Spencer Dinwiddie scored 13 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter and made his return to Brooklyn a successful one as the Nets pulled away down the stretch for a 116-105 victory over the visiting Chicago Bulls Thursday night in New York.

After being acquired along with Dorian Finney-Smith from Dallas for Kyrie Irving on Monday, Dinwiddie enjoyed a warm reception all night from fans, including chants of “Welcome Back Spencer” when he took free throws.

Dinwiddie made 8 of 17 shots and sank seven free throws. He also handed out six assists and tied a career high with four steals while playing 39 minutes.

The Nets won for the sixth time in 15 games after trading Kevin Durant and T.J. Warren to Phoenix for Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson and Jae Crowder as part of a four-team trade. The deal was officially announced an hour before the opening tip.

Cam Thomas added 13 of his 20 points in the fourth after three straight 40-point games, and Joe Harris scored all of his 18 in the second quarter by hitting six 3s. Yuta Watanabe contributed 14 as the Nets shot 42.9 percent and made 17 triples.

Zach LaVine scored 14 of his 38 points in the third to help Chicago take a five-point lead into the fourth. Nikola Vucevic added 15 points and 17 rebounds and DeMar DeRozan finished with 14 points for the Bulls, who shot 46.2 percent but missed 21 of 26 3-point tries.

LaVine scored eight points in a 10-2 run to close the opening quarter as the Bulls took a 26-19 lead. The score reached 32-19 in the opening minute of the second quarter, but the Nets responded and held a 53-50 lead by halftime.

After facing their second 11-point deficit, the Bulls outscored the Nets 28-12 over the final 8:23 of the third quarter. They carried an 84-79 lead into the fourth after LaVine hit a 19-footer with 5.1 seconds left.

Dinwiddie hit three free throws to snap an 88-88 tie with 8:34 left, and Brooklyn opened a 104-92 lead when Watanabe hit an uncontested corner 3 with 4:23 remaining. Dinwiddie clinched the win when he made a 3-pointer from the right side over Coby White for a 109-97 lead with 96 seconds left.

–Field Level Media

Trae Young collected 36 points, 12 assists and seven rebounds to fuel the host Atlanta Hawks to a 116-107 victory over the short-handed Phoenix Suns on Thursday.

Young made 10 of 18 field goals — including 5 of 8 from 3-point range — and 11 of 12 from the foul line. He recorded 20 points and 12 assists in the Hawks’ 132-100 win in Phoenix on Feb. 1.

Atlanta’s Dejounte Murray tallied 19 points, eight rebounds and five assists while John Collins added 16 points to send Atlanta to its third win in five games.

Onyeka Okongwu had 11 points and 11 rebounds and Clint Capela pulled down 17 rebounds and scored seven points.

Phoenix’s Josh Okogie, a former Georgia Tech standout, scored 25 points off the bench. Deandre Ayton added 23 on 10-of-15 shooting to improve to 37 of 48 (77 percent) over his last three games.

Ish Wainright scored 17 points and Chris Paul added 15 points and eight assists for the Suns, who saw their three-game winning streak come to a halt.

Phoenix, which recently acquired superstar Kevin Durant from the Brooklyn Nets, had just nine players available. Devin Booker (groin), Cameron Payne (foot) and Landry Shamet (foot) were nursing injuries, while Mikal Bridges, Cameron Johnson, Jae Crowder and Dario Saric were traded.

Phoenix halved an 18-point deficit down to 56-47 at halftime before Atlanta scored 19 of the first 28 points in the third quarter. Young drained a pair of 3-pointers to highlight that surge.

The Suns scored 11 of the first 13 points of the fourth quarter to trim Atlanta’s lead to 95-86. Murray sank a pair of jumpers to stop the bleeding, and Young drained 3-pointers on consecutive possessions to push the Hawks’ advantage to 107-93 with 3:47 left.

Atlanta wasn’t seriously threatened the rest of the way.

