Jeff Green scored a team-high 21 points as the Brooklyn Nets became the first Eastern Conference team to win 20 home games this season with a 111-89 rout of the Charlotte Hornets on Thursday.
Kyrie Irving tallied 15 points and 11 rebounds and Landry Shamet and Tyler Johnson scored 17 and 15 points respectively off the bench for the Nets, who won despite missing all-star James Harden.
Harden suffered a hamstring injury Wednesday and sat out the fourth quarter in the team's come from behind win over the Houston Rockets.
But the Nets didn't need Harden, or injured Kevin Durant for that matter, as they stormed to a 32-11 lead after the first quarter in front of a pandemic-limited crowd of 1,700 at Barclays Center arena in New York.
Bruce Brown had 14 points for the Nets, who were 20-for-45 on three pointers.
Gordon Hayward and Devonte' Graham each scored 13 points and Terry Rozier had 12 points for the Hornets, who had another low scoring quarter with just 17 points in the third.
Malik Monk had 11 points and Miles Bridges provided 10 points off the bench for the Hornets, who are 1-1 on a six-game road trip.
The Philadelphia 76ers kept pace with the Nets for the No 1 seed in the standings, wrapping up their six-game road swing on a winning note by beating the Cleveland Cavaliers 114-94.
"That was a heck of a trip for us," said coach Doc Rivers of the 76ers who are a half game behind first place Brooklyn.
Trae Young was nearly unstoppable at the end of the night, scoring 15 of his 28 points in the two overtime periods, and Danilo Gallinari canned a late three-pointer as the Atlanta Hawks outlasted the host San Antonio Spurs 134-129 in a double-overtime thriller.
Young also had seven points in the fourth quarter and racked up 12 assists overall.
Clint Capela and Bogdan Bogdanovic added 28 points each for the Hawks, who snapped a two-game losing streak. Capela also took 17 rebounds, and Gallinari finished with 16 points and 12 boards.
DeRozan led the Spurs with 36 points, two off his season high. Derrick White added 29 points to set a regular-season career-high, with Gay scoring 18, Murray scoring 16, and Jakob Poeltl adding 14 points and 10 rebounds.
In a game featuring two teams jockeying for position in the Western Conference standings, the Denver Nuggets played with a bit more urgency in outlasting hosts Los Angeles Clippers 101-94 on Thursday.
All five Nuggets starters scored in double figures, led by Jamal Murray's 23 points, Michael Porter Jr.'s 20 and Will Barton's 19.
New addition Aaron Gordon added 14 points and six rebounds, while MVP candidate Nikola Jokic had a quiet night, finishing with 14 points – 13 below his average – and seven rebounds and seven assists. The Nuggets shot 13 of 25 from the 3-point arc.
Kawhi Leonard led the Clippers with 24 points and 12 rebounds. Paul George followed with 17 points and eight rebounds, and Terance Mann chipped in 18 points off the bench.
