Dallas Mavericks 133-125 Portland Trail Blazers

The Mavericks put an end to their three-game losing streak on the road to the Trail Blazers as they claimed a victory at the Moda Center on Thursday.

Both sides were boiling hot from the 3-point line – the Mavericks buried 22 triples at a rate of 46.81 percent, the Trail Blazers drained 21 at 53.85 percent. The key to the Mavericks' win was turnovers, committing four fewer (8-12) than the opponents. As a result, they led the Trail Blazers 21-10 in turnover points and fast break points 30-22.

Luka Doncic dropped 27 points, six rebounds and nine assists for Dallas. The number might not seem that impressive, but Doncic proved his value by making a key and-one play in the last minute of the game. At 1:17 of the fourth quarter, Hassan Whiteside helped Portland narrow the gap down to 10 points (129-119) with a put-back dunk. With a bit more than one minute left, a 10-point lead was good but not 100 percent safe, especially considering the opponents had Damian Lillard.

Doncic stood out. He dodged Trevor Ariza via screen by teammate, put himself into the body of Whiteside and made the shot as the referee called a shooting foul. The three-point play extended Dallas' lead to 13 points (132-119), safe enough to carry them home.

On Portland's side, Lillard again put up an incredible scoring performance with 47 points, six rebounds and eight assists. With a 61-point game on Monday, Lillard has scored 108 points in two consecutive games, the first player in Portland history to do so.

Carmelo Anthony was struggling with his shooting as he went 7-21 to get 16 points, but he grabbed 11 rebounds and delivered five assists. Ariza, who joined Portland via a trade with the Sacramento Kings, scored 21 points and buried four 3-pointers.

Washington Wizards 124-112 Cleveland Cavaliers

Though the Cavaliers watched three of their players put down 20+points – 29 by Collin Sexton, 21 by Kevin Love and 22 by Larry Nance Jr. – the team failed to avoid their sixth loss in a row as they were beaten by the Wizards at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

Bradley Beal scored a game-high 36 points and eight assists for the Wizards. He averaged 27.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 6.3 assists per game this season and definitely deserves an All-Star spot.

Having finished 45 games with a 12-33 record and a rank of 14th in the Eastern Conference, the Cavaliers do not seem to have a clear idea for team reconstruction. According to Sam Amico of Sports Illustrated, they are now expected to make some big moves on the trade market before the deadline that could involve Love and Tristan Thompson.

Love averages 17.3 points, 10.1 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game; Thompson 12.6 points and 10.6 rebounds.

Los Angeles Lakers 128-113 Brooklyn Nets

The purple and gold claimed their second straight win in New York on Thursday. LeBron James put down 27 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists, his 10th triple-double this season. He's only 18 points away from Kobe Bryant on the NBA career scoring leaders list. 

As JaVale McGee sat out the game, the Lakers put Dwight Howard in the starting unit and he did not let them down. Having finished five dunks, Howard scored 14 points and made 12 rebounds (six offensive ones). The league has already confirmed his participation in the All-Star Slam Dunk Contest. Thursday's game seemed a very good warm-up.

Though the Nets drained 21 3-pointers at a rate of 45.65 percent, their defense was not able to stop the opponents from getting more points in other areas. What's more even more disappointing for the team was the work by their franchise player Kyrie Irving.

Having played 33 minutes on the court, Irving was 7-17 to get 20 points, four rebounds and three assists. This was also the 11th loss he had of the 16 games he has played for the Nets. Compared with James, Irving still has a lot to learn on how to be a qualified leader.