The Cleveland Cavaliers, who have dropped four of their last six games, look to break out of their funk when they visit the Detroit Pistons on Thursday. Cleveland shooting guard J.R. Smith returned to practice on Wednesday for the first time since fracturing his thumb on Dec. 20 and is questionable to play against Detroit.

The Memphis Grizzlies are sliding in the wrong direction and look to halt a three-game losing streak when they host the Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday. Memphis owns the sixth seed in the Western Conference playoff race and stands two games behind the fifth-place Clippers with 18 games remaining.

The Oklahoma City Thunder have matched a season worst losing skid of four games and will be hard-pressed to end the streak when they host the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday. San Antonio registered its ninth consecutive victory with a 114-104 home win over the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday and trails the first-place Golden State Warriors by 1 1/2 games in the Western Conference race.

The Portland Trail Blazers are up to ninth place in the Western Conference and are keeping the pressure on eighth-place Denver with a three-game winning streak. The Trail Blazers will try to make it four in a row when they host the fading Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday.

The Phoenix Suns get another chance to put more distance between themselves and the Western Conference basement when they host the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday. The Suns could not quite pull off a four-game winning streak but have won enough lately to pull two games in front of the west-worst Lakers.