P.J. Washington scored a career-high 43 points to lead the Charlotte Hornets to a 137-134 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday in Oklahoma City.

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, giving the Hornets (26-51) their third consecutive win — all against Western Conference opponents in the thick of the playoff race.

The Thunder (37-39) have lost three of their last four.

Charlotte missed 11 free throws, but Oklahoma City missed critical free throws down the stretch to keep the Hornets on top.

With 15.9 seconds left and the Hornets up 134-132, Washington was called for goaltending and a foul, apparently tying the game on Williams’ drive. But the goaltending was overturned, and Williams missed the first of two free throws.

Josh Giddey’s free throw a moment later pulled the Thunder within one with 4.2 seconds left, but Giddey missed the second shot and Svi Mykhailiuk grabbed the rebound and hit two free throws to force Oklahoma City to hurry a 3-point try at the buzzer.

Charlotte was plenty short-handed, with Gordon Hayward out with a sprained left thumb while Terry Rozier (right foot discomfort) and Kelly Oubre Jr. (right shoulder strain) each missed a third consecutive game.

Oklahoma City was without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who suffered a left ankle sprain in the third quarter Sunday in Portland.

Isaiah Joe scored a career-high 33 points to lead the Thunder, while Giddey and Williams added 31 each. Giddey’s total was a career high.

Washington scored 22 points in the fourth quarter, as the Hornets stormed back to take control after entering the quarter down 99-93.

He finished 16 of 24 from the field, hitting five 3-pointers, as Charlotte shot 55.3 percent.

The Hornets led 123-110 with six minutes to go before the Thunder ripped off a 19-6 run to tie the game with about two minutes remaining.

–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 (48-27), 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 (32-44) 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 (45-30) 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.

Orlando entered the fourth quarter down by 14 before gradually cutting into the deficit. Down by 10 with 4:24 remaining, the Magic trailed 109-106 after Wagner hit a 3-pointer with 6.9 seconds left.

Bane then converted four free throws to help Memphis secure its fourth straight win over the Magic. Tillman finished with nine rebounds for the Grizzlies, who were outscored 35-26 in the fourth period.

The Grizzlies opened the game by dominating the first quarter and led 32-15 after holding the Magic to six field goals. Memphis carried the momentum into the second quarter and stretched its lead to 42-23 on Santi Aldama’s trey with six minutes left.

Jackson had 14 points and seven rebounds in the first half for Memphis, which held a 59-44 advantage at the break. The Grizzlies limited the Magic to 36.6 percent shooting before the break, including 34.8 percent (8 of 23) from 3-point range.

The Grizzlies maintained a double-digit lead throughout the third quarter and held a commanding 81-58 lead with five minutes left in the period.

Memphis has won 12 straight at the FedExForum, and it owns the best home record in the NBA (33-5). The Grizzlies set the single-season club record for home wins with the Tuesday victory.

–Field Level Media

Pascal Siakam had 26 points and nine rebounds, and the Toronto Raptors defeated the visiting Miami Heat 106-92 Tuesday night.

Scottie Barnes added 22 points, seven rebounds and 12 assists for the Raptors (38-38), who completed a 3-1 homestand and are at .500 for the first time since Dec. 9. The Raptors play their next five games on the road.

Toronto won the season series 3-1.

O.G. Anunoby scored 22 points for Toronto, Fred VanVleet added 12 points, Jakob Poeltl grabbed 10 rebounds and Precious Achiuwa had 12 points and nine rebounds off the bench.

Tyler Herro scored 33 points and handed out six assists for the Heat (40-36), who were without Jimmy Butler (sore neck) and have lost two in a row.

Bam Adebayo added 21 points and 12 rebounds as the Heat started a stretch of five of six games on the road.

The Raptors took a 17-point lead into the fourth quarter before the Heat tried to rally.

Duncan Robinson’s 3-pointer reduced the margin to 13 points with 9:33 to play, but Toronto responded, and Achiuwa’s 3-pointer gave the Raptors a 19-point lead with 7:15 remaining. 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. VanVleet’s 3-pointer with 1:31 to play pushed the lead to 13 to close it out.

Toronto closed the first quarter with an 8-0 burst to lead 24-23, then scored the first six points of the second quarter.

