Western Conference

The Oklahoma City Thunder (23-24) face a vicious battle of trying to make up the four games by which the trail the final play-off spot, held by the Phoenix Suns (28-21).

Even the New Orleans Pelicans (25-22) would have an easier time displacing one of the top eight, and the Thunder have not been showing the kind of form they would need to pull off this near-miracle.

They lost their fourth game in five against the Memphis Grizzlies (35-12) 85-74 as an ailing Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook were stifled by the strong Grizzlies defence.

Zach Randolph filled up the stat sheet yet again with 21 points and 18 rebounds.

The Grizzlies, with the best Western Conference winning streak of six, trail the Golden State Warriors (37-8), who stopped a two-game slide against the Suns, by two-and-a-half games.

The Splash Brothers Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson had a combined 47 points, with Curry tallying seven assists to lead the Warriors to a 106-87 win.

Meanwhile, fresh from not making the All-Star team for the West, Damian Lillard had a relatively quiet game as the Portland Trailblazers (32-16) went down to Eastern opposition Milwaukee Bucks.

OJ Mayo led a team effort with 17 points as the Bucks won 95-88.

LA Clippers (33-15) have managed to jump into third place in the conference, having won eight of their last 10.

Their latest win came against the San Antonio Spurs (30-18) as Blake Griffin had 31 points, 13 rebounds and five assists in 105-85 win.

Western Conference

Cleveland win 10th straight

The Cleveland Cavaliers (29-10) seem to have found a groove in the Eastern conference, chalking up their 10th consecutive win against Minnesota Timberwolves.

T

he story was Kevin Love returning to the place he had played the six previous seasons and Andrew Wiggins playing against the team who traded him without a game played.

Both played well, with the 19-year-old Wiggins scoring a career-high 33 but it was Love’s 14 points and 17 rebounds which proved more significant in the 106-90 win.

The team with the best record in the league, Atlanta Hawks (40-8) extended their franchise record to 19 straight games won with 91-85 victory over the woeful Philadelphia 76ers (10-38).

Al Horford paced the Hawks with 23 points and 11 rebounds.

Trailing the Hawks in the conference are the Toronto Raptors (33-15) who have won six games on the trot, including consecutive overtime wins over Brooklyn Nets (18-28), who find themselves out of the play-off zone behind the Charlotte Hornets (20-27), and third-placed Washington Wizards (31-17).

John Wall’s 28 points, 12 assists and eight rebounds weren’t enough as the Raptors outlasted a Wizards fight-back to win 120-116 in OT.