• Oklahoma City Thunder 110, Philadelphia 76ers 105

The Thunder recovered from a rough first quarter when Philadelphia was hitting from the perimeter to play strong defense over the final 36 minutes and held strong and perfect over the final 2:19 of the fourth to force an overtime session.

Kevin Durant had 34 points on 26 shots (two enormously clutch ones) and also secured 16 defensive boards. Philadelphia typically defends scorers like Durant and Russell Westbrook as well as anybody, but both of them had their way on Wednesday. Ultimately, it was Philadelphia’s inability to hit jumpers down the stretch that let the win slip.

• Utah Jazz 96, Toronto Raptors 94

After a great third quarter, Toronto carried an eight-point lead into the final frame and extended it out to 14 at one point, but their offense failed them on a night where they were without Andrea Bargnani.

The Raptors went 6-for-22 in the fourth quarter, and coming up empty on that many possessions is too much strain to put on their defense.

• New Jersey Nets 94, Golden State Warriors 90

It’s been a long road trip, but the Warriors really should beat teams like the Nets when their best player is in a Texas delivery room if they want to be taken seriously as a team on the deep outskirts of the playoffs.

But Sundiata Gaines happened, giving excellent minutes in fill-in duty. Brook Lopez also obliterated the Warriors with his little short-range jumper out of the right post.

Meanwhile, Monta Ellis and Stephen Curry needed 37 shots to score 31 points as their jumpers weren’t hitting at all.

• Chicago Bulls 101, Charlotte Bobcats 84

Not a fair matchup considering the velocity of trajectory for each team, but the Bulls didn’t really turn it on until late in the game before pulling away. Kyle Korver found his stroke from distance (4-for-7), as did Derrick Rose (4-for-6). Taj Gibson and Ronnie Brewer gave Tom Thibodeau strong rotation minutes.

• Los Angeles Clippers 108, Boston Celtics 103

The Celtics won their two Los Angeles outings and have now dropped two home games against the Los Angeles teams.

If Boston needs to go to Chicago for a Game 7 instead of hosting it at home, these are the types of losses they can look back upon. Other than Nenad Krstic, the Celtics were unable to get anything going offensively; Kevin Garnett and Rajon Rondo were particularly inefficient, shooting a combined 11-for-34 from the floor.

The bench squad, meanwhile, is tough to believe in right now because they seem so alien on the parquet and it is difficult to ingratiate themselves when they combine to score 12 points.

Defensively, the Celtics weren’t themselves even though they contained Blake Griffin. Ultimately, Mo Williams (5-for-7 from three) and DeAndre Jordan (21 points on 10 shots) killed them and the halftime deficit of 18 was too much to claw back from. Williams showed a lot to the Clippers in this win and really controlled the game.

• New Orleans Hornets 93, Dallas Mavericks 92

No Chris Paul, but this win demonstrates the importance and value of the Jarrett Jack trade because he has the ability to single-handedly win games for quality teams on certain nights. Marco Belinelli and Carl Landry, two more relative newcomers, had 36 points on 24 shots off the bench as well.

Dallas led by 10 to begin the fourth quarter and were up by seven with 1:13 remaining and couldn’t get any key defensive stops.

• Milwaukee Bucks 110, Cleveland Cavaliers 90

The Bucks don’t need a ton of points to work with considering the strength of their defense, especially against Cleveland. The Bucks' PG rotation of Brandon Jennings and Earl Boykins scored 18 highly efficient points apiece to give them almost all of the offense they would need.

Samardo Samuels had another nice game offensively, but received little other help other than the odd Daniel Gibson three-pointer. J.J. Hickson initially looked like he was turning a corner after the deadline, but that appears to be largely a New York-induced aberration.

The next result was just as critical for Milwaukee..

• Minnesota Timberwolves 101, Indiana Pacers 75

I don’t have much to say about Kevin Love’s streak. It will be a neat factoid a few years from now, but ultimately hollow considering and a relative shock that Tim Duncan never had that type of extended run. In many ways, Love’s season has been far more interesting than the streak sidestory.

More impressive is the thorough win by Minnesota against a team with playoff (albeit Eastern Conference) aspirations.

This was the second game of a back-to-back for the Pacers, but 72.7 points per 100 possessions against a team near the bottom in defensively is difficult to stomach. Danny Granger was 2-for-19 and 0-for-9 from three, which begins to explain it, though I wouldn’t let Paul George (2-for-8), Darren Collison (1-for-5) and Roy Hibbert (0-for-6) hide behind that.

• New York Knicks 110, Memphis Grizzlies 108

Despite the easily appreciated antics of Tony Allen, I thought the Knicks were going to cruise the rest of the way when they extended their lead to 17 in the third.

Carmelo Anthony bailed out the Knicks with his jumper off the dribble to his left with Allen all over him. This was a case where one of the game’s best individual scorers getting the better of one of the game’s best individual defenders.

The Knicks held Memphis off the offensive glass, holding them to just five boards there, but they did allow 52 points in the pain and 28 off turnovers.

Even though Anthony created the game-winner on his own, the Knicks assisted on 31 of their 47 field goals with Toney Douglas leading with 10.

• San Antonio Spurs 111, Detroit Pistons 104

The Spurs shot an unconscious 80% from the floor during the first half to effectively bury the Pistons. But Detroit didn’t completely pack it in and won both the third and fourth quarter, using the offensive glass as an equalizer (20-5 margin).

Greg Monroe had a strong for the Pistons, scoring 16 points and collecting 10 rebounds.

• Orlando Magic 106, Sacramento Kings 102

Sacramento started strong and DeMarcus Cousins had a career-high 29 points on a great draw foul rate with Dwight Howard eventually fouling out.

But Jameer Nelson turned on the scoring late and was boosted by Orlando’s other perimeter scorers.

Even though it borders badly on cliche, these are the types of close games good teams find a way to win.