NBA games on Tuesday belonged to the veterans and their fans after Derricks Rose, Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony made incredible contributions to helping  their teams win.

Detroit Pistons 115-113 Cleveland Cavaliers

The Pistons claimed a valuable victory at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse thanks to the impressive performance of Andre Drummond who dropped 23 points, 20 rebounds, and five assists, while Derrick Rose put down 24 points, seven assists and made a game-winning floater.

Before their game against the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Pistons announced that their No. 1 player Blake Griffin went through surgery for his ailing left knee and thus couldn't offer a timetable for his return. Moreover, the team had already lost eight of their past 10 games. Drummond is their most valuable asset left and the Pistons are open to trading him.

The Cavaliers seemed happy to extend their opponents' losing streak as they pinned the Pistons down from the beginning and established a 13-point (67-54) lead after the first half.

Rose, who only made four points in the first half, led Detroit to launch a counterstrike in the second half. He scored 20 points in the second half, including 11 in the last quarter. In the last minute, Rose assisted Tony Snell with a corner 3-pointer and then buried a floater himself to help Detroit regain the lead 114-113.

"We didn't want to end a trip like that. We're just happy to get the win, especially after the way we played in the first half," said Rose after the game. This is the third straight 20+ point game for the 31-year-old. Played an average of 25 minutes off the bench per game so far this season, Rose is scoring an average 17.5 points and 5.8 assists, making him a major candidate for the Sixth Man of the Year award.

Oklahoma City Thunder 111-103 Brooklyn Nets

The Nets were so close to ending their losing streak at home – they led by seven points (96-89) when there were only three minutes and 25 seconds left of the game – when Thunder point guard Chris Paul deprived them of their chance for victory at the Barclays Center.

In the first three quarters of the game, Paul only had eight points. As the fourth quarter began, he buried two 3-pointers before making four free throws and later putting up his signature perimeter shoots, making five of them in the rest of Q4 and overtime.

Paul scored 20 points during Q4 and OT, including 10 consecutive points in the last 158 seconds. By contrast, the Nets as a team made only seven points in the last eight minutes of the game.

NBA TV called Paul's performance a "flashback" but Paul replied, "Flashback? From what?" indicating that he still has what it takes to decide the game for his team.

After Tuesday's win, the Thunder are in a comfortable in No. 7 spot in the Western Conference with a 5.5-win lead over No. 9 and No. 10 Memphis Grizzlies and Portland Trail Blazers respectively. After showing every sign of rebuilding the team since they sent Paul George away in summer, it seems like the Thunder continue to 'rebuild' in the playoffs thanks to 34-year-old Paul whom they have been trying to get rid of.

Portland Trail Blazers 101-99 Toronto Raptors

What did Carmelo Anthony used to be known for? All-round offensive skills, NBA-top jab step, and incredibly relaxed state of mind that made it easy for him to beat the buzzer. On Tuesday, he did it again at the Scotiabank Arena, helping the Trail Blazers achieve a road win over the Raptors.

The score was 99-99 when there were 13.6 seconds left of the clock. Anthony was standing on the sideline for a throw in. Damian Lillard who had buried four 3-pointers to get 20 points was double teamed. So Anthony passed the ball to C.J. McCollum who was then covered by Rondae Hollis-Jefferson.

McCollum tried to dodge Jefferson and Toronto's OG Anunoby immediately came to trap him before McCollum gave the ball to Anthony. Anthony received the ball, entered the 3-point line, gathered the ball to dodge Anunoby in help defense, pulled up, shot the ball, and then put it in. Portland led by two (101-99) when there were only 3.3 seconds left.

The above series of moves were nothing new to Anthony. Thanks to his size, strength and shooting, he could finish them in front of nearly everyone. However, the last time Anthony made a game-winning shot within the last five seconds of the game happened 1,046 days ago.

Back then, Anthony was a top player in the league and enjoyed an annual salary of almost 25 million U.S. dollars. Now he's a 35-year-old veteran who only saw his 2.16-million minimum deal turned guaranteed a month ago. By the way, it took him over a year to find his current job in Rip City.

The only thing that did not change was the sweet smile on Anthony's face for making the 17th within-five-second game-winning shot in his career.

Other games on Tuesday (home teams in bold):

Minnesota Timberwolves 112-119 Memphis Grizzlies

Sacramento Kings 114-103 Phoenix Suns

New York Knicks 87-117 Los Angeles Lakers