Young got off to a fast start, making 3 of 4 field goals and 4 of 5 free throws to score 11 points in the first quarter. Bogdan Bogdanovic’s no-look pass found Jalen Johnson for an alley-oop layup just before the buzzer to push the Hawks’ lead to 36-22 at the end of the quarter.

–Field Level Media

Northern California basketball fans get an opportunity to witness what could be the start of an entertaining rivalry when Kyrie Irving and the Dallas Mavericks visit De’Aaron Fox and the Sacramento Kings on Friday night.

Irving, who is in his 12th season in the NBA, and Fox, a sixth-year veteran, have spent their careers in opposite conferences and have gone head-to-head just four times. Irving’s teams — the Boston Celtics and Brooklyn Nets twice apiece — have won all four games.

But with Irving having been dealt to the Dallas Mavericks of the Western Conference this week, the electric point guards could start meeting three times a year.

That would include this season as the clubs have yet to face off. They also are scheduled to duel Saturday night on the second day of a two-game, same-site back-to-back, before matching up in Dallas on April 5.

Friday’s head-to-head will be the duo’s first in almost two years. The last time they battled, Fox got the better of Irving in the scoring column for the first time, 27-21, in a 127-118 Kings loss in Brooklyn in February 2021.

Irving had outscored Fox 22-6, 31-19 and 40-19 in their other three career meetings.

Both enter their fifth matchup in fine form.

Donning a Mavericks uniform for the first time — and wearing No. 2 for the first time since he was a Cleveland Cavalier — Irving wasted no time impressing his new fans (via television) with 24 points in a 110-104 road win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday night.

“It feels good just to get acclimated,” he said of his Mavericks debut. “I’m just grateful I got to play the game that I love with some guys that were selfless out there. It just feels good.”

The win was Dallas’ second straight since losing Luka Doncic to a bruised right heel last week. He joined the club in Los Angeles but did not play, and his status for the Sacramento doubleheader, which ends a five-game trip, remains unclear.

While the Mavericks felt the need to make a big move in their quest to move up in the West, the Kings appear to be perfectly happy with the guys who have taken the club to the top of the Pacific Division two-thirds of the way through the regular season.

Fox and Domantas Sabonis have led the way. They combined for 33 points, 18 assists and 11 rebounds in a 140-120 win at Houston on Monday, then 53 points, 16 assists and 14 rebounds in a 130-128 triumph in a rematch two nights later.

Fox was the hero of the latter, drawing a foul on a 3-point shot attempt with three-tenths of a second to go, then drilling all three free throws to rally the Kings to a fourth win in seven games on a just-completed trip.

Fox has been so hot at the free-throw line this season, shooting a career-best 78.9 percent, he admitted they’re going in even when he wishes they hadn’t.

“I feel like I’m a better free-throw shooter than in the past,” he noted. “Going to the line with the game on the line, especially with 0.3 seconds left, I really knew I need two. I tried to miss the third one (with a one-point lead).”

With 22 points, nine rebounds and five assists, Sabonis missed a double-double for just the third time in his last 36 games. He leads the NBA with 42.

–Field Level Media

Wendell Carter Jr. scored 19 points, Cole Anthony and Bol Bol scored 17 apiece and the host Orlando Magic beat the Denver Nuggets 115-104 on Thursday night.

Moritz Wagner scored 12 points, Paolo Banchero had 11 points and 10 rebounds, Jalen Suggs also scored 11 points and Franz Wagner added 10 points for Orlando. The Magic won for the third time in four games.

Aaron Gordon scored a season-high 37 points and added 14 rebounds, Nikola Jokic had 29 points and 12 rebounds and Michael Porter Jr. finished with 12 for Denver.

Jamal Murray missed his third straight game and second due to right knee inflammation for the Nuggets on Thursday.

