NBA Roundup: Limping to Sixty

Notes on Wednesday's games in the National Basketball Association ...

• Ow, Ow, Ow, Ow, Ow, Ow. So much for Jeff Van Gundy's theory that everyone's trying to lose games to improve their lottery chances. The Bucks — who could have used a loss Wednesday in the grand scheme of things — instead tried to win against the Mavericks, and they almost pulled it off. With Dirk Nowitzki out after hurting his ankle in the first half, Dallas barely hung on, 105-103, for their 60th win of the season. The Mavs have 11 games left in the regular season. Jason Terry had 27 points for Dallas.

• So Many Questions, So Little Time. Could the Knicks actually make the playoffs? Is Isiah Thomas really a sympathetic figure in New York? Does anyone eat aerosol cheese? The answers are not clear ... but the Knicks did win on Wednesday, 97-93 over the Cavaliers, breaking a four-game losing streak and keeping their shaky playoff hopes alive. Eddy Curry scored 25 points for New York, which is 1 1/2 games behind Orlando for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

• Will You Still Need Me, When I'm Sixty-Five. All hail the Jazz, who clinched the Northwest Division championship on Wednesday with a 108-102 win over the Timberwolves. And it happened to be Jazz coach Jerry Sloan's 65th birthday. Carlos Boozer had 25 points and 11 rebounds for Utah.

• That's It For Me, Folks. Paul Pierce scored 32 points — 15 during the fourth quarter and two overtimes — to lead Boston past Orlando 105-96. And afterward, he announced that he's shutting down his body for the season. "My body, I've got to start listening to it,'' he told AP. "Sometimes it hurts for me to straighten out my arm. I've got to think about my future and I've got to listen to the doctors and see what they think." Actually, we're thinking of shutting down our body for the season too.