ATLANTA: Carmelo Anthony scored 40 points — giving him 90 in two games — and Raymond Felton had three straight baskets in a key spurt, helping the New York Knicks beat the Atlanta Hawks 95-82 on Wednesday night for their 10th straight victory.
Anthony, coming off a 50-point effort in a win over Miami on Tuesday, scored 24 points in the first half. He shot 17 of 27 from the field and was 5 for 6 from the free throw line.
Felton sparked a 12-2 run that turned a tie game into an 84-74 lead for the Knicks. He scored eight of his 12 points in the fourth quarter to help the Knicks move into sole possession of second place in the Eastern Conference.
Atlanta missed an opportunity to move into a tie for fourth in the East and wasted a 25-point effort by Kyle Korver, who came up two points short of his season high.
Clippers 126, Suns 101: At Los Angeles, DeAndre Jordan had 20 points and 12 rebounds, Chris Paul added 14 points and 12 assists, and Los Angeles beat Phoenix for its franchise-record 50th win.
Willie Green and Caron Butler scored 15 points each, and Blake Griffin had nine points, seven assists and five rebounds to help the Clippers end a three-game skid with their second-highest scoring total of the season. They improved to 50-26 overall, bettering the single-season record for wins set in 1974-75 when the team was in Buffalo. They’re 29-9 at home.
Wesley Johnson scored 20 points and Jermaine O’Neal added 18 for the last-place Suns, who have lost seven straight overall.
SPURS 98, MAGIC 84: At San Antonio, Danny Green scored 20 points and Gary Neal added 16 to pace depleted San Antonio to a victory over Orlando.
A 14-2 run that included a pair of 3-pointers by Green midway through the fourth finally allowed the Spurs to take control. Before the run, San Antonio appeared sluggish and unable to pull away from the Magic, who trailed 74-70 with 10:37 remaining.
Already without Manu Ginobili, the Spurs rested Tony Parker and Kawhi Leonard, and used Tim Duncan for only 14 minutes.
Maurice Harkless scored 18 points for Orlando.
Nuggets 113, Jazz 96: At Salt Lake City, Danilo Gallinari scored 21 points, including nine straight in the fourth quarter, and Denver ended Utah’s winning streak at five.
Utah fell a half-game behind the idle Lakers for the eighth playoff spot in the West.
Kenneth Faried added 19 points for the Nuggets, who won three of four against Utah this season and are in third place in the West, two games ahead of the Clippers.
Gordon Hayward led the Jazz with 18 points, while Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap scored 16 apiece for Utah, which made 19 3-pointers in two previous games but was just 6 of 20 from beyond the arc in this one.
Nets 113, Cavaliers 95: At Cleveland, Deron Williams scored 24 points and Brooklyn ended an eight-game road trip by crushing Cleveland, giving the Nets a record for road wins in a season.
The Nets shot 83 percent (15 of 18) in the second quarter, when they outscored the Cavs 38-16 and opened a 30-point lead without much of a fight. Brooklyn’s 21 road wins are the most for the franchise, which moved to the New York City borough from New Jersey this season.
MarShon Brooks made his first 10 shots and finished with a career-high 27 points for the Nets, who haven’t played at home since March 17 because the circus is at Barclays Center.
Kyrie Irving scored 16 points for the Cavs, who have lost 10 straight.
Grizzlies 94, Trail Blazers 76: At Portland, Oregon, Mike Conley scored 20 points and Memphis set a franchise record for wins in a season with a victory over Portland.
With four straight wins, the Grizzlies improved to 51-24, surpassing their 50-win season in 2003-04. The Grizzlies have already clinched a spot in the playoffs and are jockeying for home-court advantage in the first round.
Former Blazer Zach Randolph, who played his first six seasons in Portland from 2001-07, added 17 points and eight rebounds for Memphis.
Damian Lillard and J.J. Hickson led the Blazers with 17 points apiece.