The Nuggets scored the first 12 points of the game but Orlando quickly recovered and led 29-26 after one quarter. The Magic built the lead to 52-36 midway through the second quarter, but Denver closed the gap to 65-55 at halftime.

Orlando built its lead to 74-60 on a dunk by Markelle Fultz early in the third quarter but the Nuggets started to creep back into it.

Jokic hit a running dunk and fed Gordon for a 3-pointer, Gordon dunked and Jokic hit a 3-pointer from the top of the arc. After Franz Wagner’s layup made it 82-72 Gordon and Jokic scored four points apiece during an 8-0 run that cut the deficit to 82-78.

Denver got as close as three but the Magic took an 89-84 lead into the fourth.

Anthony scored seven points early in the final quarter, pushing the lead to 98-86 with 9:14 left. Bol scored seven straight points to give Orlando a 107-88 lead with 6:05 left.

Jokic racked up seven straight Denver points to get within 109-95, and after Moritz Wagner missed a layup Bruce Brown made a floater to cut the deficit to 12 with 4:36 left.

The teams traded misses before Gordon hit a running layup. Carter’s layup made it a 12-point game again and the Magic closed it out.

–Field Level Media

Both the Portland Trail Blazers and Oklahoma City Thunder underwent significant changes at the NBA trade deadline.

The new-look versions of both will at least start to be apparent Friday when the Blazers and Thunder meet in Portland.

Despite being separated by just a half-game in the Western Conference standings entering Thursday’s play, the teams took drastically different approaches at the deadline.

The Blazers looked to upgrade themselves, especially on the defensive end, and did that with the addition of Matisse Thybulle in a three-way deal with the 76ers.

Thybulle, a two-time second-team NBA All-Defensive Team member, gives Portland a rangy wing to pair with Damian Lillard while not encroaching much on Lillard’s offensive contributions.

“I think we all feel very responsible to do the best by Dame and put the right pieces around him to have a chance to win it,” Blazers coach Chauncey Billips said leading into the deadline.

The Blazers are in the bottom five in the NBA in defensive rating.

Portland also traded away Josh Hart in a separate deal, acquiring Cam Reddish from the New York Knicks, and sent Gary Payton II to the Los Angeles Lakers.

“I think it’s a game of chess,” Lillard said of the approach to the deadline. “You gotta do what you gotta do, and trust the process that repositioning ourselves will be beneficial.”

The Blazers come into Friday’s game, the third in a five-game homestand, having won six of their last nine.

Portland is coming off a 125-122 victory over Golden State on Wednesday in which Lillard had his second career triple-double, finishing with 33 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds.

Even though they are in the thick of the race for a play-in spot in the Western Conference, the Thunder remain in rebuild mode.

The Thunder traded away two of the four players remaining from their last playoff team, in 2019-20, shipping off veteran center Mike Muscala (Boston Celtics) and fourth-year forward Darius Bazley (Phoenix Suns) in separate deals.

Only Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Luguentz Dort remain from the playoff squad. The Thunder have the youngest roster in the NBA.

Oklahoma City is coming off a 133-130 win over the Lakers in a game that will be long remembered for LeBron James becoming the NBA’s all-time leading scorer.

He did it with a shot over Kenrich Williams, but Williams is taking the attention in stride.

“I told my wife, you can take it two ways,” Williams said. “You hold him under what he needed to score, or you can be a part of history.

“I’m always looking at the positives. I’m a part of history.”

While Williams isn’t at the center of the Thunder’s rebuild, he’s been a valuable piece.

“His vulnerability as a competitor is one of his best qualities,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “He doesn’t back away from a challenge and he doesn’t feel failure. I think it’s fitting that his nose is in the fight on that play.”

Dort, Oklahoma City’s top defender, has missed the last six games with a right hamstring strain which figures to keep him out of Friday’s game as well.

Aleksej Pokusevski, who hasn’t played since late December with a left leg fracture, has been with the Thunder on its three-game road trip, which wraps up Friday, and is closing in on a return.

