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  jr 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 
san antonio spurs atlanta hawks la clippers blake griffin  detroit pistons phoenix suns charlotte lebron james the cleveland cavaliers jeremy lin la lakers
san antonio spurs won 114 95 against the faltering atlanta hawks . la clippers made it four straight wins with 23 points from blake griffin . detroit pistons, phoenix suns and the charlotte 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 