James Harden scored a career-high 50 points to lead the Houston Rockets to a win over the Denver Nuggets.

The shooting guard hit his stride early on to lead the Rockets to a comfortable lead by half time, finishing with the first 50-point game of his career, beating his previous best of 46.

The New Orleans Pelicans slipped out of the Western Conference playoff places as they were beaten by the Phoenix Suns at the US Airways Center.

The Pelicans were without top-scorer Anthony Davis, who injured his ankle during a shootaround earlier in the day, leaving Eric Gordon to lead the scoring.

Gordon cut Phoenix's lead to a single point inside the last minute, but Tyreke Evans missed the chance to put New Orleans ahead, allowing Brandon Wright to clinch it late on for the Suns.

The Los Angeles Lakers slipped to their 50th defeat of the season as they were beaten by the Utah Jazz, who secured their 12th win in 14 games.

The Lakers had led at half time as Tarik Black and Wesley Johnson added some early points for the home side, but Gordon Hayward and Trey Burke combined for 39 points to turn it around in the second half for the Jazz.

The Minnesota Timberwolves clinched a narrow win over the New York Knicks in overtime after coming from behind with just 10 seconds to spare in regulation.

The hosts looked like they were heading for the win, but Zach LaVine added a pair of free throws with 10.7 seconds on the clock, tying the scores.

The forward continued to add the points in the additional spell, making six of his 20 points in overtime to hand the Timberwolves their second win in 12 games.

Results in full: Minnesota Timberwolves 95-92 New York Knicks, Denver Nuggets 108-118 Houston Rockets, New Orleans Pelicans 72-74 Phoenix Suns, Utah Jazz 80-73 Los Angeles Lakers