Coming off last night’s 2OT thriller, what do Austin Reaves & Anthony Davis have in common with Oscar Robertson and Jerry Lucas?

Keep reading.

THE LINEUP 🏀

What’s inside today’s edition? 

Lakers stun Bucks: L.A. overcame a 19-point fourth-quarter deficit to pull off the 2OT win

Mavs take over 6th: Dallas raced past Sacramento for the coveted sixth seed in the West

What they’re saying: Check out the best quotes from a four-game night

The crowded West: Unpacking the races for No. 4 and No. 6 in the West

Can Warriors hold off Rockets?: Both teams play tonight, with Golden State’s lead at one game

BUT FIRST … ⏰

Last night’s scores & what to watch today.

Clippers-Sixers (7:30 ET, ESPN): James Harden returns to Philly for the first time as the Clippers look to avenge Sunday’s loss in L.A.

Suns-Nuggets (10 ET, ESPN): A potential first round matchup as the No. 1 Nuggets host the No. 8 Suns

1. LAKERS WIN 2OT THRILLER IN MILWAUKEE

Lakers sweep season series: After pulling off a one-point win in L.A. on a D’Angelo Russell floater and Spencer Dinwiddie block on Mar. 8, the Lakers pulled off another thrilling win over the Bucks on Tuesday, rallying back from 19 points down to force overtime and prevailing in 2OT, 128-124. | Recap

• AD does it all: Anthony Davis was everywhere, racking up 34 points, 23 rebounds and four blocks – including denying Lillard’s potential game-winner at the end of the first overtime – as he played a game-high 52 minutes to help L.A. overcome LeBron James’ absence (ankle)
• Reaves does, too: Austin Reaves posted his second career triple-double (29 pts, 14 reb, 10 ast) and hit the tiebreaking 3 with 37.8 seconds left in 2OT to put the Lakers up for good. Reaves finished with a game-high 12 clutch points

• The combo: Davis and Reaves became the first teammates to record a 30/20 game and a 25+ point triple-double in the same game since Jerry Lucas (32 pts, 21 reb) and Oscar Robertson (30 pts, 11 reb, 12 ast) on Feb. 25, 1966
• The Bucks: Giannis Antetokounmpo (29 pts, 21 reb, 11 ast) put up his ninth triple-double of the season, while Damian Lillard (27 pts, 8 ast) hit a clutch 3 with 17 seconds left in the first overtime before D’Angelo Russell tied it at the line
• Play-In Race (LAL ↔️): The Lakers remain ninth in the West, climbing within two games of No. 8 Phoenix and maintaining their 2.5-game lead over No. 10 Golden State
• Playoff Race (MIL ↔️): The Bucks remain second in the East, but have their lead over No. 2 Cleveland trimmed to two games

3rd-Quarter Warriors strike: Trailing by two at the half in Miami, the Warriors outscored the Heat 32-20 in the third and 60-37 for the second half to earn a 113-92 win. Klay Thompson returned to the starting lineup and scored a game-high 28 points with six 3s. | Recap

• Four scorers: In addition to Klay’s 28, the Warriors got 18 from Jonathan Kuminga and 17 apiece from Steph Curry and Andrew Wiggins as the Warriors’ depth shined against the shorthanded Heat playing without Jimmy Butler and Tyler Herro
• Play-In Race (GSW ↔️): The Warriors remain 10th in the West, moving a full game ahead of No. 11 Houston and still 2.5 games back of the No. 9 Lakers
• Play-In Race (MIA ↔️): The Heat remain seventh in the East via tiebreaker over No. 8 Philly, but fall 1.5 games back of No. 6 Indy

2. THUNDER REACH 50 WINS; MAVS TAKE OVER 6TH

OKC closes out NOLA: After the Pelicans went up by five with 3:11 to play, the Thunder closed the game on a 12-0 run – six by Jalen Williams and three apiece from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Lu Dort – to emerge with a 119-112 win to reach 50 for the first time since 2015-16. | Recap

• Triple Threat: The trio of Williams (26 pts, 5 ast), Josh Giddey (25 pts, career-high 5 3s) and SGA (24 pts, 8 ast) combined for 75 points to lead OKC. Zion led NOLA with 29 points and 10 dimes
• Playoff Race (OKC ↔️): The Thunder remain second in the West, pulling within a half-game of No. 1 Denver and moving a full game up on No. 3 Minnesota
• Playoff Race (NOP ⬇️): The Pelicans drop from fourth to fifth with the loss, falling a half-game back of the No. 4 Clippers, while remaining a game up on No. 6 Dallas

Mavs win 5th straight: Luka Doncic scored 26 of his 28 points in the first half, while Kyrie Irving scored 12 of his 24 in the third as the Mavs vaulted the Kings 132-96 for their fifth straight win. Recap | Luka & Kyrie combine for 52

• Showdown set: These two teams will meet again Friday (10 ET, NBA TV) for the final time this regular season. The Kings can clinch the head-to-head tiebreaker with a win
• 55 for Sabonis: A day after setting the record for the NBA’s longest single-season double-double streak since the merger (54), Domantas Sabonis (12 pts, 11 reb, 9 ast) tied Jerry Lucas for the franchise’s longest run spanning multiple seasons with 55 straight
• Playoff Race (DAL ⬆️): Dallas leapfrogs Sacramento with the win, taking over sixth in the West with a one-game lead over both the No. 7 Kings and No. 8 Suns
• Playoff Race (SAC ⬇️): Sacramento drops from sixth to seventh, a game back of Dallas and tied with the Suns, but get the edge via tiebreaker

3. WHAT THEY’RE SAYING: QUOTES OF THE NIGHT

🗣️ Darvin Ham

• On Anthony Davis’ game-saving block: “That’s just who he is.”

