“Greek freak for MVP? Giannis Antetokounmpo dominates the action in the NBA with another spectacular performance – a new career best score in points and a block to victory is included. Meanwhile, chaos reigns in Memphis: it rains ejections for Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant. The Cavaliers stumble over Orlando, the Thunder bite their teeth out at jazz and the Clippers hold a gala.
Despite Philly’s ever-expanding process, the Sixers are simply the Raptors! With a 34 point blowout, the Canadians celebrated their tenth consecutive home win against Philadelphia, without a single shake. Already in the first quarter Toronto had a comfortable advantage (36:19), DeMar DeRozan with his 30 points (8/12 FG, 14/16 FT) ensured that the superiority of the Raptors did not change in the further course of the game.
In addition to DeRozan, Serge Ibaka (21 points, 5 rebounds), Kyle Lowry (17 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists) and Delon Wright and Jakob Pöltl with 14 points each also performed well. For the Austrian, this also meant a new career best value. Jonas Valanciunas, however, had to leave the parquet floor prematurely because his left ankle was bent over and Jonas Valanciunas had to leave the parquet floor.
The outcome of the game, however, was not affected by the injury. The Sixers acted too harmlessly for this. On the one hand, Philly showed enormous weaknesses from the free-throw line (22/36 FT) and on the other hand, the young team suffered 20 ball losses. In connection with the slight superiority in the zone, it was an easy victory for the Raptors.
Without Joel Embiid, who is spared in the second game of Back-to-Backs, Ben Simmons was top scorer on the side of the Sixers with 18 points. The rookie also had 10 rebounds and 8 assists. Apart from Jared Bayless (16 points) no other sixer could cause a sensation.
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What was going on with the Cavaliers? After three victories at the start of the new NBA season, the first stumbling block for LeBron James and Co. was in the Orlando Magic. The question should be: What was going on with the Magic?
From the beginning, they were extremely hot and hammered the Cavaliers one by one. Towards the end of the first quarter, Orlando even had a 21-point lead. With this offensive firework display and a total of 17 threesome (at 35 attempts) the Magic took the hosts by surprise.
Again Nikola Vucevic stood out from a strong collective. After its 41-point performance against the Nets in the last game, the center has now added 23 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 blocks. He was actively supported by Jonathon Simmons (19 points, 4 rebounds) and D. J. Augustin (12 points, 10 assists).
The Cavaliers fought their way up to 13 points in the third leg, but Cleveland did not get closer. James fought back against the impending defeat (14 points) especially in the first quarter, but with a total of 22 points, the King could not do much to help. Also the good performances of Iman Shumpert (21 points, 7 rebounds) and Kevin Love (19 points, 9 rebounds) were not enough. Cleveland simply couldn’t keep up with the Magic’s threesome rain.
In the end, the relief was written on the Heatles’ faces. Meanwhile, Miami had a 21-point lead on the scoreboard, but in the end they almost gave up the victory,”Even if you win with one point, you’ve won. And that’s all that matters,”said Dion Waiters happily after a thrilling game.
Over three quarters of the heat had their opponent firmly under control thanks to strong defenses. On the other hand, Goran Dragic (23 points, 5 rebounds), Waiters (19) and James Johnson (14) provided the necessary counters to keep on setting themselves apart. When Johnson brought Oladipo to the poster with a crashing dark Victor Oladipo, everything seemed to work in the spirit of the Heat.
But the Pacers got back together again. Led by Oladipo, who played 28 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals, Indiana started a monster comeback. After a free-throw of the Heat and a runner from Cory Jospeh the gap was only 2 points.
But it was not enough. Miami brought the game from Charity Stripe over time and celebrated the first win of the season. But in the future Waiters can obviously do without similar dramas:”We shouldn’t have put ourselves in such a situation,”the Shooting Guard said. But as I said before, victory is victory.
The comeback, which the Pacers barely managed to make, was completed by the Detroit pistons elsewhere. In Madison Square Garden, head coach Stan van Gundy’s team fought back against the Knicks after a 21-point gap – despite a partially oversleeping first half.
After the half-time break, however, the whole team presented itself improved, especially Tobias Harris turned up. The 25-year-old scored 22 of his 31 points in the second half, together with Andre Drummond (21 points, 12 rebounds) and Reggie Jackson (16 points, 7 assists) he turned the tables for the pistons. To the delight of his coach.
“I think anyone watching us can see a change from what we saw last year,”said van Gundy after the game,”especially in terms of our spirit, energy and fighting spirit,” as the game progressed, Detroit found more and more answers to the initially solid defense of the Knicks. In the end, Jackson brought home the victory with four converted free throws in the final seconds.
The Knicks, on the other hand, were also left empty-handed in the second game of the new season. Kristaps Porzinigis made a particularly strong appearance: The Latvian team played 33 points and 5 rebounds. He was also supported by Enes Kanter (17 points, 10 rebounds) and Kyle O’ Quinn (15 points, 7 rebounds). Rookie-Point-Guard Frank Ntilikina, on the other hand, had to suffer an ankle injury.
Page 1: Cavs stumble over the Magic
Page 2: Chaos in Memphis – Curry flies
Page 3: LAC takes Phoenix apart