Knicks and Spurs win and remain in the hunt for conference leaders

Fresh wins by the chasing pack kept playoff pressure high. The New York Knicks in the East and the San Antonio Spurs in the West both took care of business Sunday, closing the gap on first place in their conferences.

Here are the three highlights from Sunday's NBA action:

Knicks continue streak

The New York Knicks beat the Miami Heat 132-125 at Madison Square Garden behind a standout performance from Jalen Brunson. The New York native scored a season-high 47 points.

He also dished out eight assists and grabbed three rebounds in the Knicks' win.

It was the Knicks' eighth win in nine games, according to AFP. Winning streak that includes last Tuesday's NBA Cup final in Las Vegas, in which the New York quintet won its first title in 52 years.

Mikal Bridges scored 24 points for the New York Knicks, who had five players in double figures. Josh Hart led the team on the glass with 10 rebounds.

With this victory, the Big Apple quintet reaches 20 wins and eight losses to remain in second place in the Eastern Conference, behind the leaders, the Detroit Pistons (22-6).

Miami Heat, meanwhile, is eighth in the same conference with a 15-14 record, and suffered its seventh loss in the last eight games.

Center Kel'el Ware was the Heat's top performer with 28 points and a whopping 19 rebounds in 35 minutes on the court, seconded by point guard Norman Powell with 22 points.

San Antonio on the hunt for the Thunder

In the Western Conference, meanwhile, the San Antonio Spurs, with a 21-7 record, remain in the hunt for Oklahoma Ciy Thunder, the top team of the regular season with 25 wins and only three losses.

The Texans defeated the Washington Wizards, the worst team in the NBA's Thirty with a 5-22 record, 124-113 on Sunday at Capital One Arena.

San Antonio had seven players score more than 10 points, including French prodigy Victor Wembanyama who contributed 14 points in 21 minutes on the court, coming off the bench.

Point guard De'Aaron Fox with 28 points and center Luke Kornet with 20 were the Spurs' scoring leaders.

Bulls score 152 points

At State Farm Arena in Atlanta, the Chicago Bulls staged the highest-scoring game of the season so far, withstanding a late comeback by the home Hawks and won 152-150.

The 36 points from Jalen Johnson and 35 from Trae Young were not enough to overcome the unstoppable Bulls, led by Matas Buzelis with 28 points and eight other players with double-digit scoring.

Despite the win, the Bulls remain tenth in the East at 13-15, while the Hawks are ninth in the same conference at 15-15.