Tom Thibodeau, the eternally straitlaced coach of the Knicks, offered a smile with his usual bottom-line analysis following New York’s victory over the Houston Rockets on Monday night.

“You guys know what I always say about winning,” Thibodeau said. “Winning is always way more fun than fun is fun.”

On Wednesday night, either the Knicks or the Miami Heat will have a lot of fun — and make the other team miserable in the process.

The Knicks and Heat will each be looking to make their path to a top-six finish in the Eastern Conference easier when New York hosts Miami in the final regular-season meeting between the longtime rivals.

The Knicks were off Tuesday after cruising to a 137-115 victory over the visiting Rockets on Monday night. The Heat will be completing a back-to-back road set after falling 106-92 to the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday night.

New York (43-33) snapped a three-game losing streak and remains in fifth place in the East, 2 1/2 games ahead of the sixth-place Brooklyn Nets (40-35) and three games ahead of the Heat (40-36). The top six teams in each conference earn a playoff berth while the seventh- through 10th-place clubs compete in a play-in tournament to determine the final two seeds.

Another win on Wednesday would further solidify the Knicks’ playoff positioning by giving them the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Heat. New York leads the season series 2-1, though Miami earned a 127-120 win in the recent meeting in Florida on March 22.

“It’ll definitely have that playoff-type atmosphere, for sure,” Knicks guard Immanuel Quickley said of the Wednesday contest after he scored a career-high 40 points Monday night. “Miami is a very good team. I think we’re ready for that challenge though. Playing a team (a) fourth time is basically almost like a playoff series.”

The Heat have struggled in a playoff-like environment over their past two games. After losing to the visiting Nets 129-100 on Saturday, Miami gradually allowed the Raptors to pull away on Tuesday. Toronto overcame a 10-point, first-quarter deficit and led 53-47 at the half. The Raptors then outscored the Heat 31-20 in the third quarter and never allowed Miami to cut the deficit to single digits in the fourth.

“We all feel a certain way about this, but we’re going to regroup,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We’ve got 24 hours; we get to play in Madison Square Garden. That’s the only thing we’re thinking about right now.”

Miami continued its lengthy defensive slump, allowing at least 100 points for the 14th straight game. The Heat also yielded 62 points in the paint — far more than Miami’s season average of 46.1 points allowed per game in the paint, tied for second-fewest in the NBA with the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Knicks lead in that category at 45.9 ppg.

“For 4 1/2 months of this season, we were the very best in the league at protecting the paint,” Spoelstra said. “Since (the) All-Star break, we haven’t done what we were able to do better than anybody.”

Both teams may be without key players for the pivotal clash.

Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson missed his second straight game on Monday with a sprained right hand, and he was listed as questionable for Wednesday.

Heat guard Jimmy Butler, who leads the team with 22.8 points per game, was sidelined Tuesday due to a neck injury.

–Field Level Media

The Memphis Grizzlies continue to show they can succeed with or without star guard Ja Morant.

Their winning streak is at seven games in advance of a two-game visit from the Los Angeles Clippers starting Wednesday.

Morant missed Memphis’ 113-108 home victory over the Orlando Magic on Tuesday because of right thigh soreness, with the absence characterized as more of a precaution during the first game of a back-to-back set.

The Grizzlies (48-27) started their current winning streak with Morant away on a self-imposed sabbatical that was changed to a league-mandated suspension as a result of questionable behavior during a live video from a nightclub.

Morant missed nine games — the first on March 5, when the Grizzlies absorbed a 135-129 defeat to the Clippers in Los Angeles. Paul George scored 42 points for the Clippers in that game, but he won’t be available for this one — he is expected to miss the remainder of the regular season with a right knee injury.

Without being able to lean on Morant on Tuesday, Memphis received 31 points from Desmond Bane and a career-high 20 from Xavier Tillman.

Luke Kennard, who was acquired by the Grizzlies from the Clippers in a three-team trade in February, continues to make an impact on his new team. He scored 16 points on Tuesday, shooting 4 of 5 from 3-point range, and has averaged 20 points over his past three contests. He put up 30 points (all on a franchise-record 10 3-pointers) in a playoff-clinching win against the visiting Houston Rockets on Friday.

“As an opponent coming in here, it was always a tough place to play — the fans are always into it,” Kennard said Tuesday after the Grizzlies posted their franchise-record 33rd home win of the season. “Now to be a part of it, it’s a lot of fun and you can feel the excitement, how much they love the team, and it definitely gets us going a little bit.”

While the Grizzlies are in second place in the Western Conference, three games behind the Denver Nuggets (51-24), the Clippers (40-36) are in fifth place and just a half-game out of fourth. However, they are also just one game ahead of the seventh-place Minnesota Timberwolves (39-37).

The Clippers enter off a much-needed, 124-112 home victory over the Chicago Bulls on Monday, when Nicolas Batum scored 24 points while making 8 of 10 attempts from 3-point range. Kawhi Leonard scored 22 points and added seven rebounds and six assists.

