Raptors 92-74 Hornets
The Raptors win 92-74. DeRozan scores 18 points, Vasquez scores 16 points and Lou Williams scores a double-double (12 points and 12 rebounds). Walker scores 15 points and Williams scores ten points for the Hornets. Coach Casey:
The first quarter wasn’t very good, But I thought in the second quarter we set the tone of how we want to play. We started the second quarter and finished the game doing what we wanted to do defensively.
DeRozan:
For some reason, we’ve always had bad luck against this team, especially playing here (in Charlotte). But it felt good to get a win against this team at a critical time for us.
Coach Clifford:
We just had no juice. We’re going to have to find a way to be professional. I think our team has stood for effort and purposeful play all year long, and we’re going to have to find a way to do that over these last four games.
Pelicans 103-100 Warriors
The Pelicans win 103-100. Davis scores 29 points, Pondexter scores 20 points. Curry scores 29 points, Green scores 24 points for the Warriors. Davis:
We look at ourselves as an elite team. We feel like we can play with anybody and we can beat anybody on any given night. We just got to go out there and play that way.
Curry:
I thought I drew the foul on the pump fake because he kind of came to me and I got contact. The ball dropped and there was obviously no whistle. I got it right back and I had pretty clean look after that that I thought was going in.
Pondexter:
We had a heck of a game down the stretch. Everyone’s hungry. We’re young guys, but we’re learning how to win.
Heat 105-100 Hornets
The Heat wins 105-100. Dragic scores 28 points, Deng scores 21 points, and Wade scores 19 points. Henderson scores 29 points, Walker scores 17 points and Williams scores 15 points for the Hornets. Coach Spoelstra:
That’s how tough it is to win in this league. You’ve got to make a lot of plays and play all the way to the end.
Dragic:
We were talking before the game, this was a playoff game…Tonight was a must-win for us.
Henderson:
Tonight was a big game. We’ve played all the teams that are in the mix there with us, and we lost to them all. It’s never good.
Hawks 96-69 Suns
The Hawks win 96-69. Muscala scores 16 points and Horford scores 14 points. Green scores 15 points for the Suns. Korver on winning more regular-season games than any Hawks team.:
It’s not our goal. It’s just one of the things as we’re chasing our ultimate goal. Things like this can happen. It’s definitely something to be proud of.
Carroll:
I don’t think we were thinking about the franchise record, We were just trying to turn it up and get a sense of urgency. The playoffs are right around the corner, and we want to have a good rhythm going into it.
Coach Hornacek:
We played hard in stretches, but they kept coming, Their bench comes in there and plays just as hard. They had some energy guys, and we didn’t. In the second half, they just kept going and going.
Nets 106-96 TrailBlazers
The Nets win 106-96. Brooke Lopez scores 32 points and nine rebounds, Williams scores a double-double (24 points and ten assists). Lillard scores 36 points and Leonard scores a double-double (17 points and 15 rebounds) for the TrailBlazers. Robin Lopez on his twin brother’s performance:
He’s a stubborn guy, No matter what people say about him, no matter what happens, he’s just going to stick with what he knows how to do. That’s what he’s been doing.
Brooke Lopez:
Well, it might have been a fluke.
Coach Hollins:
We’re trying to close the door on those other teams and the only way you can do that is by winning.
Cavaliers 99-94 Bulls
The Cavaliers win 99-94. James scores a triple-double (20 points, 12 assists, ten rebounds), Irving scores 27 points. Dunvealy scores 24 points and Brooks scores 17 for the Bulls. Coach Blatt:
I’ve been doing this a long time, I’ve never seen three like that in one game.
Noah:
The basketball gods were on their side today.
James on Irving’s three-point shoots:
I told him to just throw it up there and see what happens, and it went in. I told him to just cast it, and it definitely was the difference in the game.
Coach Thibodeau:
Some I thought were defended well, some weren’t. They had three heaves that went in.
Rockets 115-112 Thunder
The Rockets win 115-112. Harden scores 41 points. Westbrook scores a triple-double (40 points, 13assists, 11rebounds), Kanter scores a double-double (21 points and 17 rebounds) for the Thunder. Harden:
That’s my job, It’s what I do. I go out there and I take the big shots. My teammates did a great job the entire game of making shots, getting to the rim, just being in attack mode, being aggressive. In the fourth quarter, then, I’ve got to make shots.
On the team’s performance:
Guys are locked in, They’re focused on what we need to do to win, no matter who gets the credit, no matter who gets the glory.
Coach McHale:
The shots that he made were tough shots – step a guy back. But he’s been doing it all year. He works hard on those shots, and he makes them.
