San Antonio won comfortably at Atlanta 114-95 in Sunday 's clash of two teams with form lines heading in opposite directions leading up to the NBA playoffs . The Spurs have won three straight and the Hawks have lost three straight , though they can afford to ease up given they are still eight games clear atop the Eastern Conference , ahead of Cleveland , which won at Milwaukee . In the key games among playoff aspirants in the West , the Los Angeles Clippers defeated New Orleans , and Phoenix won a close one against Dallas . Kawhi Leonard ( left ) of the San Antonio Spurs handles the ball against DeMarre Carroll in the first quarter . Jeff Teague ( centre ) dribbles in between the San Antonio Spurs during his side 's third straight defeat . Leonard ( centre ) scores a lay-up in front of the watching crowd as the Spurs continued their excellent form . Defending champions San Antonio got a season-high 23 points from Tiago Splitter and 20 from Kawhi Leonard . The Spurs never trailed and led by as much as 26 points in the third quarter . Paul Millsap finished with 22 points for the faltering Hawks . The Clippers won a fourth straight game by beating New Orleans 107-100 . Blake Griffin scored 23 points and Chris Paul contributed 23 points and 11 assists for Los Angeles , which converted 18 Pelicans turnovers into 30 points and had a 25-6 advantage on second-chance points . Blake Griffin ( left ) starred for the LA Clippers during their win over the New Orleans Pelicans . Chris Paul ( left ) attempts to keep the ball away from Pelicans star Norris Cole during the second quarter . Anthony Davis led New Orleans with 26 points and 12 rebounds in 39 minutes after missing two games with a sprained ankle . Tyreke Evans was sidelined because of the same injury and was replaced in the starting lineup . Phoenix 's Archie Goodwin sank the go-ahead 3-pointer and Markieff Morris added a critical jumper in the final 30 seconds to secure a 98-92 win for the Suns against Dallas . The Mavericks rallied from a 17-point , third-quarter deficit and were up 86-80 with 5 minutes to play , but then went four minutes without scoring while the Suns climbed back into the lead . Phoenix Suns and the Dallas Mavericks were involved in a tough battle in their NBA clash on Sunday . Eric Bledsoe had 20 points , nine assists and six rebounds for Phoenix . Chandler Parsons scored 19 points for Dallas , which has lost all three games against Phoenix this season . Cleveland 's LeBron James scored 28 points and sparked a key second-half run with an emphatic dunk to lead the Cavaliers to a 108-90 win against Milwaukee . LeBron James led the Cleveland Cavaliers to a comfortable victory over the Milwaukee Bucks . J.R. Smith added 23 points for Cleveland , including three straight 3s to close out the decisive run that turned a six-point deficit into a 93-78 lead with 6:19 left . Giannis Antetokounmpo had 15 points and nine rebounds for the Bucks , who have won six straight . Oklahoma City 's Russell Westbrook had 12 points , 10 rebounds and 17 assists for his tenth triple-double of the season to lead the Thunder past Miami 93-75 . Russell Westbrook ( right ) scores the lay-up as he scored his tenth triple-double of the season against Miami . Enes Kanter had been expected to miss again with an ankle injury , but took his place and delivered 27 points and 12 rebounds for the Thunder , which has won three in a row . The Heat had five players score in double figures but none with more than 13 points . Sacramento led most of the game and comfortably beat Washington 109-86 , with Rudy Gay scoring 26 points . DeMarcus Cousins had 20 points , seven rebounds and five assists despite foul trouble for the Kings , who stretched the lead to 20 points in the third quarter and were never threatened from there . Derrick Williams dunks the ball into the basket for the Washington Wizards against the Sacramento Kings . Bradley Beal scored 19 points for the Wizards , who have lost 11 of their past 13 road games . Toronto 's DeMar DeRozan scored 23 points as the Raptors beat New York 106-89 . Detroit won 105-97 in overtime against Boston , with Andre Drummond having 18 points and 22 rebounds . Tayshaun Prince ( left ) of the Detroit Pistons takes a shot against the Boston in front of the Celtic fans . Denver 's Danilo Gallinari scored a career-high 40 points to lead the Nuggets to a 119-100 victory over Orlando , winning at an Eastern Conference opponent for the first time in 12 games . Charlotte moved into a playoff-yielding eighth place in the East by beating Minnesota 109-98 , with Mo Williams scoring 24 points . Los Angeles ' Jeremy Lin scored a season-high 29 points as the Lakers beat Philadelphia 101-87 in the first meeting of the season between two of the NBA 's worst teams . Jeremy Lin ( right ) drives towards the basket as he scored a season-high 29 for the LA Lakers . Jerami Grant of the Philadelphia 76ers blocks the path of Lin as the two worst teams in the NBA faced-off .
Lakers ##ava Spurs won 114 - 95 against the faltering Atlanta Lakers . LA Lakers gave it four straight wins with 23 points from Blake Griffin . Detroit Pistons , Phoenix Suns and the Lakers all won their matches . LeBron James scored 28 points for the Cleveland Cavaliers . Jeremy Lin scored a season - high 29 points for the struggling LA Lakers .