Celtics 98, Pistons 93: At Boston, Jeff Green scored 34 points, including a 3-pointer with 45 seconds left to snap Boston’s two-minute scoring drought, and the Celtics clinched a playoff berth by beating Detroit.
Paul Pierce and Brandon Bass scored 17 points apiece for the Celtics, who had lost two in a row and seven of their previous nine. But the victory, coupled with Philadelphia’s 88-83 loss to the Charlotte Bobcats, left Boston 8½ games ahead of the 76ers with eight to play.
It’s the sixth consecutive season Boston has reached the playoffs since the New Big Three was assembled in the summer of 2007. Greg Monroe had 24 points and 17 rebounds and Rodney Stuckey scored 22 for the Pistons.
Warriors 98, Hornets 88: At Oakland, California, David Lee had 23 points and 16 rebounds, Stephen Curry added 20 points and nine assists, and Golden State shook off a slow start to ease past New Orleans.
Reserve Jarrett Jack finished with 19 points and eight assists against his former team to keep the Warriors in sixth place in the West. Golden State remains one game ahead of Houston, which won 112-102 at Sacramento. The Rockets own the tiebreaker after going 3-1 in the season series.
Eric Gordon scored 21 points and Robin Lopez had 17 points and seven rebounds for the Hornets, who were swept 4-0 by the Warriors this season. New Orleans led by 11 points in the second quarter before the Warriors surged ahead for good.
ROCKETS 112, KINGS 102: At Sacramento, California, Chandler Parsons scored 29 points and James Harden added 21 to lead Houston to a win over Sacramento.
Parsons and Harden, the team’s two leading scorers, returned to the lineup to help the Rockets win their third straight and eighth in 11 games. Parsons, who made 12 of 18 shots, had missed the previous game with food poisoning, while Harden had been nursing a foot injury.
Omer Asik had 19 points and 10 rebounds, Jeremy Lin had 15 points and 10 assists for Houston, which sits in seventh place in the West.
Tyreke Evans scored 22 points and Marcus Thornton had 21 for the Kings.
TIMBERWOLVES 107, BUCKS 98: At Milwaukee, Nikola Pekovic scored 27 points and Ricky Rubio added 18 points, 12 assists and eight steals to lead Minnesota past Milwaukee.
Pekovic made 11 of 14 shots from the field and also had eight rebounds. Rubio connected on five of his six attempts from 3-point range for the Timberwolves, who went 8-of-13 from beyond the arc as a team and led most of the game.
Ersan Ilyasova had 29 points and 12 rebounds, Monta Ellis scored 18 points and Mike Dunleavy added 15 for Milwaukee, which holds a six-game lead on Philadelphia for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
BOBCATS 88, 76ERS 83: At Charlotte, North Carolina, Gerald Henderson scored 24 points, Kemba Walker had 17 points, 10 assists and five steals, and Charlotte snapped Philadelphia’s three-game winning streak.
Henderson had a crucial steal late in the game and scored four points in the final minute to help the Bobcats end a three-game skid. Josh McRoberts added 12 points and 16 rebounds for Charlotte.
Damien Wilkins had 20 points and nine rebounds for the 76ers, who were dealt a big blow to their already thin playoff hopes. Philadelphia came in six games behind Milwaukee for the eighth and final playoff spot in the East with nine games left. Jrue Holliday had a miserable shooting night for the Sixers, going 2 of 24 from the field and finishing with five points.
RAPTORS 88, WIZARDS 78: At Toronto, Jonas Valanciunas scored a career-high 24 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead Toronto over Washington.
Valanciunas went 16 of 18 at the free throw line and DeMar DeRozan had 25 points for Toronto, which snapped a two-game skid after being eliminated from the playoff chase.
John Wall had 20 points for the short-handed Wizards (28-47), who announced before the game that rookie standout Bradley Beal will miss the remainder of the season with a right leg injury.
The Raptors are second in the NBA in free throw shooting percentage since the All-Star break at 81 percent. They hit 75 percent (27 of 36) against the Wizards.
