The Milwaukee Bucks let their backups have the game in this one with 60% of its normal starting lineup unavailable, and the Denver Nuggets played patty cake with them for three quarters before finally putting Milwaukee’s B Team away in the fourth, 109-95. Jamal Murray caught fire at the end of the third with a monster, poster-worthy dunk that was waived off and helped control the Bucks to start the fourth. Nikola Jokic, who had sleepwalked through the first 3 frames woke up for the fourth and finished off the win, while Denver got balanced contributions from Paul Millsap, Jerami Grant, Will Barton and Gary Harris. For a contender it wasn’t the beatdown it should have been, but the Nuggets did what they needed to and got out with a much-needed win.

Although this Raptors season has been characterized by team play, tonight’s game was defined by three individual performances. For three and a half quarters, the starting guards, Kyle Lowry and Norman Powell carried an offense that looked out of sync, bailing out the Raptors with stellar shotmaking. In crunch time, however, Pascal Siakam shook off a rough start to the game to close out the Kings with a dominant stretch to end the game, scoring 11 points in the final three minutes, leading to a 118-113 Raptors’ win.

Over the past five years no team has lost more games than the Phoenix Suns. They made zero playoff appearances, held zero all-stars, paid five head coaches, and, under one culturally pestilent owner, endured constant front office disruption.

Steph Curry’s NBA return for his first game since fracturing his hand in October was fun as hell, even though the Warriors lost, 121-113, to the Raptors at home. It took Curry until the second quarter to get rolling scoring the ball, but once he was on, he never let up.

The Houston Rockets defied convention at the trade deadline when they dealt away Clint Capela for Robert Covington, electing to permanently start a lineup without a traditional center. They’ve had substantial success since then, but the Clippers presented the toughest challenge to date: A team replete with big, physical wings to counter the Pocket Rockets.

While Zion Williamson’s 20-point game streak grows, New Orleans dropped the first leg of a back-to-back to the overhauled Minnesota Timberwolves at home Tuesday night.

With 23 games left in their regular season schedule, the Los Angeles Lakers have an opportunity to clinch a spot in the 2020 NBA playoffs as soon as Tuesday night. While they won’t know exactly where they’ll be seeded for a little while longer, they currently sit atop of the Western Conference — the same place they’ve been since the start of November — with a 5.5 game cushion over the No. 2 seed, the Denver Nuggets.

The Orlando Magic will make the playoffs for the second straight season after six years out of the money. In some realms, that’s nice. That’s positive. That’s progress. The Magic slipped into the No. 7 seed over the injury-ridden Brooklyn Nets late last week and have five games on the No. 9 Washington Wizards with 23 games to go. FiveThirtyEight gives Orlando a better than 99 percent probability of making the playoffs.

james Harden’s legacy, status, and reputation forced their way into the NBA news cycle during his recent on-camera interview with ESPN’s Rachel Nichols. In it, Harden reacted to Nichols’ line of questioning with faux disinterest, as if feeding his own narrative was beneath him, while what he actually wanted was to set the record straight.

1st Quarter:
The Heat were aggressive to start with Jimmy Butler scoring twice early on. On the other end it was Giannis and Middleton getting things done for the Bucks.