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With just a few weeks remaining until the NBA postseason, every night can impact the standings. The NBA Playoff Picture Update keeps you up to date on all the most important news for all 16 berths and seeds. [DraftKings: FREE entry to huge cash Fantasy Basketball Contest with first deposit ] Birthday flex: With the clock winding down in a somewhat shockingly competitive Battle of the Boroughs on Wednesday night, the New York Knicks gave Brook Lopez the best present a just-turned-27-year-old Player of the Week could ask for — a clean shot at an offensive rebound and putback over the top of a pair of smaller dudes who couldn't do anything with him. After Knicks big man Jason Smith came up empty on his attempt to block Deron Williams' off-balance leaner, the only defenders left to try to stop the 7-foot Lopez from cleaning up the miss were 6-foot-8 forwards Cleanthony Early and Lance Thomas. Neither could dislodge the birthday boy from the spot, giving Lopez a pair of chances to put the ball back up off the glass and in, giving the Nets a 100-98 lead over their crosstown rivals with just two seconds remaining on the clock. The way things wrapped up for the Knicks ... well, let's just say that it was pretty much perfect. Derek Fisher got Early, who scored all 14 of his points in the fourth quarter and had made a game-tying 3-pointer a minute earlier, a clean catch and a halfway decent look. But the second-round draft pick out of Wichita State saw his potential game-winner come up with nothing but air, finishing off a 100-98 Brooklyn win that kept the Nets in playoff position after nearly blowing a 16-point third-quarter lead. Birthday boy Lopez finished with 18 points on 9-for-15 shooting, seven rebounds (three on the offensive glass, including those two big ones on the final possession) and five blocks, while Williams led all scorers with 26 points on 11-for-21 shooting, including a 4-for-7 mark from 3-point land, to go with seven rebounds, seven assists and just one turnover in arguably his best performance of the season. Its top competition? His 29-point, 10-for-15-shooting, six-dime November outing against — you guessed it — the Knicks . The Knicks have this way of making Deron Williams look like vintage Deron Williams each time they play. — Chris Herring (@HerringWSJ) April 2, 2015 Thanks to the inside-out duo that Mikhail Prokhorov, Billy King and company once upon a time expected to carry Brooklyn to the ranks of the NBA's elite before injuries punctured that particular dream, the Nets were able to hold off a surprisingly feisty fourth-quarter Knicks charge to win their fifth straight game. Brooklyn's won nine of 11 overall and now sits at 34-40, giving Lionel Hollins' club the same record as the No. 7-seeded Miami Heat — Miami still slots in above Brooklyn by virtue of sweeping their season series, four games to nil — and keeping the Nets a half-game up on ... Evanescence: ... the Boston Celtics, who took care of business with a 100-87 home win over the slumping Indiana Pacers thanks, in part, to yet another kind of stunning all-around game from summertime bargain-bin pickup Evan Turner.
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