triple-double of the season to power the Denver Nuggets to a 113-107 win over Milwaukee in Doc Rivers' first game as the Bucks' head coach.

Jokic compiled 25 points, 16 rebounds and 12 assists to add to his league-leading triple-double count and help the defending NBA champions keep pace with first-place Minnesota in the West. The Nuggets have now won five of their last six games.

Rivers, who coached the Boston Celtics to an NBA title during the 2007-08 season, was hired shortly after the Bucks dismissed Adrian Griffin on Jan. 23 despite sitting in second place in the Eastern Conference with a 30-13 record. Assistant Joe Prunty coached Milwaukee's last three games and went 2-1.

The veteran coach's tenure started off strong as the Bucks jumped out to a 24-11 lead midway through the first quarter, though the Nuggets ended the period on a 12-0 run to cut their deficit to 26-25 entering the second. 

Denver gradually asserted control and owned an 84-75 advantage early in the fourth quarter, but the Bucks hit three straight 3-pointers during a 13-2 spurt that put them back ahead with under nine minutes to play.

The game remained tight until the Nuggets pulled away with an 8-0 run, which Murray capped with a jumper that gave Denver a 106-97 lead with 3:17 to go.

Giannis Antetokounmpo paced Milwaukee with 29 points on 11-of-19 shooting along with 12 rebounds, while Brook Lopez had 19 points and Damian Lillard finished with 18 in the loss. 

Suns bounce back by handing Heat seventh straight loss

The Phoenix Suns kept rolling behind a balanced attack and strong defence that resulted in a 118-105 victory over the reeling Miami Heat, the seventh consecutive loss for the defending Eastern Conference champions.

Eric Gordon scored 23 points off the bench to lead six Phoenix players in double figures in a game the Suns led by as much as 28 points en route to stopping a two-game losing streak.

The Suns also got 22 points from Devin Booker and 20 from Kevin Durant, with both stars finishing with eight rebounds and seven assists each.

Miami went 14 of 36 from 3-point range but was stonewalled from inside the arc, shooting a subpar 39.6 per cent on 2-point attempts in this latest defeat. The Heat have lost seven straight for the first time since the 2007-08 season.

Jimmy Butler led Miami with 26 points and recent acquisition Terry Rozier had 21 in his fourth game with the Heat.

Miami shot just 35.4 per cent in the first half as the Suns built a 62-49 lead at the break, and its shooting woes continued as Phoenix extended the margin in the third quarter. 

Booker had 12 points and the Suns shot over 68 per cent for the period to open up a commanding 100-74 advantage entering the fourth quarter.

Dallas Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd heaped praise on Luka Doncic after his franchise-record 73 points helped them past the Atlanta Hawks on Friday, declaring: "He is the game plan".

The Mavs arrived at State Farm Arena looking to halt a three-game losing run, and Doncic ensured they did exactly that with a historic performance in their 148-143 victory.

He tied Wilt Chamberlain and David Thompson for the fourth-best return in NBA history. Chamberlain also holds the scoring record with a 100-point game and also had a 78-point performance to his name, while Kobe Bryant racked up 81 points against the Toronto Raptors in 2006.

Doncic's incredible performance came just four days after the Philadelphia 76ers' Joel Embiid brought up 70 points in a win over the San Antonio Spurs.

Kidd was more than happy to let Doncic take centre-stage and believes the Slovenian will have been frustrated to miss out on a triple-double after adding 10 rebounds and seven assists.

"He is the game plan," Kidd said of Doncic. "The three assists are what he's probably thinking about in the locker room to have a triple-double!"

Doncic himself was focused purely on helping Dallas end their slump, saying: "We've been struggling lately, so the mindset was to go and get a win. We played great."

He was not the only player to put in a huge performance on Friday, with Devin Booker scoring 62 points for the Phoenix Suns, only to finish on the losing side against the Indiana Pacers. 

Obi Toppin's putback broke a tie with just under four seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, guiding Indiana to a 133-131 victory and ruining Booker's remarkable display.

"He's a great player," Toppin said of Booker. "But in that fourth quarter, we decided to hit and send another defender to get the ball out of his hands and just scramble out of that. They didn't like it at all. I think it was their worst quarter.

"We needed points so our objective was just to get involved, crash the boards. I saw Bennedict [Mathurin] try to finish over someone and then Pascal [Siakam] was right in front of me, so I just grabbed the ball and put it in."