Nikola Jokić Leads Nuggets as Spurs Reach 60 Wins

The regular season is almost out of road, but the league’s best are still flooring it. Denver ripped a game out of the fire, San Antonio crossed the 60-win line, the East’s middle pack turned into a knife fight, and two of the hottest teams in basketball are about to trade 3s on national TV. Out West, a surging Rockets group runs straight into Devin Booker and a Suns defense built to wreck rhythm.

This is what April is supposed to feel like.

Jokić drags Nuggets back from the brink, Spurs swap 60 losses for 60 wins

Down 16 with eight minutes left. In a conference where one bad week can drop you three spots. That’s where Denver stood in Portland.

Nuggets 137, Blazers 132 (OT): Trailing 115-99, Nikola Jokić turned a flat, tired night into a masterpiece. He finished with 35 points, 14 rebounds, 13 assists and 5 steals, igniting a 26-10 closing run to steal overtime. Once there, the familiar closing duo went to work.

Jokić first picked out Aaron Gordon in the corner for a go-ahead 3. Jamal Murray followed by pouring in seven straight points, twisting the knife just as Portland staggered. Then, with 1:26 left in OT, Jokić slipped in a dagger layup to finally edge the Blazers and push Denver’s win streak to nine.

It wasn’t just volume; it was control. Jokić scored or assisted on 17 of Denver’s final 24 points in regulation to force the extra five minutes, then he and Murray outscored Portland by themselves in overtime. This is becoming a pattern. A game-winner to beat the Spurs on Saturday. Another late takeover last night. The box scores look absurd, but the impact is sharper: Denver has climbed from 6th to 3rd in the West during this run and just leapfrogged the Lakers for a spot it hadn’t held since Feb. 22.

The numbers behind it are historic. This was Jokić’s second career game with at least 35 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists and 5 steals — no other player has more since steals became an official stat in 1973-74. He now owns an NBA-best 33 triple-doubles this season, six of them during this 9-0 burst. That six-game slice alone would tie him for the fifth-most triple-doubles by any player all year.

He’s not alone, though. Murray finished with 20 points and 7 assists. Gordon delivered 23 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists, including a game-tying jumper and that go-ahead bucket in the final minute of regulation. Denver’s largest fourth-quarter comeback of the season arrived at the perfect time, in the middle of a West race where seeding might decide who survives May.

In San Antonio, the transformation is even starker.

Two years ago, Victor Wembanyama’s rookie season ended with the Spurs at 22-60. Now, they’re on the other side of that number.

Spurs 115, 76ers 102: Wembanyama put up 17 points, 5 rebounds and 3 blocks in the first half before leaving with a rib contusion, but San Antonio didn’t blink. Stephon Castle steadied the offense with a 19-point, 10-rebound, 13-assist triple-double, and the Spurs’ depth smothered Philadelphia’s push, even with Joel Embiid going for 34 points, 12 rebounds and 4 blocks.

San Antonio moved to 60-19, its first 60-win season since 2016-17 and its seventh since 2000-01 — the most in the league over that span. The run that got them here has been blistering: 28-3 since Feb. 1, with the Spurs ranking second in defensive rating and first in both offensive rating and net rating over that stretch.

Wembanyama has been the headliner in that surge, averaging 25.6 points, 11.9 rebounds and 3.6 blocks. But this isn’t a one-man show. Castle has emerged as the backcourt engine at 17 points and 7.8 assists per game during the run, leading six other Spurs averaging double figures. That depth showed up again against the Sixers: 11 Spurs scored, six in double digits, as they absorbed Wembanyama’s early exit and still controlled the night.

The reward: San Antonio sits 2.5 games behind OKC — the only other 60-win team — for the West’s top seed. From 60 losses to chasing the 1-seed in two years. The rebuild is over. The hunt is on.

Brunson’s late heroics, East chaos, and a Magic statement

Spring basketball arrived at Madison Square Garden in all its messy, breathless glory.

Knicks 108, Hawks 105: Eight ties. Eleven lead changes. Jalen Brunson closing like a star who knows the season’s margin for error has shrunk to nothing.

Brunson finished with 30 points and 13 assists, but it was his fourth quarter that defined the night. He scored 17 in the final period, including 12 straight at one point to wrestle control away from Atlanta. With 30 seconds left, he drilled a go-ahead jumper. With one second remaining, he stretched the lead to three at the line, seemingly icing it.

