Australian Andrew Bogut's Golden State Warriors have fallen to the Atlanta Hawks 124-116 in the battle of the NBA's two best sides.
Playing the match in Atlanta, the East-leading Hawks took the advantage in the third quarter, piling on 37 points and scoring 35 more in the final term to pull away from the Warriors.
In a game that was a part preview of the NBA All Star weekend, Atlanta were led by 23 points from guard Jeff Teague, while centre Al Horford had a double-double, scoring 12 points with six assists. Horford dominated on the glass with a game-high 14 rebounds.
The Hawks were helped by 15 of 27 shooting from beyond the arc, with league-leading shooter Kyle Korver draining five of nine attempts.
Golden State's potent offence couldn't match the Atlanta effort, even with 26 points from Steph Curry and 29 from Klay Thompson.
With the win, Atlanta improved to a record of 42-9 and Golden State dropped to 39-9.
Given Atlanta weren't expected to win the game, it was further proof a team no one really gave a chance to start the year is a genuine contender.
Korver was excited by the result and what it meant for his team.
"It feels good," Korver said.
"That is a really good team. That's a really dangerous team. They can get hot. They can get cold. They can get really hot all in the same game. They are really hard to prepare for. We knew we had to play a good 48-minute game to beat them."
While Atlanta stretched their lead in the East, Cleveland fell short of reaching a franchise record-tying 13 straight wins, falling 103-99 to Indiana.
And it was a former Cavalier who did the damage.
Guard CJ Miles dropped 16 fourth-quarter points to take the game away from the Cavaliers, along with the resurgent George Hill who made a miracle one-handed three-pointer and then sank the free throw for a four-point play to give Indiana the lead with 90 seconds left.
In Phoenix, Dante Exum and Joe Ingles both started for the Utah Jazz and scored six points each but to no avail as the Suns ran out 100-94 winners.
It was a tough day for the Aussies, but at least two of them finished with a win as San Antonio easily accounted for Miami Heat 98-85.
Patty Mills picked up seven points and two assists, while Aron Baynes started at centre and scored six.
In Oklahoma City, Russell Westbrook put up 48 points and Kevin Durant returned to score 27 but it wasn't enough for the Thunder, who dropped a vital game in the race for the Western Playoffs 116-113 to the Anthony Davis-led New Orleans Pelicans.
Davis put up 41 points for the visitors to go two games ahead of the Thunder, as both teams chase the eighth-placed Suns.
Both LA sides lost, continuing their skids, the Lakers to Orlando, who righted the ship after sacking their coach - the Clippers lost to the Raptors, defence again a problem in the 123-107 loss.
Brooklyn scored another one over the visiting Knicks, where Carmelo Anthony had a horror night, going six of 23 from the floor.
The big shock of the day came in Minnesota, the Timberwolves chalking up just their tenth win of the season with a 90-89 victory over Memphis.
Other winners were Boston over the 76ers, Detroit over Denver and Houston over Milwaukee.
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