LOS ANGELES — The Toronto Raptors moved within one game of the Cleveland Cavaliers for top spot in the Eastern Conference Sunday with a 105-100 NBA victory over the Orlando Magic.
DeMar DeRozan led the Raptors with a game-high 25 points and five assists.
Luis Scola added 20 points and eight rebounds while Kyle Lowry chipped in with 18 points and seven assists as the Raptors notched their fourth straight win and improved to 13-4 since the All-Star break.
Scola said the pursuit of first place in the East was important, but not the overriding motivation as the post-season approaches.
Orlando, connecting on 51.6 percent from the field, took an 82-80 lead into the fourth quarter.
But the Raptors used a 10-0 scoring run to take a four-point lead with 5:22 to play and held on.
Victor Oladipo led Orlando with 21 points and six rebounds. Evan Fournier had 21 points, but the Magic have now lost three in a row and trail the Chicago Bulls by six games for the eighth and final playoff spot in the East.
Jazz 94, Bucks 85: Seven players scored in double figures to help the Utah Jazz beat the Milwaukee Bucks 94-85, enabling the Jazz to keep pace with the Dallas Mavericks for the eighth playoff spot in the Western Conference.
With the Mavericks having pulled out a 132-120 overtime victory over Portland earlier Sunday, the Jazz needed to beat the Bucks to stay one game back of Dallas with 12 games to play.
Celtics 120, 76ers 105: When the Philadelphia 76ers were going through their historically horrendous 1972-73 season, which produced just nine wins, the team was thought to be the league’s spa. They were the team other teams wanted to play to get better.
The 2015-16 team, which also has produced just nine wins, has taken the spa thing a step further.
Pelicans 109, Clippers 105: Despite learning before the game that All-Star forward Anthony Davis would have season-ending knee surgery, the short-handed New Orleans Pelicans placed six of their eight dressed players in double figures, led by Jrue Holiday with 22, and defeated the Los Angeles Clippers 109-105 at the New Orleans Arena.
Holiday hit two free throws with 24.8 seconds left to give the Pelicans a 106-103 lead. J.J. Redick cut it to 106-105 with a reverse layup at 15.3 seconds, but Luke Babbitt made two free throws to make it 108-105 with 14.5 seconds left.
Mavericks 132, Trail Blazers 120 (OT): Dirk Nowitzki scored a historic 40 points and the Dallas Mavericks snapped a five-game home losing streak by outlasting the Portland Trail Blazers 132-120 in overtime at American Airlines Center.
Kings 88, Knicks 80: In a matchup of two teams out of the playoff picture and facing looming offseason questions, the Sacramento Kings rode a 24-point, 20-rebound night by DeMarcus Cousins to an 88-80 win over the depleted New York Knicks for a rare road victory. — Agencies