Friday’s game is the third of four meetings between the teams this season. Oklahoma City has won the first two.

–Field Level Media

With Ja Morant and Dillon Brooks back in the lineup, the Memphis Grizzlies host the Minnesota Timberwolves Friday night looking for consecutive wins for the first time since mid-January.

Morant sat out Sunday’s heartbreaking 106-103 loss to the Toronto Raptors with a sore wrist. Brooks was also unavailable due to a one-game suspension. That meant three-fifths of Memphis’ starting five was out with Steven Adams sidelined indefinitely with a PCL sprain.

Morant (27.4 points, 8.3 assists, 5.8 rebounds per game) returned to the lineup and scored 34 points and dished out seven assists to lead the Grizzlies to a 104-89 win over the Chicago Bulls on Tuesday night. Brooks added five points and four assists.

Unlike the game against the Raptors in which the Grizzlies blew an eight-point lead entering the fourth quarter, Memphis outscored the Bulls 32-14 in the final frame and won in convincing fashion.

“This was an important game to get because we kind of battled back in that fourth quarter,” Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins said.

Despite Memphis losing eight of its last nine games before the win over Chicago, Jaren Jackson Jr. has been a major bright spot, especially on the defensive end.

Jackson (16.8 ppg, 6.6 rpg) had five blocks in the win over Chicago in addition to scoring 24 points. His 3.3 blocks per game would be the best in the NBA if he hadn’t missed so much time early in the season recovering from surgery for a stress fracture in his foot.

Xavier Tillman (5.0 ppg, 3.9 rpg), Santi Aldama (9.4 ppg, 4.7 rpg) and Brandon Clarke (10.4 ppg, 5.6 rpg) have seen their minutes increase with Adams out. Desmond Bane (21.6 ppg, 4.8 rpg) has been rock solid in the backcourt.

Minnesota is coming off an impressive 143-118 road win over Utah in which it hit 23 3-pointers, tying its season high.

But the Timberwolves were involved in a three-team trade before the deadline that sent D’Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley and Jarred Vanderbilt to the Los Angeles Lakers, Russell Westbrook and a first-round pick to the Utah Jazz and Mike Conley Jr., Nickeil Alexander-Walker and three second-round picks to Minnesota. The Timberwolves waived Bryn Forbes to allow for the trade to be completed.

Conley (10.7 ppg, 7.7 apg) and Alexander-Walker (6.3 ppg, 2.1 apg) will team up with dynamic youngsters Anthony Edwards (24.7 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 4.6 apg) and Jaylen Nowell (11.0 ppg, 2.1 apg) in an already strong backcourt.

Veteran Karl-Anthony Towns (right calf) is out for Minnesota so Memphis won’t have to worry about his presence in the paint. Rudy Gobert (groin), Kyle Anderson (back) and Austin Rivers also did not play against Utah.

Luka Garza is coming off a career-high, 25-point performance against the Jazz and could be a problem in the post for the Grizzlies.

“It was definitely strange,” Garza said about the big trade. “But I don’t want to ever look back in my time in the NBA and be like, ‘I didn’t make the most of what was my childhood dream.'”

Memphis is 2-6 since Adams last played on Jan. 22.

–Field Level Media

The Cleveland Cavaliers expect to have their starting backcourt back on the floor when they visit the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday night.

Donovan Mitchell (groin) and Darius Garland (thumb) both sat out Wednesday’s 113-85 rout of the Detroit Pistons with minor ailments.

Mitchell, who will start in the upcoming All-Star Game, is averaging 26.8 points per game. Garland is contributing 22 points and 8.1 assists per game.

The Cavaliers didn’t miss either player while posting their fourth consecutive victory. Instead, they were led by frontcourt performers Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley.

Allen scored 20 points on 9-of-13 shooting and collected 16 rebounds — including nine on the offensive boards. Mobley added 19 points and eight rebounds.

