NBA schedule: Lakers take key win against Hornets; Jazz fall to Thunder

Lakers 104, Hornets 96

Knicks 120, Wizards 99

Via Ben Golliver at the Point Forward.

• Trey Burke, Gorgui Dieng show their NBA value

• Ziller: Avoiding the next Kings saga

Durant had 21 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists for the Thunder.

• Trey Burke, Gorgui Dieng show their NBA value

Valanciunas received what Steve Aschburner of NBA.com characterized as “extreme care.”

Valanciunas started and played 24 minutes Tuesday, scoring eight points in the win. He had scored in double figures in 12 games in a row for the Raptors before Tuesday. The Lithuanian 20-year-old was the Eastern Conference’s rookie of the month for March.

Is that the craziest ending to a game this season? I can’t recall something crazier. The Rockets got an absolute gift and the Suns are surely steaming mad. But once they look at those lottery odds, the Suns’ front office will probably feel just a bit better. Maybe O’Neal did that on purpose. Or maybe he just didn’t want to play five minutes of overtime.

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New York isn’t invincible. They’ve had a pair of four-game losing streaks throughout the season, including one answered immediately with the current 13-and-counting win streak. And any road to return to the Finals for the first time since 1999 would presumably go through Miami. But the Knicks have proven themselves worthy of the accolades given to them this season, the division title they earned for the first time in 19 seasons, and whatever else happens next.

• Trey Burke, Gorgui Dieng show their NBA value

The Heat’s 61st win tied a franchise record for wins in a season. Miami went 61-21 in the 1996-97 season.

The Heat held a 47-46 lead at halftime but began to pull away when they held Milwaukee without a field goal for a seven-minute stretch late in the third quarter.

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• Trey Burke, Gorgui Dieng show their NBA value

• Ziller: Avoiding the next Kings saga

With the college basketball season over and the playoffs in view, the stretch run of the NBA season is in high gear. Teams at the top of the standings are trying to secure home-court advantage, while teams in the middle are jockeying for playoff positioning and teams at the bottom are resting veterans with one eye on ping-pong balls.

The Western Conference:

New Orleans, meanwhile, is slinking into the end of the regular season with nothing much to play for. However, they have enough young talent on hand to challenge the Lakers. The gae will be broadcast nationally at 10:30 p.m. ET on NBATV.

The Anthony Davis matchup

None of the three games earlier in the season between these two teams was very competitive. So far, both were able to comfortably protect home court, with the Thunder winning by an average of 18 points and the Jazz winning by 15 in Salt Lake City. The last time these two teams met, Utah was in the midst of their worst losing streak of the season. However, after losing a ton of ground to L.A., the Jazz have rebounded in the last few weeks, going 7-3 and moving back into the playoff race.

The Jefferson Dilemma

The NBA is back after taking a brief respite - gotta let the NCAA National Championship game have the main stage all to itself, so true NBA fans can either remark on how superior of a product the NBA is or scout out a few of next year’s draft picks - with ten games on Tuesday night’s docket. With less than two weeks remaining in the regular season, there’s some serious playoff seeding implications, and all eyes will be on the Lakers and Jazz as they continue to be neck-and-neck for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

Here’s each game tonight - all times are Eastern.