Grant Hill scored 23 points and Jason Richardson added 22 as the Phoenix Suns beat Dever Nuggets 118-115 to extend their season-high winning streak to five games on Monday.
Hill hit a 12-foot jump shot with 58.6 seconds remaining to give the Suns a 115-113 lead, then made a foul shot with 6.2 seconds left after Denver's Chauncey Billups missed a leaning 8-footer.
Billups, fouled by Hill with 5.4 seconds left to prevent the Nuggets from attempting a tying 3-pointer, made both free throws to cut the Suns' lead to 116-115. The Nuggets fouled Steve Nash on the inbound play, and he made both foul shots with 3.9 seconds left.
Carmelo Anthony led the Nuggets with 29 points, but missed a 3 in the final second.
Kenyon Martin had 18 points, and J.R. Smith added 14 for Denver, which had won five straight.
At Atlanta, Flip Murray scored a season-best 30 points while Mike Bibby and Joe Johnson each added 20 as the Atlanta Hawks won their season-high eighth straight home game, beating the Minnesota Timberwolves 109-97.
It was Atlanta's eighth win in nine games and the Hawks are 28-7 at Philips Arena. It was the fifth straight loss for the Timberwolves.
The home streak is the longest for Atlanta since Nov. 12, 1996-Feb. 12, 1997, when the Hawks won 20 in row.
Atlanta has three tough ones at home starting Wednesday night against the San Antonio Spurs, then Friday night against Boston and Sunday against the Los Angeles Lakers.
At Boston, Ray Allen scored 20 points and the Boston Celtics, sparked by an alley-oop dunk from Kevin Garnett, pulled away from the Los Angeles Clippers 90-77.
At New York, Dwight Howard had 29 points and 14 rebounds, Hedo Turkoglu led a big fourth-quarter rally, and the Orlando Magic tuned up for a showdown with Boston by beating the New York Knicks106-102.
Turkoglu scored 12 of his 16 points in the final period for the Magic, who now need one win to clinch their second straight Southeast Division title. That could come Wednesday, when they host the Celtics in a game where second place in the Eastern Conference will be at stake.
At Miami, Dwyane Wade scored 27 points to top his own Miami single-season record, plus added eight assists as the Heat easily beat the Memphis Grizzlies 94-82.
Wade now has 2,064 points this season, 24 more than his previous best, set in the 2005-06 championship season.
At Washington, Ben Gordon scored seven of his 21 points in the final three and half minutes, and the Chicago Bulls nearly stumbled again in their mediocre march toward the playoffs Monday night before hanging on for a 101-99 victory over Washington.
Jamison finished with 34 points and 12 rebounds for the Wizards, who have lost five straight.
At Portland, Andre Miller had 27 points and 10 rebounds and Thaddeus Young and Andre Iguodala scored 25 points each as the Philadelphia 76ers rallied in overtime to beat the Trail Blazers 114-108.
LaMarcus Aldridge had 24 points and 12 rebounds for the Blazers, tied for second place with Utah in the Northwest Division and one game behind first-place Denver.
(Xinhua News Agency March 25, 2009)