“Jarrett did a great job of setting the tone,” Cleveland coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “There was a bunch of extra-effort plays that he made where he was just outworking the guy in front of him. He was able to get offensive rebounds, and his teammates were finding him in the paint.

“And the same thing with Evan. They had opportunities to attack and were extremely aggressive.”

Cleveland didn’t make any significant moves before Thursday’s trade deadline though rumors were heavy that guard Caris LeVert might be on the way out.

But no deal materialized one day after LeVert was just 5-of-16 shooting while scoring 15 points against the Pistons.

“He knows we need him,” said Bickerstaff after Wednesday’s game, “and he knows how to get to his spots and what he’s capable of, so it’s not one of those things where he’s having a bad night and you just sit him down.”

The Cavaliers are looking to finish off a two-game regular-season sweep of the Pelicans. Cleveland registered a 113-103 home victory on Jan. 16 behind 30 points from Garland.

New Orleans stars Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram both missed that game due to injuries.

The injury-prone Williamson (hamstring) won’t be on the floor for the rematch and will miss his 20th consecutive game. Williamson also has been ruled out for the Pelicans’ final two games before the All-Star break and will also sit out the All-Star Game.

Williamson is averaging 26 points in 29 games. The fourth-year pro has played in just 114 games for New Orleans since being the No. 1 overall pick of the 2019 NBA Draft.

Ingram recently returned from a left big toe injury that sidelined him for two months and he appears to be regaining his form. He is averaging 30.3 points over the last three games on 36-of-66 shooting (54.5 percent), including back-to-back efforts of 35 and 30 points.

Ingram made 11 of 18 shots in the 30-point outing during Tuesday’s 116-107 victory over the visiting Atlanta Hawks. It was the Pelicans’ third straight win after they lost 10 consecutive contests and 15 of their previous 18.

“Brandon, it’s a difference when he’s on the floor,” New Orleans coach Willie Green said after the victory over Atlanta. “He’s one of the best players in the game and we’re seeing it over and over. He’s starting to find his rhythm and when he does, he’s a tough cover.”

Ingram said his conditioning is back and that rates as a big help.

“I’m able to get my legs under me a little bit and figure out different things,” Ingram said. “I’m able to score the basketball, but I’m also able to look for the best shot on the floor.”

New Orleans made a minor deal before Thursday’s 3 p.m. ET trade deadline, sending guard Devonte’ Graham and four second-round picks to the San Antonio Spurs for guard Josh Richardson.

Richardson averaged 11.5 points in 42 games for the Spurs this season.

–Field Level Media

Amid significant change, each team will have a different look from the last time they met when the Utah Jazz visit the Toronto Raptors on Friday night.

The Jazz, who defeated the Raptors 131-128 on Feb.1 at Salt Lake City, were involved in a three-team trade before their 143-118 home loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday.

In an eight-player deal involving the Timberwolves and Los Angeles Lakers, the Jazz traded Mike Conley, Malik Beasley, Jarred Vanderbilt, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, and three second-round picks for Russell Westbrook, Juan Toscano-Anderson, Damian Jones and a Lakers 2027 top-four protected first-round pick.

After the Raptors defeated the visiting Spurs 112-98 on Wednesday, they reacquired center Jakob Poeltl from San Antonio in exchange for Khem Birch, a protected 2024 first-round draft pick and two future second-round draft picks.

The trade by the Jazz leaves Jordan Clarkson as the team’s longest-tenured player. Conley was his backcourt mate in the starting lineup this season.

“It’s definitely tough losing a guy like Mike — that leader, great point guard,” Clarkson said. “The guy that makes everybody’s life easier on the court, and his energy off the court and what he brings to the team, a guy who was never down, I never thought he had a bad day, a guy who just took everybody for who they were. It’s a big loss.”

The trade means Collin Sexton will have a chance to establish himself as the Jazz’s starting point guard.

