Spurs beat Thunder, climb to 4th in West
SAN ANTONIO, Texas — LaMarcus Aldridge had 25 points and 11 rebounds, and the San Antonio Spurs held off the Oklahoma City Thunder 103-99 on Thursday night to climb back into fourth place in the Western Conference.
San Antonio matched Oklahoma City at 44-32 in jumping two spots in the standings. The Thunder are fifth, a half-game ahead of the New Orleans Pelicans.
Aldridge scored 21 points in the first half, then drove past Steven Adams for a dunk and a three-point lead with 52 seconds left as the Spurs snapped a two-game slide.
Paul George led Oklahoma City with 26 points and had six assists. Russell Westbrook added 19 points and 11 assists, but had a pair of 3-pointer miss the rim and land out of bounds in the final minutes.
HEAT 103, BULLS 92
In Miami, Josh Richardson scored 22 points, Goran Dragic added 17 and the Heat trimmed its magic number for clinching a playoff berth to one by topping Chicago.
Justise Winslow scored 13 points and Kelly Olynyk finished with 11 for the Heat (41-35), who’ve won a season-best eight consecutive home games and moved within a half-game of Washington for the No. 6 spot in the Eastern Conference playoff race.
The Heat need one more win or one more Detroit loss to wrap up their 20th postseason trip in 30 seasons. The Pistons are in New York on Saturday, in a game that should be over before the start of Miami’s home game against Brooklyn.
Bulls center Robin Lopez was ejected after picking up a pair of technicals with 8:43 remaining, ending his 13-point, six-rebound night. The Bulls dropped their seventh straight, making this the third losing streak that lasted at least that long for Chicago this season.
PISTONS 103, WIZARDS 92
In Detroit, Andre Drummond scored 24 points and pulled down 23 rebounds, and the Pistons beat Washington for its fifth win in six games.
The Pistons moved within 4½ games of the Milwaukee Bucks for the last Eastern Conference playoff spot. The Bucks played at the Golden State Warriors later on Thursday.
Detroit was missing power forward Blake Griffin, who was a late scratch with an ankle contusion. Griffin is averaging 19.8 points, 6.6 rebounds and 6.2 assists in 25 games since joining Detroit late January.
Anthony Tolliver, starting for Griffin, scored 14 points, while Reggie Jackson finished with 13 points and eight assists.
Bradley Beal had 15 points for Washington and Kelly Oubre added 14. The Wizards have lost four of five.