Adebayo made two free throws to give Miami a 40-39 lead with 4:55 remaining in the second. Toronto responded with a 12-2 surge and led 53-47 at halftime.

With Barnes scoring 18 points, Toronto shot 45.1 percent (23-for-51) from the field in the first half. Miami shot 39 percent (16-for-41) in the first half with Herro scoring 14 points.

Toronto’s lead reached 16 on Anunoby’s dunk with 6:34 to go in the third quarter. VanVleet’s layup extended the lead to 19 with 3:08 left, but Miami scored the next five points. Nonetheless, the Raptors led 84-67 after the third quarter.

Toronto was without Gary Trent Jr. (elbow) and Will Barton (ankle).

–Field Level Media

Dejounte Murray scored 29 points, five in the final 2:14, to help the host Atlanta Hawks defeat short-handed Cleveland 120-118 on Tuesday 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.

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.

The Cavs (48-29) played with just nine healthy players. Jarrett Allen (right groin strain), Danny Green (health and safety protocol) and Isaac Okoro (left knee soreness) were unavailable.

The Hawks (38-38) remained No. 8 in the Eastern Conference and have the same record as Toronto, which beat Miami on Tuesday.

It was just the fourth time in 11 games that Murray had scored 20 points, and it was his largest output since putting up 41 against Portland on March 3.

Atlanta also got 21 points and nine rebounds from Onyeka Okongwu and 16 points and 10 assists from Trae Young.

Mitchell had five rebounds and five assists. It was his 28th game with at least 30 points. Darius Garland added 27 points for Cleveland.

Atlanta scored 100 points for the 51st straight game, the second-longest streak in franchise history and the longest current active streak in the NBA.

Cleveland led by 10 points in the first quarter, but the Hawks came back to tie the score 24-24. Atlanta kept the momentum and built a 15-point lead, even though Young didn’t score his first point until 3:37 was left in the first half, and he scored just four before the break. The Hawks led 59-51 at halftime.

Cleveland continued to carve away at the lead and went ahead 73-71 on a basket by Caris LeVert with 4:58 left in the third quarter. But the Hawks outscored the Cavs 23-11 and took a 94-84 lead into the final quarter. Cleveland used a 13-0 run and took a 106-105 lead on Mitchell’s 3-pointer with 5:30 remaining.

–Field Level Media

The Washington Wizards were without some of their best players Tuesday night, but the ones they had were good enough to defeat the visiting Boston Celtics 130-111.

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.

Beal, who is averaging a team-high 23.2 points per game, reportedly was involved in an incident with fans as he left the court following Washington’s game in Orlando on March 21. He has been inactive since that game. Kuzma is the team’s No. 3 scorer (21.2 ppg).

Washington center Daniel Gafford also missed the game with a left foot injury.

The Wizards received 25 points, 10 rebounds and five assists from Deni Avdija, and 19 points and nine assists from Monte Morris. Washington shot 54 of 99 from the field (54.5 percent).

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.

Boston (52-24) remains in second place in the Eastern Conference standings, 2 1/2 games behind the Milwaukee Bucks (54-21). Washington (34-42) sits in 11th place in the East, 2 1/2 games behind the 10th-place Chicago Bulls (36-39), who hold the last play-in position.

The Wizards led 29-23 after one quarter and had their largest lead of the first half entering the break, 64-51. The Celtics didn’t attempt a free throw in the first two quarters.

A Morris basket capped a 10-0 run that gave Washington an 82-60 advantage with 7:06 remaining in the third quarter. The Wizards built a 23-point lead late in the third quarter and were up 99-78 entering the fourth.

Boston clawed within 12 midway through the fourth but failed to get any closer.

–Field Level Media

The Sacramento Kings came up empty in their initial attempt to clinch their first playoff berth since 2006.

The Kings will take another shot to end the longest postseason drought in professional sports when they visit the downtrodden Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday night.

Sacramento (45-30) is on the cusp of ending that ugly 16-season drought but was unable to seal the deal Monday night when it fell 119-115 to the visiting Minnesota Timberwolves.

“Yeah, I mean guys wanted to clinch a playoff spot at home and wanted to share it with our fans,” All-Star point guard De’Aaron Fox said after the setback. “But at the end of the day, regardless of where we do it at, I think people are going to appreciate it and people are going to love it.”