Then came the twist. CJ McCollum banked in a stunning halfcourt heave that looked, in real time, like the latest entry in a season full of impossible shots. Replay told the truth: his fingertips were still on the ball as the buzzer sounded. The basket came off. The Garden exhaled. New York walked away with its third straight win and maintained a one-game cushion over Cleveland for third in the East.

This wasn’t Brunson in isolation. Nickeil Alexander-Walker lit up the Knicks for 36 points and seven 3s, trading blows with Brunson down the stretch. Karl-Anthony Towns added 21 points, 12 rebounds and 6 assists. OG Anunoby chipped in 22. Atlanta, which had dropped just two of its previous 20 games, took only its third loss in 21.

New York’s rolling, but Cleveland refuses to step aside.

Cavaliers 142, Grizzlies 126: Memphis tied the NBA single-game record with 29 made 3-pointers — yes, twenty-nine — and still couldn’t keep pace. The Cavs answered with balance and relentlessness, stacking nine double-figure scorers. Evan Mobley led with 24 points and 6 rebounds, Dennis Schröder added 22 points and 11 assists, and Cleveland picked up its third straight victory to stay glued to the Knicks’ heels.

One more team is matching that rhythm: Orlando.

Magic 123, Pistons 107: Facing East-leading Detroit, the Magic didn’t flinch. Paolo Banchero powered the offense with 31 points. Desmond Bane added 25. Jalen Suggs filled every gap — 12 points, 12 assists, 6 rebounds, 3 steals — as Orlando held off Jalen Duren’s 18 points and 9 rebounds for a win that matters more than the scoreline suggests.

The result detonated another charge in the middle of the East. Orlando (9th), Charlotte (8th) and Philadelphia (7th) are now all 43-36, sitting a half-game behind Toronto, which climbed to 6th after the Sixers’ loss. One off night now could mean the difference between a Playoff berth and a Play-In gauntlet.

The standings board is starting to look like a traffic jam.

Celtics vs. Hornets: slow grind vs. constant motion in a 3-point shootout

Joe Mazzulla saw this coming before anyone else did.

On July 2, 2025 — Derrick White’s birthday — the Celtics coach called his guard and delivered a blunt message. As White recalled on The Old Man and The Three podcast, Mazzulla said: “Happy birthday, man … everybody thinks we’re going to suck. I love it,” and hung up.

The league’s decision-makers agreed with the skeptics. In the 2025-26 NBA GM Survey, Boston landed eighth in the projected East standings. The Celtics have been parked in second since Jan. 15.

They’re not the only ones tearing up the script.

The Hornets started 11-22. Since the New Year, they’ve gone 32-14 — one win shy of Boston’s 33-13 mark for the most victories in the East in 2026. Tonight on NBC (8 ET), two of the conference’s most dangerous offenses collide in a game that cuts both ways in the standings.

A Boston win stretches its lead over third-place New York to three games. A Charlotte win pulls the Hornets level with sixth-place Toronto and moves them closer to becoming the first team since 1997 to make the Playoffs after an 11-22 or worse start through 33 games.

The styles could not be more different, but the damage looks the same.

Since Jan. 1, Charlotte and Boston rank first and third in offensive rating. Their shared weapon: the 3-point line. The Hornets lead the league in made 3s per game at 16.4. The Celtics sit third at 15.4. When either team gets rolling from deep, opponents tend to disappear from view.

Charlotte does it with motion. No offense covers more ground. The Hornets log an NBA-best 10.1 offensive miles per game, bodies and cuts constantly in motion, dragging defenses into mistakes. That movement pays off in clean looks: they rank fourth in wide-open 3-point attempts (closest defender six or more feet away) at 23.1 per game and hit those shots at 40.9%, second-best in the league. Kon Knueppel has been the sharpest of the bunch, drilling 47% from deep on wide-open looks (minimum 50 attempts).

Boston does it on its own terms. The Celtics rank 30th in pace, content to slow the game to a crawl, yet sit second in offensive rating thanks to an armory of shooters. Six rotation players logging at least 14 minutes per game are over 35% from 3. That list doesn’t even include the three main scorers: Jaylen Brown (28.7 points), Jayson Tatum (21.5) and Derrick White (16.7), who combine for 66.9 points per night.

Once the floor is spaced, that trio hunts mismatches and pull-ups. Boston leads the league in pull-up field goals (12.2 per game) and pull-up 3s (4.9), with Brown, Tatum and White combining for 24.7 points per game on those looks. It’s a slow, methodical squeeze — but when the shots fall, it feels suffocating.

