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Lets get right to it:
Carmelo Anthony takes lead in scoring race as Knicks defeat Thunder 125-120.
After a recent stretch of individual dominance, Carmelo Anthony has taken sole possession of the NBA lead in scoring over Kevin Durant. Anthony, who scored 36 in the Knicks’ 12th straight win, is now averaging 28.44 points per game. Durant scored 27 points but fell to second in the scoring race with 28.35 on the season.
The loss was only Oklahoma City’s sixth loss at home and is their 21st loss in total on the season. The Knicks, meanwhile, reached 50 wins for the first time since 2000.
Oklahoma City has five games and New York has six games remaining in their regular season schedules.
Bryant credits Gasol for team’s recent surge.
According to Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times, Kobe Bryant believes Pau Gasol’s strong play has been the reason for the team’s recent success. The Lakers have won four of their last five games and hold a half game lead on the Jazz for the eighth seed in the Western Conference.
In his last five games, Gasol has been averaging nearly 15 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists, and a 54.88% shooting percentage from the field.
“We’re using him the right way,” Kobe Bryant said of Gasol. 
“We’re using his strengths in terms of his ability to facilitate and his ability to shoot the ball. Pau doesn’t really even want to score the ball, really — he likes getting other guys involved. We’re putting him at the elbow. We’re slipping him out on screens. When he has a shot he’s taking it and when he doesn’t, he’s getting other guys involved and it’s working very well for him.”
Eric Gordon likely to be on trade block again this offseason.
From John Reid of Nola.com: In the midst of the Hornets’ eighth consecutive home loss last night, Monty Williams and Eric Gordon appeared to be in a shouting match with each other on the bench. Gordon, the Hornets’ leading scorer with 16.5 points per game, was prepared to leave New Orleans as a restricted free agent last season. The Hornets, however, matched the Phoenix Suns’ maximum contract offer to retain him. 
Now it appears as though trading Gordon will be a high priority in the Hornets’ offseason agenda. New Orleans tried to trade him at the deadline in February but were unable to find a suitor for Gordon’s hefty contract.
