2015 NBA scores: Suns keep playoff hopes alive, Danilo Gallinari goes off

The Suns’ playoff hopes remain alive after another big win, Danilo Gallinari scores a career-high and the rest of the action from Sunday in the NBA.

by Satchel Price

Mar 23, 2015, 1:00 PM UTC

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

The Phoenix Suns continued their push for the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference by beating the Dallas Mavericks, 98-92, on Sunday for their third win in four days. Eric Bledsoe led the way with 20 points and nine assists, while the Morris brothers both recorded double-doubles as the team remains within striking distance of a playoff spot.

Not too long ago, things were looking dire for the Suns. The Oklahoma City Thunder have been pulling away with the last playoff spot in the West even with Kevin Durant out of the lineup, and Phoenix had been sputtering ever since the All-Star break. Things have turned around over the past week, however, with Sunday marking four wins in four tries over the past seven days.

The past three wins have been particularly impressive, as each came against a Western Conference contender. After beating the Pelicans on Thursday to gain much-needed ground in the tight battle for the No. 8 seed, the team pulled off back-to-back wins over the Rockets and Mavs this weekend to keep those playoff hopes alive.

Now the Suns are just 2.5 games behind OKC for the final playoff spot with a dozen games remaining, and could earn a playoff spot even after the midseason trade of star guard Goran Dragic. It’s been largely because of the play of Bledsoe, who’s stepped up in the absence of his former backcourt mate to keep the Suns in the mix.

Bledsoe was fantastic again Sunday, and has been dominant of late. Other than a dud performance in the win over New Orleans, he’s scored 20-plus in four of the past five contests, including a 34-point outburst in the win over Houston.

That’s the kind of dominant play Phoenix needs, and it showed there’s not much wiggle room again Sunday. Even after pulling out to a 15-point lead at halftime, the Suns faltered on both ends of the floor in the third quarter, and eventually found themselves playing from behind in the final minutes.

That the team managed to rally and get the win is a testament to its resilience, but a better performance out of halftime would’ve made things that much easier.

Still, big blown lead aside, this was a huge win for Phoenix, and keeps the pressure on the Thunder and Pelicans in a crowded Western Conference. Facing the Golden State Warriors in the first round may be a brutal matchup, but it's still better than narrowly missing out and watching from home.

SB Nation presents: How the Morris twins pushed each other to achieve greatness

3 other things we learned

Milwaukee's post-trade stumbles won't stop. Swapping out Brandon Knight for Michael Carter-Williams at the trade deadline may work out for Milwaukee in the end, but it's done little to help the team's fortunes this season. The Bucks lost their sixth straight game Sunday -- an 18-point beatdown against the Cavaliers -- and are now 4-13 since stirring up their point guard situation. Jason Kidd has managed to keep the team effective on the defensive end with the long-armed MCW prowling on the perimeter, but the offense badly misses Knight's efficient shooting and playmaking:

Before the moves, the Bucks were third in the NBA by shooting nearly 38 percent from behind the arc. They’re 20th since the deadline, with a per-game average dropping from 7.2 to 5.6. That almost entirely comes from the point guard downgrade -- Knight averaged 2.0 per game at a 39.7 percent clip, while MCW has hit one three-pointer total in a dozen games since joining the team.

Danilo Gallinari can still go off. Not too long ago, Gallinari was a big part of what made the Nuggets such an exciting team. On Sunday, we got a glimpse of why the Italian sharpshooter used to make fans so excited before the injuries gave way to ineffectiveness over the past couple years. The 26-year-old's performance in a 119-101 win over the Magic -- 40 points, 6-of-13 from three, 12-of-21 overall -- was like a window into a future where the ACL tear and subsequent stumbles never happened. That's a career-high for the Nuggets forward, and the first time he's topped 30 points since Dec. 28, 2012, when he set his old career-high of 39 points in a win over Dallas.

The Lakers' tanking efforts take a hit. There's another race going down at the bottom of the NBA standings, where the Lakers took a step in the wrong direction by beating the 76ers, 101-87, on Sunday night. Los Angeles is now five games behind New York for the worst record in the league, and just two games ahead of Orlando for the fourth-worst record. With the Lakers' first-round pick heading to Philadelphia if it's not in the top-five, those dropping lottery odds probably aren't music to fans' ears.