Toronto slips past Nuggets

DeMar DeRozan, Jonas Valanciunas, and Fred VanVleet each scored 15 points and the Raptors beat the Denver Nuggets, 114-110, last night in Toronto.

Jakob Poeltl scored all of his 12 points in the fourth quarter, including eight straight for Toronto at one stretch.

Serge Ibaka had 13 points, Pascal Siakam 12 and Kyle Lowry 11 as the Raptors improved to 31-7 at home.

Toronto, which lost to the Clippers on Sunday, avoided what would have been its fifth two-game losing streak. The Eastern Conference-leading Raptors have yet to lose three consecutive games this season.

Nikola Jokic had 29 points and 16 rebounds, and Paul Millsap scored 20 points for the Nuggets, who lost their second straight and fourth in six games.

Wizards 116, Spurs 106 — Markieff Morris shot 7-of-7 from the floor for 15 points, Otto Porter Jr. added 14 and host Washington beat San Antonio to snap a three-game losing streak in the middle of a tight Eastern Conference playoff race.

San Antonio lost for just the second time in eight games but may have been dealt a more serious blow with a left knee injury to star LaMarcus Aldridge, who was the game’s leading scorer with 13 points before he limped off late in the second quarter.

Aldridge is the biggest reason the Spurs have stayed afloat without Kawhi Leonard most of this season.

Trail Blazers 107, Pelicans 103 — Damian Lillard scored 20 of his 41 points in the fourth quarter, and Portland beat host New Orleans.

Lillard hit his first six shots of the fourth quarter, including two 3-pointers, to push Portland into its first lead since early in the first quarter. He made two free throws with 1.3 seconds left to seal the victory.

Anthony Davis had 36 points, 14 rebounds and six blocks for the Pelicans, with 22 points coming after he rolled his right ankle and briefly came out of the game with 5:15 left in the third quarter.

Rockets 118, Bulls 86 — Eric Gordon scored 31 points and tied a career high with eight 3-pointers on a night James Harden sat out to rest, and host Houston got its 10th straight win with a rout of Chicago.

Trevor Ariza added 21 points and Chris Paul had 13 points and 10 assists in his return after missing the last three games with a sore hamstring.

The NBA-leading Rockets became the first team since San Antonio in the lockout-shortened 2011-12 season to have three winning streaks of at least 10 games in a season. They won 14 in a row from Nov. 16-Dec. 18 and 17 straight from Jan. 28-March 7.

Heat 98, Cavaliers 79 — Kelly Olynyk scored 19 points, Dwyane Wade blocked a pair of shots by LeBron James as part of a stifling defensive effort by host Miami, which had little trouble on the way to beating Cleveland.

Josh Richardson and James Johnson each scored 15 points for Miami, which led 54-34 at halftime and has won 10 of its last 11 home games. Wade finished with 12 against the team he spent part of this season with before getting traded back to Miami.

Goran Dragic added 10 for the Heat, who could clinch an Eastern Conference playoff spot by week’s end.