(The Sports Xchange) – Matt Barnes contributed seven points and two assists to a second-quarter explosion that took the Golden State Warriors past the Milwaukee Bucks 117-92 Saturday night.
Stephen Curry scored a game-high 28 points on 9-for-13 shooting as the Warriors shot 60 percent in completing a perfect 3-0 homestand.
The Warriors (55-14) moved 2 1/2 games ahead of San Antonio (52-16), a loser Saturday at Memphis, in the race for top seeding in the Western Conference playoffs.
Clippers 108, Cavaliers 78
Blake Griffin scored 23 points and collected eight rebounds in three quarters, as the Los Angeles Clippers snapped a three-game losing streak with a victory over the short-handed Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday at Staples Center.
DeAndre Jordan had 13 points and 17 rebounds and J.J. Redick scored 16 points for the Clippers (41-29), who have a half-game lead over the Oklahoma City Thunder for the No. 5 seed in the Western Conference. Jamal Crawford also had 13 points while Chris Paul was held to five points on 0 of 8 shooting.
Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue decided to sit LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love against the Clippers to rest them. However, all three are expected to play Sunday against the Los Angeles Lakers.
Rockets 109, Nuggets 105
James Harden had 40 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, notching his 19th triple-double in the Rockets’ victory. Harden has 11 games of 40 or more points and did it this time after scoring 41 on Friday. Clint Capela had 16 points for the Rockets (48-22), who won despite a season-low in 3-point attempts (24) and makes (five).
Gary Harris had 17 points, Nikola Jokic 16 and Jameer Nelson 15 points and 11 assist for the Nuggets, who now lead Portland by 1 1/2 games for the No. 8 seed.
Grizzlies 104, Spurs 96
Mike Conley scored 19 points, Zach Randolph added 18 and Marc Gasol finished with 16 as Memphis extended its winning streak to four games.
The Grizzlies (40-30) led for all but 48 seconds in the second half to hand the Spurs (52-16) their ninth road loss this season. San Antonio, which had won 11 of its previous 13 games, got 22 points from Kawhi Leonard and 21 from LaMarcus Aldridge.
Bulls 95, Jazz 86
Jimmy Butler scored 23 points and distributed seven assists to help Chicago end a two-game losing streak.
Bobby Portis scored 22 points in 30 minutes off the bench for the Bulls. Rookie Denzel Valentine joined Portis off the bench to post his first career double-double, with 11 points and 12 rebounds. George Hill led the Jazz with 18 points to go along with seven rebounds. Gordon Hayward added 14 points on 5-for-16 shooting. Utah (43-27) lost for the second straight game and the third time in the past five contests. The Jazz were swept by the Bulls in a two-game season series.
Trail Blazers 113, Hawks 97
The Trail Blazers snapped a five-game losing streak to the Atlanta Hawks as they continued their quest to overtake the Nuggets for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
Portland led by 23 points just 10 minutes into the game and rolled to victory behind 27 points from Damian Lillard and 22 from fellow guard CJ McCollum.
The Trail Blazers, who are 7-2 in March, made 13 of their first 15 from the floor and shot 76.2 percent in the first quarter to 16 percent for the Hawks (37-32) while going up 40-18. Ersan Ilyasova, starting for the Hawks (37-32) in place of Paul Millsap, had 23 points. Millsap experienced left knee tightness warming up and was a late scratch.
Thunder 110, Kings 94
Thunder guard Russell Westbrook scored 28 points to go along with 10 assists and eight rebounds, leaving him two rebounds shy of his 36th triple-double. Doug McDermott came off the bench to score 21 points on 8-of-9 shooting for the Thunder, which won its fifth straight game.
Georgios Papagiannis led the Kings with 14 points and 11 boards.
Hornets 98, Wizards 93
Cody Zeller scored 19 points on 8of-10 shooting, and the Hornets snapped a three-game losing streak.
The Hornets trailed at halftime but built the lead up to as many as nine midway through the fourth quarter and then held on down the stretch.
The Wizards got as close as three in the final 20 seconds, but the Hornets’ Marvin Williams hit two free throws with 9.6 seconds left and two more with 7.3 seconds left.
John Wall led the Wizards with 19 points and eight assists, but he was just 5 of 16 from the field.
