A short-handed Mavs team loses a tough one in OKC.

The Mavs arrived in OKC tonight, the second night of a back to back, with no Dirk Nowitzki, no Wesley Matthews, no Deron Williams, and no J.J. Barea. Somehow, despite foul trouble and injuries, they made tonight’s contest into an actual basketball game. It was a contest they lost, but it was more of game than we had any right to expect.

Sure, the Thunder were also on the second night of a back to back, but the Mavericks’ B and C teams managed to do a lot right tonight, some of which should fuel the hopes of those who still want the team to fight for that eighth seed.

The Thunder dominated majority in New Orleans and held on for the road win.

The Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the New Orleans Pelicans, 114-105. Marking their second consecutive road win in a row, the Thunder used a bruising inside game behind Steven Adams (20-11-3 with 4 blocks) and Russell Westbrook’s triple-double (27-12-10) to hold the Pelicans at arm’s length for most of the night. The win brings the Thunder back to 8 games over .500 and an even 6-6 in their toughest month of the season with 3 games to go.

Young Denver star Nikola Jokic suffered an apparent hip injury in the waning minutes of their victory. His current status is unknown.

Update: Per the Denver Nuggets, Nikola Jokic suffered a left hip strain. X-rays are negative and he will go for an MRI tomorrow.

The Nuggets came out of the gate with low defensive energy but still displayed enough offensive prowess to put the Phoenix Suns away 127-120, but the story of the night happened in the last two minutes. Jokic went down from an apparent non-contact hip injury and had to limp back to the locker room. No status has been given at this time, but Denver’s hopes for the season rest on his shoulders and a serious injury would be devastating.

The Sixers are basically unstoppable.

What an incredibly fun win for the Sixers, as they overcame some ridiculously hot first half shooting from the Clippers to stroll to an easy 121-110 win without Joel Embiid. It was a tale of two halves for the Sixers, as they looked well on their way to a blowout loss at halftime, but they managed to close the game on a 63-32 run as they pulled away mid-way through the 4th quarter and never looked back.

Atlanta capitalized on a Chicago collapse with some key shots and defense

The Atlanta Hawks beat the Chicago Bulls tonight by a score of 119-114, pulling off an improbable late comeback. The Bulls led for most of the evening, and the Hawks only took the lead for the first time late in the fourth quarter. After a disappointing showing on Monday night, this was a nice victory for the team.

Dejounte Murray’s basket in the final 90 seconds gave the Spurs the margin they needed.

San Antonio’s hero Tuesday night was the rookie who just weeks ago wasn’t sure where he would play his next game — San Antonio or Austin, in the D-League.

But Dejounte Murray, facing Toronto on the road and starting again in the injured Tony Parker’s place, lofted a high floater to hand the Spurs a 106-104 lead with 1:29 in a frenzied Air Canada Centre.

Dallas stays hot after dispatching New York in a back-and-forth thriller

The Mavs are bad but they are making a habit of beating bad teams lately. Dallas did it again Wednesday night, taking down an also-bad New York team 103-95 on Tuesday night.

It was pretty obvious Carmelo Anthony was ticked off about the news that came out earlier in the day about the Knicks talking to the Cavaliers about swapping Melo for Kevin Love. Melo played mad all night and single-handedly kept New York in it.

Back in that playoff race!

Dwyane Wade started the game 0-6, but subsequently went 9-17 to finish with 21 points. He also, pretty incredibly, had 7 steals, and I say incredible because he was doing the usual low-effort Wade thing. But he did hit a few of those turnaround midrange shots of faded hall-of-fame-shooting-guard past. Wade led the Bulls in scoring as they pulled away from the Orlando Magic late to win 100-92.