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Bulls center Nikola Vucevic shoots over Charlotte’s Bismack Biyombo during Chicago’s 120-99 win Thursday in Charlotte, N.C. Nell Redmond/Associated Press

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Nikola Vucevic had 29 points and 14 rebounds, and the Chicago Bulls breezed past the Charlotte Hornets 120-99 on Thursday night with Zach LaVine back on the floor.

LaVine returned from an 11-game absence because of the league’s health and safety protocols and scored 13 points on 5-of-11 shooting for the Bulls, who swept the season series against the Hornets by a combined 52 points.

Chicago is 3 1/2 games behind Washington for the final spot in the Eastern Conference play-in tournament.

P.J. Washington, who missed Charlotte’s last game for the birth of his child, led the Hornets with 24 points on six 3-pointers. Malik Monk added 20 points off the bench for the Hornets, who played without Gordon Hayward, Miles Bridges and Devonte Graham.

WIZARDS 131, RAPTORS 129: Bradley Beal scored 14 of his 28 points in the fourth quarter and overtime, and Russell Westbrook got his 34th triple-double of the season in Washington’s win at Tampa, Florida, that all but eliminated Toronto from the NBA’s play-in tournament.

Pascal Siakam matched his career high with 44 points for the Raptors, who lost for the fifth time in six games and fell four games behind the Wizards for the 10th spot in the Eastern Conference with five left to play. Siakam missed a long 3-pointer at the end of overtime.

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Westbrook had 13 points, 17 rebounds and 17 assists before fouling out with 15.3 seconds left in overtime. The triple-double was the 180th of his career, leaving him one behind Oscar Robertson. It was the sixth triple-double in seven games for Westbrook, who came up one assist short in the other game.

PACERS 133, HAWKS 126: Caris LeVert scored 31 points, including nine in the final 2:17, and Indiana won at home.

All-Star forward Domantas Sabonis scored 30 points on 12-of-14 shooting with nine assists.

Trae Young led the Hawks with 30 points and 10 assists. Bogdan Bogdanovic scored 28 and John Collins 25.

MAVERICKS 113, NETS 109: Luka Doncic scored 24 points, Tim Hardaway Jr. added 23 and Dallas finished a season sweep against visiting Brooklyn.

Kyrie Irving scored a season-high 45 points for the Nets. They lost a season-high fourth straight game and dropped two games behind Eastern Conference-leading Philadelphia.

Dorian Finney-Smith scored 17 points as the Mavericks reached 10 games over .500 for the first time this season and moved a half-game ahead of the Los Angeles Lakers for the fifth seed in the West. Dallas holds the tiebreaker on the defending NBA champs.

PISTONS 111, GRIZZLIES 97: Wayne Ellington and Cory Joseph scored 18 points apiece to help Detroit win at home, snapping a four-game losing streak.

The Grizzlies entered the game with a half-game lead over Golden State for eighth place in the Western Conference, but couldn’t take advantage of this matchup against a Detroit team with more than a few absences.

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