OKLAHOMA CITY -- The Cleveland Cavaliers considered resting their stars, then played the Oklahoma City Thunder at full strength and lost anyway.
Russell Westbrook scored 29 points and had his 26th triple-double of the season to lead Oklahoma City to a 118-109 victory on Thursday night.
Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue said after Wednesday's win at Indiana that he was considering resting All-Stars LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love, but they all started (see full recap).
Harden scores 30, Rockets top Hornets
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- James Harden had another big offensive night for the Houston Rockets, though the All-Star guard was more excited about his team's effort on the other side of the ball.
Harden had 30 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists, and the Rockets forced 22 turnovers that led to 27 points in a 107-95 win over the Charlotte Hornets on Thursday night.
"Our communication was really good," Harden said. "We switched off and we contained the ball and contained their shots and closed out. And we made tough shots and took care of the basketball. If we do all of those consistently, we'll be a very good team,” (see full recap).
Barnes leads Mavericks to overtime win
DALLAS -- Harrison Barnes and his Dallas teammates looked up and saw they trailed by 21 points midway through the third quarter on Thursday night.
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Barnes picked up the pace to finish with 31 points, including eight in overtime, and the Mavericks rallied to beat the Utah Jazz 112-105.
"This is a great victory for us," Barnes said. "We've put ourselves in tough situations, some of which we've battled out of and some which we haven’t,” (see full recap).
Thomas drops 34, Celtics beat Blazers
PORTLAND, Ore. -- Isaiah Thomas scored 34 points, including 15 in the fourth quarter, and the Boston Celtics rebounded from a loss the previous night to beat the Portland Trail Blazers 120-111 on Thursday.
Marcus Smart added 18 for the Celtics, who had seven scorers in double figures. Thomas, who went into the game as the NBA's No. 2 scorer behind Russell Westbrook, has scored 20 or more points in 37 straight games. He surpassed the 10.6 points he was averaging in fourth quarters to lead the league.
Damian Lillard had 28 points and seven assists for the Blazers, while Al-Farouq Aminu added 26 points (see full recap).