Russell Westbrook tallied 12 points and 10 assists for Los Angeles. He has become more of a factor following a dreadful start in which the team lost his first five games after he signed as a free agent in February.

“It’s great,” Leonard said of team-wide contributions against the Bulls that included 15 first-half points from Batum and 16 first-half points from Eric Gordon, who finished with 22. “They set the tone early tonight offensively, making shots. This is what we are going to have to do with (George) being out and, yeah, it just opens up the floor.”

After the Grizzlies and Clippers play on Wednesday, they meet again on Friday in Memphis. Los Angeles has lost three of its past four games at Memphis, including both contests last season.

–Field Level Media

Desmond Bane scored 31 points and Xavier Tillman added a career-high 20 as the Memphis Grizzlies extended the NBA’s longest active winning streak to seven games with a 113-108 victory over the visiting Orlando Magic on Tuesday.

Jaren Jackson Jr. added 16 points and 10 rebounds for Memphis, which led by as many as 23 in the third quarter before Orlando stormed back in the fourth. Luke Kennard scored 16 points and Dillon Brooks had 13.

Orlando had its three-game winning streak snapped despite Franz Wagner’s 25 points. Paolo Banchero had 24 points, 11 rebounds and five assists, while Wendell Carter Jr. added 14 points, Goga Bitadze had 13, Markelle Fultz scored 11 and Cole Anthony chipped in 10.

The win moved Memphis three games ahead of the Sacramento Kings for the No. 2 spot in the Western Conference playoff race. The Grizzlies played minus star Ja Morant, who is listed as day-to-day due to right thigh soreness.

Hornets 137, Thunder 134

P.J. Washington scored a career-high 43 points to lead Charlotte past host Oklahoma City, giving the Hornets their third straight win, all against Western Conference opponents in the thick of the playoff race.

The Thunder had a chance to send the game into overtime at the buzzer after a long inbounds pass with 2.8 seconds left deflected into Jalen Williams’ hands just outside the arc. But Williams’ 3-pointer bounced off the back of the rim as the Hornets escaped.

The Thunder have lost three of their last four. Isaiah Joe scored a career-high 33 points to lead Oklahoma City.

Heat 120, Cavaliers 118

Dejounte Murray scored 29 points, five in the final 2:14, to help host Atlanta defeat short-handed Cleveland to end the Cavaliers’ four-game winning streak.

Murray made three free throws with 2:14 remaining and hit a clutch jumper from the foul line to give Atlanta a four-point lead with 58.6 seconds left. Atlanta also got 21 points and nine rebounds from Onyeka Okongwu and 16 points and 10 assists from Trae Young.

Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell scored 44 points, including a 3-pointer with 55.6 seconds left to cut the deficit to one. But Mitchell missed a 3-pointer with 12.5 seconds left and hit the back of the rim on a half-court shot at the buzzer.

Wizards 130, Celtics 111

Washington was without a couple of its best players, but the ones they had were good enough to defeat visiting Boston.

Kristaps Porzingis amassed 32 points, 13 rebounds and six assists for the Wizards, who were without Bradley Beal and Kyle Kuzma. It was the fourth straight game Beal missed because of a sore left knee, while Kuzma hasn’t played the past five games because of a right ankle sprain.

Jayson Tatum had 28 points, nine rebounds and five assists for the Celtics, who shot 11 of 44 from 3-point range. Jaylen Brown added 18 points for the Celtics, while Marcus Smart scored 14 and Malcolm Brogdon had 13.

Raptors 106, Heat 92

Pascal Siakam had 26 points and nine rebounds, and Toronto defeated visiting Miami.

Scottie Barnes added 22 points, seven rebounds and 12 assists for the Raptors, who completed a 3-1 homestand and are at .500 for the first time since Dec. 9. Tyler Herro scored 33 points and handed out six assists for the Heat, who were without Jimmy Butler (sore neck) and have lost two in a row.

Duncan Robinson’s 3-pointer reduced the margin to 13 points with 9:33 to play, but Toronto responded, and Precious Achiuwa’s 3-pointer gave the Raptors a 19-point lead with 7:15 remaining. Bam Adebayo cut the lead to 12 on a driving dunk with 3:56 to play and Herro’s floater trimmed the lead to 10 with 3:25 left. Fred VanVleet’s 3-pointer with 1:31 to play pushed the lead to 13 to close it out.

Warriors 120, Pelicans 109

Stephen Curry scored a game-high 39 points and joined Klay Thompson in a second-half 3-point barrage, sending Golden State to a come-from-behind victory over New Orleans in San Francisco.

Curry finished with eight 3-pointers and Thompson five, helping Golden State outscore the Pelicans 36-9 from beyond the arc in the second half. The win moved the Warriors into sole possession of the No. 6 playoff spot in the Western Conference with just five games remaining.

Brandon Ingram had a team-high 26 points for the Pelicans (38-38), who could have moved past the Warriors with a sixth straight win. New Orleans led 63-46 but couldn’t hold on.