Westbrook:
It just says that we at least have some fight in us, Unfortunately it wasn’t enough.
Suns 87-85 Jazz
The Suns win 87-85. Green scores 24 points, Bledsoe scores 16 points. Hayward scores 21 points, Gobert has 15 rebounds for the Jazz. Bledsoe on Green’s performance:
It’s unbelievable, Sometimes you get caught up in the moment just watching.
Coach Hornacek:
We needed the shooting, and that’s what Gerald provided.
Coach Snyder:
Gordon … he was having a rough night, but he really picked his game up and started going to the rim.
Wright:
We’re an undersized team but we fought back. We’ll see what happens these last five games and finish up strong.
TrailBlazers 99-90 Pelicans
The TrailBlazers win 99-90. Aldridge scores a double-double (21points, 12 rebounds), Kaman scores 16 points and 11 rebounds. Gordon scores 21 points and Davis scores 21 points and nine rebounds for the Pelicans. Lillard on TrailBlazers 50 game victory:
It’s going in the right direction, A lot of the elite teams are consistently going over 50, and I think it’s great for us to have back-to-back seasons with that.
Kaman:
I’ve never had 50 wins, so it feels good.
Coach Williams:
They had 18 offensive rebounds so we just kept giving extra possessions to a team that doesn’t need them. They didn’t shoot the ball great tonight but they got so many opportunities.
Warriors 123-111 Mavericks
The Warriors win 123-111. Curry scores 11 points, Thompson scores 21 points. Nowiztki scores 18 points and Chandler has 13 rebounds for the Mavericks. Coach Kerr on Warriors record:
Great scene in there, and I wasn’t really thinking about the significance of the record. Those guys were. They presented me the ball, and how lucky am I to coach these guys in my first year? Ridiculous.
Coach Carlisle on Dallas’ consecutive loses:
We don’t think it’s serious.
Igoudala on Golden State reserves performance:
We’ve got a thirsty bench. Really thirsty. I don’t know if there’s enough water.
Livingston on flagrant foul in Nowitzki:
He kind of sat back to create space with his lower area, and it was just bad timing. Eleven years in the league, I haven’t had a dirty play. It looked worse than it actually was.
Celtics 117-116 Raptors
The Celtics win 117-116. Thomas scores 25 points, Zeller 20 points, and Turner scores a double-double (18 points and ten rebounds). De Rozan scores 38 points and Valanciunas scores 12 points and 14 rebounds for the Raptors. Smart:
It’s just the will, the determination, The guys on this team, we’re competitors, heavy competitors. We don’t like to lose that much, especially when we come off a night where we didn’t play that well.
On the wins play:
When he drove he committed two defenders, including mine, Lou Williams swiped (the ball) toward the area I was in and I was able to get the shot off in time.
Williams:
I thought I did enough. I figure it’s game. I thought I got the stop. It was just a bad bounce.
Turner:
We overcame a lot tonight. It was tough. I’m just glad we stuck it all the way through to the end.
Coach Stevens:
You don’t win very often with 2.6 seconds.
Pistons 99-98 Heat
The Pistons win 89-88. Jackson scores 29 points, Drummond scores a double-double (11 points and 17 rebounds). Wade scores 24 points, Dragic scores 21 points and Whiteside scores a double-double (13 points and 12 rebounds) for the Heat. Coach Van Gundy:
Reggie really stepped up. We had a talk about him wanting to have the opportunity to be ‘the guy.’ Well, ‘the guy’ can’t be tired. I thought he…was not the least bit afraid to take the game on his shoulders tonight.
Jackson:
You gotta go. There’s no excuses, This is something I have been asking for my entire life, something I have always wanted. I want to be the man, and you have to go be special…Everything is kind of on my shoulders. We go as I go, so just continue to be aggressive, attack and make the right plays. You have to go chase it.
Coach Spoelstra:
I really don’t remember a defensive stop other than the second-to-last play in the last five minutes. (Jackson) made every big play and we just couldn’t get a relief stop or a relief bucket down the stretch.
Hawks 131-99 Nets
The Hawks win 131-99. Horford scores 20 points, Carroll scores 20 points, three rebounds. Bogdanovic scores 19 points for the Nets. Coach Budenholzer on Millsap’s injuries:
We’ll evaluate it and know more (Sunday) and Monday.
On referees no foul calls:
I thought he got ran over, but it was a loose ball and both guys were going after it.
Carroll:
I think the most important thing was the sense of urgency. It was good to see us moving the ball, doing the little things we were doing when we won 19 in a row.
