The Brooklyn Nets became the fifth team in the Eastern Conference to clinch a playoffs berth after a 105-96 home victory over the Houston Rockets on Tuesday.
With the win, the Nets remained in the fifth place of the East standings, although they trail Chicago and Toronto by just 1.5 game for the third place.
The other two teams include the Miami Heat who topped the Indiana Pacers atop of the conference.
Joe Johnson’s 32 points inspired Brooklyn,who beat the Rockets for the first time since March 2006, as they tied the regular-season series 1-1.
After a poor start to the season, the Nets turned out to be one of the hottest teams in the league as they extended their home winning streak to 14 games, the longest run in their NBA history.
Houston who played without injured Dwight Howard relied on leading scorer James Harden who poured in a team-high 26 points, but they were unable to avoid their second consecutive game.
In Texas, Stephen Curry buried a three-pointer with a tenth of a second remaining to give the Golden State Warriors a 122-120 overtime at Dallas Mavericks.
Dallas fell to ninth in the Western Conference standings behind the Memphis Grizzlies and Phoenix Suns.
German Dirk Nowitzki finished with a game-high 33 points for the Mavericks, but the “Splash Brothers” Klay Thompson and Curry, and Jordan Crawford made the difference for Golden State.
Thompson scored 12 of his team-high 27 points from behind the arc, Curry added three triples to his 23 points and Crawford came off to bench to bury 15 of his 19 points from the three-point line.
The Warriors held off Dallas for third time in three tries this season.
At Staple Centre Arena in Los Angeles, Nick Young led way with 40 points for the Lakers, but the night belonged to Damian Lillard who poured in 34 points to give the Portland Trail Blazers a 124-112 win.
