Los Angeles Clippers 104-115 Denver Nuggets

The Clippers came to the Pepsi Center without Paul George and they left with a loss. The team's three ace players – Kawhi Leonard, Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell – scored 30, 26 and 25 points respectively but just 23 points were collected by their seven colleagues, including Patrick Patterson and Landry Shamet who had nothing.

By contrast, the Nuggets had seven who put down double-digit points – four from the starting-lineup and three from bench unit. Nikola Jokic had a double-double of 20 points, 15 rebounds and promising young man Michael Porter Jr. were 6-8 off the bench to score 13 points.

"The focus was there. The energy was there. It was a big victory for us," Jokic said after the game.

This was the 200th win claimed by Michael Malone as Denver's head coach and thanks to it, the team surpassed the Clippers to follow the Lakers as No. 2 in the Western Conference. By contrast, the Clippers' head coach Doc Rivers was ejected at the end of the last quarter after the second technical foul. With this loss, his team fell out of top 4 of the West.

"Listen, coaches can lose their composure, so can officials. There's no way I should have been thrown out of the game," said Rivers after the game.

The decisive part of the game was the second quarter in which the Nuggets led 37-22. Gary Harris who has been suffering from a shooting slump this season contributed 12 points for the Nuggets. The huge advantage established in this quarter enabled the Nuggets to stay rock firm as the leading side and beat multiple counterstrikes by the Clippers.

Most of the Clippers problems remained the same: few of their role players could contribute much offensively; Ivac Zubac is the better defensive option but he did not receive much time on the court. One new headache for Rivers was that, without George, his team seemed to lack consistency in defense. Patrick Beverley, Leonard and Maurice Harkless are all good one-on-one defenders but George is the glue that keeps the team's defense together. Without him, the Clippers were always one step too slow in front of Denver's give-and-go offensive system.

Atlanta Hawks 86-108 Brooklyn Nets

Kyrie Irving finally came back for Brooklyn after resting for 26 days because of injury. As a gift, he was 10-11 in 19 minutes to put down 21 points, helping Brooklyn claim a win at the Barclays Center.

"It's not really a surprise for me," said Irving of his high efficiency. "I missed the game, missed these fans … I'm grateful to be out here, I worked extremely hard to get back … We can be very dangerous. We've got to play together. If we do the right things on the defensive end, we'll be OK."

After this home win on Sunday, the Nets are No. 7 in the Eastern Conference and 5.5 wins away from No. 6 Indiana Pacers.

San Antonio Spurs 105-104 Toronto Raptors

The Spurs achieved a close win over the Raptors in an 18-point comeback game at the Scotiabank Arena. The home team remained the leading party in all first three quarters but watched the opponents launch a 36-22 run in the last quarter.

DeMar DeRozan scored 25 points, eight rebounds and four assists for the Spurs and it was his 11th consecutive game in which he got 20+points with a field goal rate no lower than 50 percent. Though there have been reports about the Spurs trying to trade him all the time, DeRozan is finding his best game back.

DeRozan was sent away by the Raptors right before the team won their first championship but that did not stop them from loving each other. The Raptors again played a video tribute from DeRozan before Sunday's game had started. He was caught by surprise but felt fans' love for him deeply.

"I don't know anybody else who has had two video tributes in a row. Find somebody who has had that," said DeRozan.

Other results on Sunday (home teams in bold):

Miami Heat 121-124 New York Knicks

Utah Jazz 127-116 Washington Wizards

Golden State Warriors 102-122 Memphis Grizzlies

Charlotte Hornets 92-100 Phoenix Suns