Coach Collins:
They beat us. From start to finish. It was a good whipping. There’s nothing else that I can say. They dominated the game.
Rockets 108-101 Mavericks
The Rockets beat the Mavericks 108-101. Harden scores 24 points, Ariza scores 19 points, and Smith scores a double-double (15 points and 12 rebounds). Nowitzki scores 21 points, Chandler scores eight points for the Mavericks. Harden on Howard’s comeback:
Having ‘Big Fella’ back today kind of helped us out a little bit, We’ve got to get his rhythm going ’cause we’re going to need him in the postseason.
Howard on knee protection:
There was a point in the game where I got kneed in my knee, but gotta go back to the Hakeem knee pads now, The most important thing is for me to stay healthy and kind of get into a rhythm for these last couple of games, then in the playoffs, really stride out.
Chandler:
I feel like in the second half we slowed our tempo down. I think we had them on their heels in the first half.
Pacers 93-74 Hornets
The Pacers win 93-74. Stuckey scores 15 points, Miles scores 12 points. Henderson scores 12 points and seven rebounds and Williams scores 12 points for the Hornets. Miles:
It was just a big sense of urgency. They’re a tough team, but we wanted to come out with a sense of urgency and get a good start.
Henderson:
We didn’t put up a good effort at all. We are in a tough playoff push right now and that’s not really the type of effort you can give if you want to make the playoffs.
Coach Vogel:
We had a confidence against this group playing at home, understanding the ramifications of the game. We’re just trying to stay in the fight and we executed the plan pretty well.
Cavaliers 114-108 Heat
The Cavaliers win 114-108 against Heat. James scores 23 points, Irving scores 23 points. Thompson has 15 rebounds. Deng scores 17 points, and Whiteside scores 17 points for the Heat. Wade on his knee injury:
When you go down like that, I couldn’t bust into a split, I’m not that flexible, I knew I was in trouble on my way down. It’s just unfortunate. Nothing happened I guess. I was a little concerned. Once they did the tests on my knee to make sure all my ligaments were strong and straightened, it’s a little better.
Coach Spoelstra on Wade’s injuries:
It looked like it was a lot worse. It looked like he was doing the splits.
Warriors 107-106 Suns
The Warriors win 107-106 against the Suns. Curry scores 28 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Thompson scores 16 points. Bledsoe scores 18 points and 11 assists. Morris scores 17 points, 12 rebounds for the Suns. Coach Kerr:
It was probably good for us to feel that situation, and have to deal with the pressure.
Barnes:
Coach Kerr kind of looked at me after I made the shot like, ‘You messed up on those two defensive possessions, but it’s OK’.
Wright:
It was a tough one to swallow. We’re not quitting. We’re hanging on by a small, small thread.
Hornets 102-78 Pistons
The Hornets beat the Pistons 102-78. Williams scores 18 points, Walker scores 17 points. Meeks scores 15 points, Drummond scores 13 points and nine rebounds for the Pistons. Williams:
Guys still feel good and are staying positive. Coach is staying positive and encouraging guys who are playing through injuries. We’re really trying to push for the eighth and seventh spot and we think we can get there at the end of the day.
Walker:
The start was one of our main priorities – to start fast and try to maintain it.
Coach Van Gundy:
We were bad, When you’re not ready to play, and it wasn’t just one player, it was everybody, it’s going to be a long night.
Bucks 95-91 Bulls
The Bucks beat the Bulls 95-91. Carter-Williams scores a double-double (21 points and 10 rebounds). Paul Gasol scores 14 points and 11 rebounds, Butler scores 25 points and seven rebounds for the Bulls. Coach Kidd:
Any win, no matter at what point here or there, can help.
Butler:
We didn’t win. That’s all that matters, No matter how many times you turn the ball over – yada, yada, yada – you’ve got to win the game.
Coach Thibodeau:
You’re always concerned. You’re concerned about everything.
Rockets 115-111 Kings
The Rockets beat the Kings 115-111. Harden scores 51 points, Ariza scores 22 points. Cousins scores a triple-double (24 points,21 rebounds, 1o assists) for the Kings. Ariza on Harden’s performance:
He finds a way to wow our team every time he goes out there, He’s just so crafty and he can score so many different ways. It’s definitely fun to watch.
Coach Karl on Cousins triple-double:
I’ve never coached a guy that can put up so many things into a game, He has a triple-double, but really has a quadruple-double because he had six blocks, three steals and at least one or maybe two charges. There are another 10 possessions he gave us because of his defensive abilities.
Harden:
If the attack is there, then I take it, if not, I find the assist, find one of my teammates open and I’ll pass the ball. Similar to every single game I play in.