Oklahoma City have extended their lead over nearest NBA divisional rivals Portland to five games by winning 98-95 at the Trail Blazers on Tuesday, as Kevin Durant continued his stellar season with 36 points and 10 rebounds.
Also on Tuesday, LeBron James bounced back to near his best to lead Miami over Phoenix, Charlotte earned a rare win over Dallas, and Memphis hung on for a narrow victory over Washington.
Oklahoma City widened its advantage over Portland in the Northwest Division, and made it 14 wins from 16 games, due in no small part to Jeremy Lamb's vital three-pointer with 1:38 left which put the Thunder up by a point. Lamb finished with 19 points.
Nicolas Batum had 18 points for Portland, who led by 13 points in the first half and held a 55-45 advantage at the break, but the Thunder kept chipping away and the teams went into the fourth quarter tied.
Miami's LeBron James responded to one of his worst games of the season by scoring 37 points to lead the Heat to a 103-97 win over Phoenix.
James, who had matched his season low with 13 points in Saturday's loss at Utah, scored 25 in the second half.
Charlotte reversed their horrible run of results against Dallas by beating the Mavericks 114-89.
Memphis edged Washington 92-89, spoiling a career-best game from Bradley Beal, who scored 37 points for the Wizards.
Chicago's Joakim Noah had a triple-double, with 19 points, to lead the Bulls over Atlanta 100-85.
Cleveland avenged the 44-point mauling it suffered at the hands of Sacramento last month by beating the Kings 109-99, with Luol Deng scoring 22 points.
The injury-stricken Los Angeles Lakers matched an unwanted franchise record by losing a sixth-consecutive home game, beaten 96-79 by Utah, who were guided to victory by reserve Alec Burks' 13 fourth-quarter points.
