The Dallas Mavericks wiped away the sting of two straight losses with an impressive win at Washington on Wednesday and are hoping they still have enough time to track down the Denver Nuggets for the No. 8 spot in the Western Conference. The Mavericks will try to make it back-to-back wins when they visit a tough young Philadelphia 76ers squad on Friday.

The Washington Wizards were one of the hottest teams in the league before hitting a bit of a skid with back-to-back losses. The Wizards will try to rebound at the expense of a team battling for the No. 8 spot in the Eastern Conference when they host the Chicago Bulls on Friday.

The Boston Celtics will try to survive a two-game road trip without star guard Isaiah Thomas, beginning with a visit to the Brooklyn Nets on Friday. Thomas will not travel with the team on the trip as he rests a right knee bone bruise, the team announced Thursday.

The Toronto Raptors are falling off the pace in the Eastern Conference playoff race and look to reverse course when they visit the Detroit Pistons on Friday. Fourth-place Toronto was roughed up 123-102 by Oklahoma City on Thursday to fall four games behind second-place Boston and 2 1/2 back of Washington for third with 14 contests remaining.

The Houston Rockets seemingly roll up points at will and look for another high-scoring output when they visit the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday. Houston is 25-1 this season when scoring 120 or more points and that tally includes Wednesday's 139-100 thumping of the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Miami Heat finally are in position for a spot in the top eight in the Eastern Conference and get a nice stretch of home games as they try to climb even higher. The Minnesota Timberwolves, who visit the Heat on Friday, are doing their best to stay in the race for the No. 8 spot in the West and can't afford to drop many more games.

The Phoenix Suns are well out of the playoff race so they have decided to rest standout point guard Eric Bledsoe for the remainder of the season. Bledsoe has been dealing with knee soreness and will be hanging out in street clothes when Phoenix hosts the Orlando Magic on Friday.

The Milwaukee Bucks won 11 of their past 16 games and are starting to possess the look of a playoff team. Milwaukee should be able to keep its hot streak going when it attempts to reach the .500 mark in Friday's game against the lowly Los Angeles Lakers.