Clinching against Portland (32-43) feels like a formality as this is the first of back-to-back games versus the Trail Blazers.

There’s also the fact that Portland has dropped nine of its past 10 games and will be without star guard Damian Lillard (calf), who was shut down for the season, according to a report by Bleacher Report.

Lillard averaged 32.2 points, 7.3 assists and 4.8 rebounds in 58 games this season.

Kings forward Harrison Barnes would have liked to see the home fans celebrate the milestone, but he sees the bigger picture too.

“It’s just changing the mindset of not just trying to clinch and then the season’s over,” Barnes said. “For us, it’s continuing to just get better every single game. We have aspirations of a good postseason. So for us, it’s focusing on that and just keeping it one game at a time.

“Like I said, (Monday) was a missed opportunity, but you know, we have another game in a couple of days and (we’re) just focusing and preparing for that.”

Fox scored 29 points against Minnesota and fellow All-Star Domantas Sabonis added 24 points and 10 rebounds. However, the Kings were just 5 of 27 from 3-point range and had only 16 assists to the Timberwolves’ 33.

Keegan Murray was 1 of 6 from 3-point range but tied Lillard (185) for the second-most 3-pointers by a rookie in NBA history. Donovan Mitchell holds the record of 187, set in 2017-18 when he was a member of the Utah Jazz.

While the Kings, who are in third place in the Western Conference, are looking forward to the postseason, Portland is playing out the remainder of a second straight disappointing season.

The Trail Blazers were on the outside of the play-in tournament race even before they recently bottomed out.

But they weren’t even competitive in Monday’s 124-90 home loss against the New Orleans Pelicans when Lillard and fellow starters Jerami Grant (quadriceps), Jusuf Nurkic (knee) and Anfernee Simons (foot) all sat out.

Portland trailed 30-12 before the contest was 10 minutes old and was down 58-35 at halftime. The deficit eventually grew to 36.

“I wasn’t concerned about the effort. I thought we played hard,” Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups said. “… That’s a team that’s on a mission. They’re playing very well, and they just kicked our butt.”

Rookie Shaedon Sharpe fell back to earth against New Orleans after putting together the top three games of his career — including 29 points in Sunday’s 118-112 loss to Oklahoma City Thunder.

Sharpe averaged 25.7 points during the stretch but had two points through three quarters against the Pelicans before scoring 10 in garbage time. His 12 points came on 5-of-13 shooting.

Nassir Little, who scored a season-high 28 points against Oklahoma City, had just seven on 3-of-10 shooting.

Keon Johnson matched his career high of 20 points to lead the depleted Trail Blazers against the Pelicans.

“Most of these guys that are out there right now, they weren’t planning on being out there this time of year,” Billups said. “So they’re grateful and thankful for the opportunity. And I feel like they’re doing a pretty good job with it.”

The Kings and Trail Blazers split two meetings earlier this season.

–Field Level Media

All signs are pointing upward for the Phoenix Suns, who reportedly will have star Kevin Durant back in the lineup for Wednesday’s matchup against the visiting Minnesota Timberwolves.

Acquired from the Brooklyn Nets at last month’s trade deadline, Durant played three road games before suffering a sprained left ankle during pregame warmups on March 8.

Phoenix (40-35) has gone 4-6 with Durant out of the lineup but still holds the fourth spot in the Western Conference playoff race. Suns fans have been waiting patiently for the two-time Finals MVP to make his home debut.

“I always use the term ‘checking the boxes,'” Suns coach Monty Williams said of Durant’s comeback journey. “You have to get the pain and swelling out and all of that and then you progress onto the floor with shots. And I’ve seen him go from cardio to shooting to be able to get up and down a little bit and get himself prepared to go to the next level.”

Adding Durant to the mix comes at a good time, as the Suns appear to be trending in the right direction. Phoenix won its second straight game on Monday, beating the Utah Jazz 117-103.

Devin Booker scored 24 points to lead the Suns, who outscored Utah 57-25 in bench points. Deandre Ayton returned after missing four games with a bruised hip and scored 14 points, while reserves Terrence Ross, Cameron Payne and Bismack Biyombo combined for 36.

