Memphis moved into a tie for the second seed in the NBA's Southwest Division with a 100-92 win over Oklahoma City on Friday, with the Grizzlies defense shutting down Thunder star Russell Westbrook.
The Grizzlies moved level with Houston atop the Southwest Division, both trailing Golden State, which has already sealed the conference title.
San Antonio stayed within two games of that fight over the No.2 playoff seed by routing Denver, while the key postseason-shaping games in the East saw Brooklyn extend its winning streak with a narrow victory over Toronto, Chicago win a tight struggle against Detroit and Milwaukee overpower Boston in the second half.
Memphis' Jeff Green scored 22 points and Marc Gasol added 19 to lead six Grizzlies players in double figures.
Enes Kanter led the Thunder with 24 points and 17 rebounds. Westbrook scored 18, but only six after the first quarter while connecting on only five of his 20 shots.
San Antonio's Danny Green scored 21 points, including 6-for-6 shooting on 3-pointers, as the Spurs cruised past Denver 123-93 after losing Tiago Splitter to a calf injury during a strong start.
Kawhi Leonard had 20 points for San Antonio, which has won six straight and extended its league record of consecutive 50-win seasons to 16 straight.
Danilo Gallinari scored 20 points to lead Denver, which trailed by as many as 37 points despite shooting 47 percent from the field.
Brooklyn's Deron Williams scored a season-high 31 points to lead the Nets to a 114-109 win against Toronto; their sixth-straight victory.
Thaddeus Young made the tiebreaking basket with 22 seconds left and tied his season high with 29 points while Brook Lopez added 30 points and 17 rebounds for the Nets, who have surged into seventh place in the East.
DeMar DeRozan finished with 27 points, eight rebounds and eight assists for the Raptors, who dropped behind Chicago in the contest for third place in the East.
Chicago's Pau Gasol had 26 points and 10 rebounds for his 50th double-double of the season, helping the Bulls beat Detroit 88-82.
Jimmy Butler scored 18 points for Chicago while Reggie Jackson had 22 points and nine assists for Detroit.
Milwaukee's Ersan Ilyasova led a third-quarter surge from a halftime deficit with 11 points as the Bucks beat Boston 110-101 to put a dent in the Celtics' playoff hopes.
Boston dropped half a game behind idle Miami in the fight for the final playoff spot in the East with six games left.
O.J. Mayo led Milwaukee with 24 points. Boston was led by Isaiah Thomas with 23.
Portland celebrated its Northwest Division title with a 107-77 win over the Los Angeles Lakers, with C.J. McCollum scored a career-high 27 points to inflict a record-equaling 55th loss on the Lakers.
New Orleans gained ground in the playoff race by outlasting an undermanned Sacramento 101-95, led by 21 points from Eric Gordon.
Indiana's Rodney Stuckey scored 15 points off the bench to propel the Pacers to a 93-74 victory against Charlotte.
Washington beat lowly New York 101-87, with Marcin Gortat scoring 19 points and Bradley Beal 18.
Orlando's Nikola Vucevic scored a career-high 37 points and grabbed 17 rebounds to power the Magic over Minnesota 97-84.
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