HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE NBA GAMES PLAYED ON THURSDAY (FRIDAY AEDT)
BULLS 99 beat CAVALIERS 93 - Nikola Mirotic tied season highs with 28 points and six three-pointers, Jimmy Butler scored 25 and the Chicago Bulls beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 99-93 on a night when LeBron James moved into seventh place on the NBA's career scoring list.
James moved past Shaquille O'Neal, finishing with 26 points and giving him 28,599 for his career - three more than O'Neal. But the big night by the four-time MVP couldn't prevent the Cavaliers from matching a season high with their third straight loss.
That dropped them a half-game behind Boston for the Eastern Conference lead and left them with a 6-10 record in March.
TIMBERWOLVES 119 bt LAKERS 104 - Ricky Rubio had a career-high 33 points, 10 assists and five rebounds and Karl-Anthony Towns scored 32 points to lead the Minnesota Timberwolves past the Los Angeles Lakers.
Rubio shot four of five on three-pointers and Andrew Wiggins scored 27 points for the Timberwolves (30-44), who have now won more games than they did last season. Minnesota had 30 assists and only 11 turnovers.
CLIPPERS 124 bt SUNS 118 - Blake Griffin scored 31 points, Chris Paul added 29 points and 10 assists and the Los Angeles Clippers held on to hand the Phoenix Suns their 10th loss in a row.
Devin Booker returned to the Suns' lineup and scored 33 while playing in front of his former college coach, Kentucky's John Calipari, and matched his season high with nine assists, but fouled out with 4:45 to play.
The Clippers (46-31), coming off a home win over Washington on Wednesday night, pulled within a game of Utah (46-29) for the No.4 playoff spot in the Western Conference.
Booker, three games removed from his 70-point outburst in Boston, missed Tuesday's game in Atlanta with a sore right ankle.
PISTONS 90 bt NETS 89 - Marcus Morris had 28 points and 13 rebounds and Ish Smith hit the go-ahead three-pointer late in the fourth quarter, helping the Detroit Pistons beat the Brooklyn Nets.
Smith, who finished with 21 points, six rebounds and five assists, gave the Pistons an 87-86 lead with 30 seconds left. Brook Lopez missed a three-pointer on the Nets' ensuing possession, and Detroit sealed it at the free-throw line.
Detroit, the No.10 seed in the Eastern Conference, kept their dwindling playoff hopes alive.
TRAIL BLAZERS 117 bt ROCKETS 107 - Damian Lillard had 31 points and 11 assists, leading the Portland Trail Blazers past the Houston Rockets.
Jusuf Nurkic had a team-high 11 rebounds to go along with 19 points for the Trail Blazers, who have a season-high five-game winning streak and a one and a half game lead over the Denver Nuggets for the eighth seed in the Western Conference.
James Harden finished with 30 points and eight rebounds to lead the Rockets. Harden's three-pointer at the end of the first quarter gave the Rockets 1,078 threes, an NBA single-season record.
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