🗣️ Austin Reaves

• On facing a 19-point fourth-quarter deficit: “It was one of those moments that you could either flip the page to tomorrow, get ready for that game
• “Or you could go out and compete 110% and give yourself an opportunity or at least try to give yourself an opportunity to get back in the game.”

🗣️ Anthony Davis

• On comebacks: “A 20-point lead in this league now, it’s nothing because of the way the offense is right now in the league – so high-powered that you can wipe away a lead pretty fast.”

🗣️ Zion Williamson 

• On New Orleans’ loss to OKC: “This is what being competitive is all about. These games are fun to play in.
• “We didn’t get the result we wanted tonight, but games like this, when I watch playoff basketball, this is what games look like – just down the wire, teams make runs and whoever stays the most disciplined gets the win. So, I’m excited for this stretch.”

🗣️ Steve Kerr

• After improving to 19-15 on the road: “You walk into any arena in the league on the road and there’s automatically blue and yellow jerseys all over the place.
• “Steph’s got so many fans across the country and a lot of people cheer for him no matter where we are.”

4. UNPACKING THE RACES INSIDE THE CROWDED WEST

When comparing the West and East standings, one mark immediately stands out.

‘PS,’ to the right of teams’ records

That mark, which indicates that a team has qualified for the postseason – whether it’s the Playoffs or Play-In – is associated with eight teams in the East, but only three in the West.

Why is this happening? Because there are five teams from Nos. 4-8 that are separated by just 2.5 games.

• 4. Clippers (44-27)
• 5. Pelicans (44-28)
• 6. Mavs (43-29)
• 7. Kings (42-30)
• 8. Suns (42-30)

Two of those five teams are in action tonight, highlighting two key races within this cluster of teams.

Clippers-Sixers (7:30 ET, ESPN)

• The Clippers lead the race for fourth place by a half-game over the Pelicans (following NOLA’s loss to OKC on Tuesday)
• After going a league-best 26-5 (.839) from Dec. 2 to Feb. 5, the Clippers have gone just 10-12 (.455) since, dropping LA from the race for first to the race for fourth in the West
• James Harden returns to Philly for the first time since being traded to LA on Nov. 1. The Sixers won their first meeting of the season two weeks ago in L.A.

Suns-Nuggets (10 ET, ESPN)

• The Suns dropped from sixth to eighth following Monday’s loss to San Antonio, combined with wins by Sacramento and Dallas
• The Nuggets are league-best 15-2 since All-Star, but one of those two losses came against the Suns, who squandered a 22-point lead before pulling out the win in overtime
• Tonight marks the first stop on a three-game road for Phoenix, all against West teams ahead of them in the standings – No. 2 OKC and No. 5 New Orleans

These races won’t be settled today, so let’s take a look forward at the strength of schedule for each team over the regular season’s final three weeks, beginning with the toughest.

• Phoenix: .646 opp win pct | 10 opp .500+ | 4 home, 6 away | 1 back-to-back
• Sacramento: .555 opp win pct | 7 opp .500+ | 6 home, 4 away | 2 back-to-backs
• New Orleans: .534 opp win pct | 8 opp .500+ | 6 home, 4 away | 1 back-to-back
• LA Clippers: .524 opp win pct | 8 opp .500+ | 6 home, 5 away | 2 back-to-backs
• Dallas: .474 opp win pct | 7 opp .500+ | 4 home, 6 away | 2 back-to-backs

5. ROCKETS RISING, CAN WARRIORS MAKE A STAND?

When the calendar flipped to March, the Houston Rockets were 25-34, on a three-game losing streak, in 12th place in the Western Conference, and seven games back of the No. 9 Warriors and No. 10 Lakers for the final spots in the SoFi Play-In Tournament.

• Over the next 26 days, the Rockets chipped away at that deficit, stacking wins and taking advantage of every loss from the teams above them
• The Rockets are a league-best 11-1 in March, averaging 121.6 points per game with a 12.6 point differential – ranked first in the West and second in the league to only Boston in both categories

The Rockets and Warriors are both in action tonight, separated by just one game. Golden State does own the tiebreaker, so the Rockets will have to finish ahead of the Warriors in the standings to bump them out of the Play-In.

Houston at Oklahoma City (8 ET, NBA App): The Rockets bring a nine-game win streak into tonight’s matchup with the Thunder in OKC. Two of the losses in Houston’s three-game losing streak to close February came at the hands of the Thunder.

• But the March Rockets have been different. Houston is the only team ranked in the top five in both offensive (120.8, 2nd) and defensive rating (109.1, 5th) this month

Golden State at Orlando (7 ET, NBA App): The Warriors are coming off a much-needed win on Tuesday over Miami after losing three of their previous four that added fuel to the Rockets’ rise up the standings.

• Back-to-Back Warriors: Golden State is 9-5 (.643) on the second night of a back-to-back so far this season – the fifth-best record in the league