NBA: Gamewinner!

Los Angeles Clippers remain unbeaten! Blake Griffin and the Buzzer become heroes in winning the Trail Blazers. DeMarcus Cousins rocks on his return to Sacramento and the Bulls win the basement duel against Atlanta.

Whoever knows, the matchup degenerates: Already on the day before, the two teams in Texas duelled each other, now there was the “Revenge” in Tennessee – and this time it didn’t go so well for the Mavs, who were allowed to celebrate their first victory of the season at home.

Especially in the first half, they were much more tired in the bones than the grizzlies. In the first quarter, Dirk Nowitzki and Co. only 6/23 out of the field, second quarter 7/25. So it happened that they had to run after a 22-point gap in no time at all.

But after the change of sides the Mavs got caught and came back. That had a lot to do with Wesley Matthews, who ran hot in the third quarter and drowned four threesomes in that period alone. 3:56 minutes before the end of the game, the matter then completely overturned when three free-throwers from J. J. were thrown free. Barea brought the guests back in front for the first time since the beginning minutes (86:85).

But Memphis stayed cool and could rely on Mike Conley, who had the answer to Barea with 5 points. This should be the last lead of the game as Dallas missed too many throws in the crunchtime. Dirk Nowitzki was 28 minutes on the field and scored 14 points and 7 rebounds, Harrison Barnes (22 points) became Mavs top scorer.

On the other side, Marc Gasol dominated with 25 points and strong 16 boards, Mike Conley contributed 22 points and 4 dimes.

It could have been a German evening – but Dennis Schröder (ankles) on one side and Paul Zipser (knee) on the other side had to pass due to injury. However, both players will not fail in the long run.

Meanwhile, the court was not top class, but it was always exciting. There were a total of 15 leadership changes to be seen, and none of the teams managed to beat each other by more than 9 points. The decision had to be made in the Crunchtime – and in this Bulls rookie, Lauri Markkanen proved his coolness.

With 48.5 seconds left on the clock – the Bulls led with 4 points but were still shaky – the Finn took the lead after a pass from Jerian Grant of Downtown and scored a decisive 93:86. Thus he became the match winner of the evening. With 14 points (11 in the second half) and 12 rebounds he also won a double-double.

With the Bulls all the starters landed in the double digits, David Nwaba also attracted attention with 15 points and 11 rebounds from the bank. On the other side, Marco Belinelli (23 points, 5/9 3FG) was hot in the meantime, while Kent Bazemore, who took over ball handling together with Malcolm Delaney, scored 16 points (7/19 FG).

Page 1: Mavs lose “second leg”, Bulls take advantage of Schröder’s absence

Page 2: Griffin beats Portland with the buzzer, cousins rocks on his return