“No. 1 is taking care of his body,” Jazz coach Will Hardy said. “It seems like because of where we are in the season, we forget that Collin missed a year after having a knee surgery, and our No. 1 focus with Collin signing the extension is his health.

“And when he’s on the court playing, it’s about the balancing act of attacking to score and attacking to create shots for his teammates. And that’s what he’s going to continue to have to work on balancing.”

Sexton had 22 points, five assists and five rebounds in 31:16 in playing time on Wednesday.

“He’s fully capable from a physical standpoint of having a great impact defensively,” Hardy said. “He can get really low, he’s very explosive, super strong. He can get through screens and it’s going to just be, every day continuing to work on that technique — and the mindset of you can impact the game in a lot of other ways besides just scoring.”

The Raptors sent Poeltl to the Spurs in 2018 as part of the deal to acquire Kawhi Leonard. He is expected to provide the rim protection the Raptors need.

Poeltl had 12 points, seven rebounds and two steals for the Spurs in 28 minutes on Wednesday.

“We loved him when he was here,” Nurse said. “Just really tough, smart, hard-working. He does a lot (in) the game. He’s a screener, a rebounder, a rim protector, pretty smart on D, not necessarily a shot-blocker but a rim-protector guy. And his passing has really improved. That’s pretty good on the list of big guy things to do.”

“If you can rebound, protect the rim and pass the ball, set a few screens, he can handle it and get it to the rim and finish a little bit, too. Yep, we really liked him when he was here.”

–Field Level Media

The New York Knicks appear to be trending in a positive direction as they aim for their third straight win when they battle the host Philadelphia 76ers on Friday.

Yet they’re far from satisfied.

The Knicks reportedly acquired Josh Hart from the Portland Trail Blazers for Cam Reddish and a lottery protected first-round draft pick in 2023. Svi Mykhailiuk and Ryan Arcidiacono are also headed to the Trail Blazers in the deal that was made ahead of Thursday’s 3 p.m. ET deadline.

Hart and Jalen Brunson were teammates at Villanova.

It’s unclear if Hart will be available to play against the Sixers.

The Knicks defeated the Orlando Magic 102-98 on Tuesday behind Brunson’s 25 points and Julius Randle’s 22 points and 14 rebounds.

Brunson, who arguably could have been named as a reserve for the All-Star team, has proven to be one of the top free-agent acquisitions in the league.

“As professionals our job is to show every day and play basketball and let the front office deal with all those situations,” Brunson said. “But I love my teammates, getting to know these guys. They’ve been welcoming for the guys that were here before me. The relationships made these last couple of months have been special, so I love these guys.”

Brunson and Randle, who was named as an All-Star reserve, have carried the Knicks all season.

“I thought Julius and Jalen set the tone in the fourth quarter. Just the way we closed — big rebounds, physicality, hustle plays,” Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau said.

The Sixers will look to rebound following a disappointing 106-99 loss to the short-handed Boston Celtics on Wednesday.

Joel Embiid scored 28 points and James Harden added 26 points and 11 assists, but the Sixers lost their second straight.

“I just thought our defensive discipline the entire night was just poor,” Sixers head coach Doc Rivers said. “Our offensive movement was poor. And I think when you play that way, you probably should lose the game.”

The Sixers did not make a major move before the trade deadline, but they dealt role player Matisse Thybulle to the Portland Trail Blazers in a three-team deal and received Charlotte Hornets wing Jalen McDaniels in return.

McDaniels, 25, was averaging career highs of 10.6 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 56 games (21 starts) this season before the trade.

The Sixers had been playing at a much higher level before these past two losses to the Knicks and Celtics.

Now that the trade deadline has passed, they’ll simply have to refocus and work on getting to at least the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2001.

“It’s part of the business,” Harden said. “I mean, this happens every single year. I think, as a professional, you got to just go out there and do your job to the best of your ability and whatever happens, happens. Some things you really can’t control.”

–Field Level Media