March 20th NBA Game Boxscore Breakdowns

The Cavaliers jumped out to a 58-47 halftime lead over the short-handed Bucks. Milwaukee got within one by the end of the third, but Cleveland closed out the win in the final minute. Khris Middleton's 26-point, 12-rebound double-double led the Bucks. Eric Bledsoe's line included 24 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Brook Lopez checked in with 19 points. Patrick Connaughton supplied 11 points, four assists and three rebounds. Tony Snell and Ersan Ilyasova contributed matching eight-point tallies while posting eight and seven rebounds, respectively. Collin Sexton's 25 points led the Cavaliers. Jordan Clarkson poured in 23 points and added five rebounds. Brandon Knight totaled 13 points and four assists. Cedi Osman and Ante Zizic generated matching eight-point tallies, with the latter also bringing down 10 rebounds. Kevin Love pitched in six points and 10 boards.

This was a wire-to-wire win for Orlando, as they dominaed throughout. In fact, they led by 14 points after the first quarter, by 22 at the half and by 31 heading into the final quarter. Orlando held New Orleans to 37 percent from the field and 29 percent from three-point range. The Magic also dominated down low, winning the rebounding battle, 65-49, while out-blocking them, 10-2. Stanley Johnson provided 18 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals off the Pelicans bench. Ian Clark also played well off the bench, amassing 17 points, five rebounds and four assists. Frank Jackson led the starters with 14 points, four rebounds and four assists. Evan Fournier led the Magic with 22 points, five rebounds and three assists. Aaron Gordon tallied 20 pints, sevenr rebounds and six assists. Nikola Vucevic accumulated 15 points, 17 rebounds, three assists and three blocks.

Joel Embiid led the Sixers with 37 points on 8-of-17 shooting, 22 rebounds, four assists, a steal and a block, in 41 minutes. Jimmy Butler followed up with 22 points on 7-of-17 shooting, four rebounds, and two assists, in 37 minutes. Tobias Harris tallied 21 points, eight rebounds and three assists, while Ben Simmons finished with 13 points, eight rebounds, seven assists, three steals and two blocks. Meanwhile, Kyrie Irving led the Celtics with 36 points on 12-of-29 shooting, nine rebounds, four assists and a block, in 35 minutes. Al Horford added 22 points on 9-of-16 shooting, six rebounds, five assists and a steal, in 34 minutes. Terry Rozier chipped in 20 points, six rebounds and one assist, off the bench, while Jayson Tatum finished with 13 points six rebounds, four assists and a block.

While Utah didn't win this game in wire-to-wire fashion, it was a thorough beatdown. In fact, the Jazz led by 14 points and the first quarter and led by 27 heading into the half. That allowed them to lead by at least 21 points for the whole of the second half. Utah ended up out-assisting New York, 38-23, which allowed them to shoot 57 percent from the field and 48 percent from long range. Donovan Mitchell led Utah with 30 points, three rebounds and five assists. Rudy Gobert totaled 18 points and nine rebounds. Joe Ingles accumulated 18 points, five rebounds and seven assists while Ricky Rubio amassed 12 points and nine assists. Kevin Knox led the Knicks with 27 points, eight rebounds and three assists. Damyean Dotson provided 21 points and three assists while Mario Hezonja finished with 23 points and two boards. Mitchell Robinson led the bench with 14 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks.

The Bulls and Wizards battled to a 60-60 draw in the first half. Bradley Beal ultimately forced overtime via a jumper with 2.4 seconds remaining. Chicago's 5-0 run to start overtime helped propel them to the eventual win. Jabari Parker's 28 points, which he partly supplemented with six rebounds, led the Wizards. Beal's line included 27 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. Tomas Satoransky's line included 16 points, seven assists and five rebounds. Bobby Portis posted 15 points and five boards. Jeff Green provided 10 points. Lauri Markkanen's 32 points, which he partly complemented with 13 rebounds, led the Bulls. Kris Dunn turned in a 26-point, 13-assist double-double. Shaquille Harrison registered 18 points, six rebounds and four steals. Cristiano Felicio totaled 15 points and six rebounds. Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot contributed 13 points and four boards.

Valanciunas had a huge night with 33 points on 10-of-19 shooting, 15 rebounds and one assist, in 36 minutes. Mike Conley led the team with 35 points on 12-of-23 shooting, eight assists and five rebounds, in 42 minutes. Bruno Caboclo finished with 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting, seven assists and three rebounds, in 41 minutes, while Chandler Parsons chipped in 11 points, six rebounds, two assists and three steals. Meanwhile, James Harden led the Rockets with 57 points on 18-of-39 shooting, eight assists, seven rebounds, two steals and two blocks, in 46 minutes. Chris Paul followed up with 18 points on 6-of-17 shooting, seven points, seven rebounds and a steal, in 41 minutes. Clint Capela totaled 14 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and one steal, while P.J. Tucker chipped in nine points, eight rebounds, two steals and a block.

Miami point guard Goran Dragic appears to finally be coming into his own after being sidelined for months with a knee injury, and his play as of late has been the driving force behind the Heat's current three-game win streak. In a low-scoring game Wednesday against the Spurs, Dragic was the lone player to score at least 20 points. He finished with a game-high 22 points on 8-of-13 shooting to lead his team to an important upset victory. Now, over his last three games, all Heat wins, Dragic is averaging 22.3 points per game while shooting a scoring 14-of-22 from behind the arc and 24-of-41 (58.5 percent) from the floor overall. Incredibly, it was the fourth time over this injury plagued season where Dragic managed to score at least 20 points in back-to-back games.

Russell Westbrook followed up his absolute worst offensive performance of the regular season Saturday with one of his very best. After going 2-of-16 from the field and scoring just seven points in Saturday's blowout loss to the Warriors, Westbrook dropped a game-high 42 points on 16-of-29 shooting to go along with 11 rebounds and six assists in 44 minutes. The Thunder, however, still couldn't pull out a victory in overtime, and this is becoming a trend. Westbrook, in what has been a down-year for the point guard in terms of scoring, has scored at least 40 points in a game five times this season; three of which have come in the last 30 days. In those four contests, the Thunder are just 2-3, and one of those wins came against the lowly Phoenix Suns. Paul George, who scored just 19 points Wednesday, has dropped 40 seven times this season. Oklahoma City is a perfect 7-0 in those games.

After astounding with a season-high 15 assists against Indiana on Monday, Portland's Damian Lillard notched another double-double in Wednesday's win. The superstar point guard led his team with 33 points and 12 assists, shooting 9-of-18 from the field and committing only one turnover. The Trail Blazers saw two more players notch double-doubles, as big men Enes Kanter and Jusuf Nurkic combined for 27 points while grabbing 10 rebounds each. Off the bench, Seth Curry led the way with 20 points. For Dallas, rookie sensation Luka Doncic led the way with 24 points. Doncic shook off his recent shooting woes, going 8-of-16 from the field and 7-of-7 from the free-throw line. Justin Jackson also turned in an impressive performance, finishing with 21 points off the bench. However, Dallas was unable to match Portland's lights-out three-point shooting, going just 10-of-30 from beyond the arc.