Booker has averaged 31.7 points in the 10 games without Durant, but Phoenix has also received a boost from its bench over the past week.

“It’s going to be nice,” Suns guard Chris Paul said of Durant’s return. “A guy who means that much to your team, you don’t know what you look like until he’s playing. A lot of guys have been stepping up, filling voids, but it’ll be good to see what we’re going to look like.”

Phoenix has won two of the first three meetings this season against Minnesota (39-37), which is in a battle for the sixth spot in the Western Conference playoff race.

Minnesota extended its winning streak to four games with a 119-115 victory over the Sacramento Kings on Monday. Jaden McDaniels scored 20 points to lead the Wolves. Karl-Anthony Towns sat out the game due to injury management for his right calf strain, but he should be available against the Suns.

Naz Reid scored 18 points in the win over Sacramento, while Anthony Edwards scored 17 and Rudy Gobert had 16 points and 16 rebounds. The win moved Minnesota within 1 1/2 games of the Suns for the No. 4 seed.

“We know we have the talent and the personnel to be able to beat anybody on any given night,” Gobert said. “Really out of urgency and consistency. … We play every game like it’s our last and we play every game like there’s no tomorrow. That’s the mindset that we need.”

The Wolves’ recent surge has been sparked by Reid, who is averaging 20.2 points off the bench in the last five games.

“He’s such a huge shot in the arm,” Minnesota coach Chris Finch said of Reid. “He’s a mismatch problem a lot of the time. His energy, his activity. He makes big shots for us, can finish at the rim, gives us a rolling threat. Just everything. I’m really pleased with his defense, too.”

–Field Level Media

The Utah Jazz still have a chance to earn a spot in the Western Conference play-in tournament, but Wednesday’s road game with the struggling San Antonio Spurs has become a near-must-win situation.

The Jazz (35-40) are in 12th place in the West, 1 1/2 games behind the Dallas Mavericks and two games in arrears of ninth-place Los Angeles Lakers and Oklahoma City Thunder with seven games to play in the regular season. Utah has dropped four straight to fall out of the play-in bracket and can ill afford to lose to San Antonio (19-56), which has been long eliminated from postseason consideration.

After playing the Spurs, Utah’s final six games are against teams that have either clinched a playoff berth or are in position to do so. Wednesday’s game begins a three-game road trip for the Jazz that will be followed by stops in Boston and Brooklyn.

Utah’s most recent game was a 117-103 setback at home to Phoenix on Monday. The Jazz came back from a double-digit deficit to take the lead late in the third quarter before falling apart in the fourth, when they were outscored 33-22.

Lauri Markkanen had 25 points and nine rebounds to lead Utah on Monday, with Walker Kessler adding 18 points, eight rebounds and seven blocks, Talen Horton-Tucker hitting for 16 points and Kelly Olynyk scoring 10.

“You can only control what you can control,” Kessler said. “Understanding that as long as we maintain who we are and not let that discourage us and maintain the character of this team (is what’s important). We show up every night, play our tails off, and never give up.”

San Antonio has also dropped four straight, all on the road. The latest setback in the Spurs’ forgettable campaign was a 137-93 thrashing at the hands of Boston on Sunday, San Antonio’s sixth loss in its past seven outings.

“We played well for about a quarter, but after that, I thought we just gave in,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “I thought we embarrassed ourselves by giving in the way we did. But the Celtics had a lot to do with that.”

Zach Collins led San Antonio with 21 points and seven rebounds in Sunday’s loss while Malaki Branham scored 15 points, Sandro Mamukelashvili hit for 13 and Tre Jones had 11. The Spurs played without starters Jeremy Sochan (sore right knee) for the fourth time in five games and Keldon Johnson, who was out with a right foot injury.

Of those two, Johnson has the best chance of playing Wednesday versus Utah.

San Antonio clawed to within six points early in the third period but that seemed to wake up the Celtics, who finished the period with a 24-11 run and were never again challenged. Boston pushed its lead to as many as 47 late in the game.

“(Boston) caught fire, and we couldn’t recover,” Collins said. “I think we tried to get back into it. Maybe we did give in. We’ve definitely got to watch the film. If you lose by 40 there’s probably a lot of things that went wrong.”

