The New York Knicks lost their second game of the year despite a strong comeback effort against the Dallas Mavericks, and the Washington Wizards just barely remained the last team without a win in the league as they fell in overtime to the Atlanta Hawks.
2012 NBA standings: Wizards still winless, Knicks drop second game
The Washington Wizards almost won their first game, but fell in overtime by the slightest of margins. Two matchups between division leaders went to overtime, as the Oklahoma City Thunder and Miami Heat both won in extra sessions over the Los Angeles Clippers and Milwaukee Bucks.
Mark D. Smith-US PRESSWIRE
Washington has come so close so many times to breaking out of their slump: nine of their ten games have been losses by ten points or less. Wednesday night, they forced overtime against Atlanta and nearly won on a miraculous last-second putback by Martell Webster, but the shot left his hands a second too late, and they fell to 0-10.
New York is no longer the sole team in the league with just a single loss, as Dallas held them off in the fourth quarter. New York had a double-digit lead in the third, but Dallas came back to go up by as much as 12 before the Knicks rallied back behind strong defense and several and-ones by Tyson Chandler. But Vince Carter, Jae Crowder, and O.J. Mayo combined to hit 11 3-pointers in a 114-111 win for the Mavs.
A pair of teams sitting in first place in their division lived up to the hype as the Oklahoma City Thunder and Los Angeles Clippers went to overtime, the fourth game of the evening to require extra time. The Thunder won 117-111 behind 35 from Kevin Durant as well as 20-point outings from Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant. The Miami Heat and Milwaukee Bucks also both lead their divisions, but the Heat held on in 113-106 OT behind a near triple-double from LeBron James
The Los Angeles Lakers fell to .500 in Mike D'Antoni's second game as head coach, falling 113-97 to the Sacramento Kings. Kobe Bryant tallied 38 points, but Dwight Howard was more or less invisible and Marcus Thornton had 23 for the Kings off the bench.The honeymoon isn't necessarily over for the Lakers and D'Antoni, but they'll expect better than double-digit losses to Sacramento.
Elsewhere, the Golden State Warriors snapped a four-game winning streak for the Brooklyn Nets and the Charlotte Bobcats won their second straight, winning 98-97 over the Toronto Raptors.
Here’s a full look at the standings in both leagues:
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