–Field Level Media

With just six games left and clinging to a spot in the Western Conference play-in tournament, the Oklahoma City Thunder can’t afford to let another opportunity go to waste.

A night after losing to the Charlotte Hornets, the Thunder oppose the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday in Oklahoma City.

Even though his team is battling for its first playoff appearance since 2020, Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault said the possibility wouldn’t derail the organization’s development plan.

“I think if it is an outcome that’s downstream of our process and the way that we’re trying to do things, it would be great, because it would be a marker along the way,” Daigneault said. “Not so important that it’s gonna distract us from our way of doing things.

“We need to bet on that day over day over day. We’ve done that for two or three years. That’s what’s put us in a position to compete for the play-in, so for us to abandon that at this point would be hasty.”

The Thunder (37-39) could be without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander for the second consecutive game. The All-Star sprained his left ankle on Sunday in a win over the Portland Trail Blazers.

Oklahoma City did get Aleksej Pokusevski back for Tuesday’s game. The third-year forward had missed 41 games with a non-displaced fracture in his left leg. Pokusevski was scoreless in nearly 10 minutes during the Thunder’s 137-134 loss to the Hornets.

Isaiah Joe paced Oklahoma City with 33 points on Tuesday, and Josh Giddey just missed a triple-double, winding up with a career-high 31 points plus 10 rebounds and nine assists. Jalen Williams missed a 3-point attempt at the buzzer that would have forced overtime.

The Thunder are tied with the Dallas Mavericks (37-39) for 10th place in the West, the final play-in position.

The Pistons (16-59) have lost six consecutive games and 17 of their past 18. They dropped five straight games by at least 12 points before falling 126-117 to the visiting Milwaukee Bucks on Monday.

In the midst of another lost season for Detroit, rookie Jaden Ivey has been a bright spot. He is coming off a career-high, 32-point against the Bucks.

However, the things Ivey is doing outside scoring are drawing the most attention from his teammates and coaches. He also had eight rebounds and eight assists on Monday.

“We know Jaden is going to be able to score the ball, but I’m happy with all the other things he’s doing,” Pistons coach Dwane Casey said. “He’s growing as a player, especially on the defensive end.”

Ivey also has settled into his role as a point guard, particularly developing a connection with rookie center Jalen Duren.

“He’s one of the better guys I’ve ever played with in terms of him reading the game, his IQ, his ability to get past his first defender,” Duren said. “He’s one of the guys that’s easiest to play with. I feel like he’s gotten better as I’ve gotten better. We’ve both grown together, and he’s locked in.”

The Wednesday game will be the last of two meetings between the teams this season. The Pistons beat the Thunder 112-103 in Detroit on Nov. 7.

Ivey figures to be the only Pistons starter from that game who plays on Wednesday. Saddiq Bey was traded while Cade Cunningham, Bojan Bogdanovic and Isaiah Stewart are all out with long-term injuries.

“These teams we are playing, they have nothing to lose out there,” Oklahoma City’s Giddey said. “We have to understand we have to buckle down. We need to keep our foot down.”

–Field Level Media

Stephen Curry scored a game-high 39 points and joined Klay Thompson in a second-half 3-point barrage, sending the Golden State Warriors to a come-from-behind, 120-109 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday in San Francisco.

Curry finished with eight 3-pointers and Thompson five, helping Golden State outscore the Pelicans 36-9 from beyond the arc in the second half. The win moved the Warriors (40-37) into sole possession of the No. 6 playoff spot in the Western Conference with just five games remaining.

Brandon Ingram had a team-high 26 points for the Pelicans (38-38), who could have moved past the Warriors with a sixth straight win.

Ingram had 16 of his 26 points and CJ McCollum 13 of his 15 in a wild first half that saw the Pelicans go up by 20 points while the Warriors shot themselves in the foot with 14 turnovers.

But Golden State, down 63-46 at the break, used a 39-point third quarter to rally within 89-85 before gradually erasing the deficit and pulling away. The Warriors outscored the visitors 74-46 in the second half and limited their turnovers to five after the break.

Curry also found time for eight rebounds, eight assists and three steals for the Warriors, who won for the fourth time in their past five games.

Thompson finished with 17 points for Golden State, while Jordan Poole had 21 and Jonathan Kuminga and Donte DiVincenzo 13 apiece.

Draymond Green, who was assessed his 17th technical foul in the first half for a run-in with Ingram after a flagrant foul, chipped in with a game-high 13 assists to complement eight points, six rebounds and two steals.

Ingram also collected a team-high seven assists and added eight rebounds for New Orleans, which was playing the second night of a back-to-back after winning at Portland on Monday.

Trey Murphy III totaled 21 points for the Pelicans, shooting 4-for-6 from 3-point range. New Orleans went just 3-for-13 from deep in the second half after connecting on 9 of 14 in the first 24 minutes.

Jonas Valanciunas had a game-high nine rebounds to go with 11 points for New Orleans, while Herbert Jones chipped in 13 points.

–Field Level Media