San Antonio has beaten Utah in two of the three games between the teams this season.

–Field Level Media

Star guard Damian Lillard is done for the season, with the Portland Trail Blazers choosing to shut him down as he nurses a calf injury, Bleacher Report reported Tuesday.

The news comes on the heels of a report by The Athletic on Saturday that the Trail Blazers were leaning toward sitting him for the remainder of the season as a precaution. Portland has seven regular-season games remaining.

The seven-time All-Star has been dealing with tightness in his calf and missed the Blazers’ past three games, including a Sunday/Monday back-to-back against Oklahoma City and New Orleans.

The Blazers (32-43) lost all three games and have dropped nine of their past 10. While not mathematically out of contention for a spot in the Western Conference play-in tournament, Portland sits 13th in the standings and is very likely out of the running with fellow starters Jerami Grant (quadriceps), Jusuf Nurkic (knee) and Anfernee Simons (foot) also sidelined.

Lillard, 32, has spent his entire 11-year NBA career with the Blazers, starting all 769 games he’s played. He has career averages of 25.2 points, 6.7 assists and 4.2 rebounds per game and ranks sixth all-time with 2,387 3-point baskets.

He was named an All-Star in 2022-23 and finished with a career-high 32.2 points per game plus 7.3 assists and 4.8 rebounds in 58 games. It was a bounce-back from a forgettable 2021-22, when he played just 29 games due to an abdominal injury and averaged 24.0 ppg.

–Field Level Media

The jumbled state of the Western Conference postseason picture ultimately cleared LeBron James’ outlook about returning to the Los Angeles Lakers for the stretch run.

“To hell with the play-in — we actually can be a top-(six) seed,” James said. “That definitely changed my mindset on me coming back and trying to be a part of this.”

On Sunday, James came back from a 13-game absence, scoring a team-high 19 points in his first action since recovering from a tendon injury in his right foot. While it ultimately wasn’t enough in the Lakers’ 118-108 home loss to Chicago, teammates figure James will be primed for more when Los Angeles visits the Bulls on Wednesday night.

“I just know coming off of injury, you’re kind of thinking about it, testing it out,” Lakers forward Anthony Davis said. “But he looked well on the floor, played well, had a block. … I’m pretty sure Wednesday, he’ll be himself.”

Sunday’s defeat snapped a three-game winning streak for the Lakers (37-38), who entered Tuesday in ninth place in the West. Before play Tuesday, all that separated the conference’s sixth-place team and 10th-place team was 1 1/2 games.

Chicago (36-39) is in similar straits in the East, entering Tuesday as the No. 10 seed and in possession of the final play-in spot. With seven regular-season games remaining, the Bulls hold a three-game lead on the Washington Wizards for the final slot in the play-in.

The Bulls were unable to sweep a three-game West Coast road trip Monday, losing 124-112 to the Los Angeles Clippers. Chicago allowed the Clippers to shoot 59.3 percent from the field and 50 percent (20-for-40) from long range.

“We knew going in that we were going to be in situations where we were going to have to protect the rim and then scramble and rotate out,” Bulls coach Billy Donovan said. “We’ve really been pretty good most of the year on closeouts, and we didn’t do a good job (Monday) night. Things got opened up. We were late helping, late rotating. I didn’t think our communication on our rotations was great.”

The performance was in contrast to a more disciplined Bulls’ effort on D against the Lakers in the same building Sunday.

“We weren’t aggressive enough, physical enough,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham said Sunday. “I thought (the Bulls) were great defensively on that side.”

The Bulls are aiming to sweep the season series from the Lakers for the second straight season.

To do so, they know they’ll quickly need to put the frustrations from the Clippers game behind them.

“We didn’t bring no rhythm whatsoever,” Chicago leading scorer DeMar DeRozan said. “They were hot and stayed hot. We were a step slow. We didn’t give ourselves a chance.”

Alex Caruso (foot soreness) and Javonte Green (knee soreness) missed the game for the Bulls. Both players are listed as questionable for Wednesday.

Zach LaVine (23 points), DeMar DeRozan (21) and Nikola Vucevic (20) led Chicago offensively against the Clippers.

“We got seven (games) left,” DeRozan said. “We gotta start a rhythm.”

–Field Level Media