SportyTV | NBA: Thunder close in on West’s top seed

The Oklahoma City Thunder set a season high in points and routed the Utah Jazz 146-111 on Sunday to improve their chances of securing the top seed in the Western Conference.

The Thunder (62-16) increased their lead over the San Antonio Spurs for the No. 1 spot in the West to three games with each club having four contests left.

Oklahoma City has won five straight and gone 20-2 since the All-Star break to hold off the Spurs, who are 27-3 in their last 30 games.

The defending NBA champion Thunder opened a 15-point advantage over Utah (21-58) after the first quarter and never looked back, giving them the opportunity to not play anyone more than 26 minutes.

Chet Holmgren had 21 points, seven rebounds and four blocks in 22 minutes, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander contributed 20 points, seven assists and four rebounds in a season-low 24 minutes of action as the reigning league MVP and NBA Finals MVP sat out the fourth quarter with Oklahoma City dominating.

Utah’s season-high losing streak reached nine games, with the last two defeats coming by a combined 69 points.

Brice Sensabaugh led the way with 34 points, five assists and four rebounds for the Jazz, who have just three wins in their last 24 games and are tied with the Sacramento Kings for the worst record in the West.

Finished the homestand strong pic.twitter.com/TtRnpfCKX8
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) April 6, 2026

Celtics inch closer to Atlantic Division title

Jaylen Brown had 26 points, Jayson Tatum scored 25 and the surging Boston Celtics moved in on their fifth straight Atlantic Division title with a 115-101 win over the Toronto Raptors.

Tatum added 13 rebounds, seven assists and three steals for the Celtics (53-25), who opened a three-game lead over the New York Knicks in the Atlantic with four contests remaining for each club.

Boston has won three straight and 24 of its last 31 games to put itself in position to also secure the No. 2 seed in the East behind the conference champion Detroit Pistons.

The Raptors (43-35) lost for the third time in four games to fall behind the Philadelphia 76ers and into seventh place in the East as they try to secure a top-six play-off berth and avoid the NBA Play-In Tournament.

Toronto owns a one-half game lead over the eighth-place Charlotte Hornets and the Orlando Magic are one game back of the Raptors in ninth.

No Sunday scaries here #DifferentHere pic.twitter.com/XruGYUISuI
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) April 5, 2026

Streaking Rockets ruin Curry’s return

The Houston Rockets spoiled the return of Stephen Curry to the Golden State line-up and extended their winning streak to a season-high six games with a 117-116 victory over the Warriors.

Curry came off the bench in his first action since January 30 due to a right knee injury and didn’t show any rust despite missing the previous 27 games.

The two-time NBA MVP played only 26 minutes but led the Warriors with 29 points while shooting 11 of 21 overall and 5 of 10 from 3-point range.

Golden State (36-42) suffered its fourth straight loss and has dropped 12 of its last 16 contests.

Curry returned to a Warriors team that’s all but locked into the 10th seed in the Western Conference and would have to win back-to-back games in the NBA Play-In Tournament to earn the eighth and final play-off spot.

Houston (49-29), meanwhile, stayed hot as Kevin Durant poured in 31 points and added eight rebounds, eight assists and three blocks.

Durant’s final assist set up Alperen Sengun’s go-ahead layup with 11 seconds left in the game.

The Rockets’ six-game run, though, hasn’t helped them move up in the West.

Houston is one game behind Denver for fourth place, but the Nuggets are currently riding an eight-game winning streak.