The impact is ruthless. The Celtics are 15-0 in games with at least 20 made 3s. The Hornets are 12-2 when they hit that mark. Together, they’re 27-2 when they cross the 20-trey threshold.

Tonight, something has to give from deep.

Rockets clean up their act just in time for a Suns ambush

A few weeks ago, Houston looked wobbly.

The Rockets had dropped to 4-6 over a 10-game stretch and just lost back-to-back games to the Lakers in mid-March, coughing up 33 turnovers across those two defeats. Coach Ime Udoka didn’t sugarcoat it, pointing straight at carelessness with the ball.

The message landed.

Since that low point, Houston has gone 8-2 and rides a six-game win streak into Phoenix tonight on NBC (8 PT). The Rockets now sit fifth in the West, just 1.5 games behind third-place Denver, and they’ve done it by turning their biggest weakness into a sudden strength.

Before the streak, Houston ranked 27th in turnovers at 15.8 per game. Over the last six games, that number has dropped to 10.8 — best in the NBA. The Rockets didn’t just stop giving possessions away; they started creating more of them. Their assists have jumped from 24.9 per game on the season (26th) to 31.3 during the streak, fifth in the league.

That ball movement has unlocked balance. Five Rockets are averaging at least 15 points during the run, with Jabari Smith Jr. (18.2), Amen Thompson (17.7) and Reed Sheppard (15.2) combining for 51.2 points per night. The payoff: Houston owns an NBA-best 129.1 offensive rating and the league’s second-best net rating (+18) over its win streak.

Waiting on the other side is Kevin Durant — and one of his old teams.

Phoenix, seventh in the West, has built its identity around disruption. Only the Pistons and Thunder force more turnovers than the Suns’ 16.4 per game. They rank third in steals at 9.7, turning those takeaways into 20.2 points per game off turnovers, fourth-most in the NBA. This is a defense that wants to speed you up, poke the ball loose and run.

On offense, Devin Booker remains the constant. Since March 1, he’s averaging 28.4 points per game, trailing only Luka Dončić (36) and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (29.9) in that span. Suns coach Jordan Ott summed up Booker’s influence simply: his competitiveness every second “stirs us all,” and he’s the player Phoenix leans on when possessions tighten.

So the matchup is clear. Houston, newly disciplined and sharing the ball better than at any point this season, against a Suns team that feasts on mistakes and funnels everything through Booker’s scoring. One side will have to abandon its recent script.

Thunder still set the pace as Power Rankings tighten the frame

With five days left in the regular season and a week until the SoFi Play-In Tournament, John Schuhmann’s latest Power Rankings offer a snapshot of a league with almost nothing settled. Nineteen of the 20 postseason teams have yet to clinch their seed. Every night changes the map.

At the top, the defending champs refuse to budge.

1. Thunder: Oklahoma City has won five straight, three of them against teams in the league’s top 10 — the Knicks, Pistons and Lakers. The champs look ready for another long spring.
2. Spurs: From Feb. 1 to April 1, San Antonio went 26-1 with Victor Wembanyama in uniform, outscoring opponents by a staggering 24.9 points per 100 possessions in his 800 minutes on the floor. The numbers match the eye test: this is a juggernaut when he plays.
3. Celtics: Boston has taken 10 of its last 12 and is 12-2 — with six straight wins — when Jayson Tatum suits up. The preseason doubts feel like a different era.
4. Pistons: Cade Cunningham has missed the last 11 games, but Detroit has gone 8-3 in that span, with five of those wins coming against teams above .500. The top of the East still runs through Motown.
5. Nuggets: Denver’s nine-game win streak, capped by that overtime escape against the Spurs on Saturday and last night’s comeback in Portland, includes at least 121 points per 100 possessions in every outing. The offense is humming at championship level again.

Tonight, OKC closes an eight-game League Pass slate by hosting the Lakers (10:30 ET), who sit seventh in Schuhmann’s rankings. In Dallas, Cooper Flagg — fresh off a historic weekend — leads the Mavericks against the Clippers (10:30 ET), with LA clinging to a half-game edge over Portland for eighth in the West.

Elsewhere, the board fills up: Bulls at Wizards (7 ET), Wolves at Pacers (7 ET), Bucks at Nets (7:30 ET), Heat at Raptors (7:30 ET), Jazz at Pelicans (8 ET), Kings at Warriors (10 ET).

The calendar says the regular season is almost done. The standings say the real sorting hasn’t even started.