The Minnesota Timberwolves also won the second duel with the OKC Thunder very close. The Warriors beat the Wizards in a spectacle after Draymond Green is thrown out again. Dennis Schröder returns after having survived an injury, but can’t do anything about it and the Magic surprisingly cleans the San Antonio Spurs.
Threesome and wicker – the philosophy of the Houston Rockets should be well known by now. And after that evening at the latest, the Hornets also know what they are talking about: they had to watch the Texans pull 57 times from downtown, almost breaking their previous year’s record of 61 attempts.
And since 22 of the 57 throws found their target (38.6 percent) and the Hornets only hit 11 threesomes, the game was fast. The decisive factor was the second quarter, which the Rockets won 29:16, while the hosts threw 18 percent of the field underground.
And Rockets coach Mike D’ Antoni? As you know, he has nothing against many threesomes:”I don’t understand why we didn’t take 60 pieces,”he complained with a wink. Meanwhile, there was nothing to complain about the performance of James Harden, who played his first triple double of the season (27 points, 10 rebounds, 11 assists) in the absence of Chris Paul, Trevor Ariza and Nene. Eric Gordon scored 26 points, Ryan Anderson 21.
Kemba Walker scored 26 points, while Dwight Howard scored 19 points and 16 rebounds for Dwight Howard.
If a team such as the Spurs have so far roared unbeaten through the season and then come to the Magic, there’s a lot to expect – except for a blowout with Orlando on the winner’s side.
But one should accept that the Magic is not at the top of the list for fun – after all, they have already defeated the Cavaliers this season. However, the performance against San Antonio should not be considered normal, as Orlando delivered one of the games in which everything seems to work out just fine on both sides of the court.
Especially the offensive balance was right: The Magic scored 56 points in the Zone and 58 points from the perimeter, and they were hit efficiently by the three-line – something you couldn’t exactly claim from the Spurs (4/24!).”I’m impressed by the way we played on the offensive today,”Magic coach Frank Vogel was rightly satisfied.”Nobody forces throws, everyone submits to the offensive”.
Top scorer Orlandos was Evan Fournier with 25 points (4/4 3FG), ex-gauge Jonathon Simmons was a decisive factor of the bank (17 points, 8/13 FG). In the Spurs, only LaMarcus Aldridge was close to his best form. LMA scored 24 points (9/14 FG) and 11 rebounds.
Page 1: Rockets shooting wild, Magic clean the tracks
Page 2: Millsap returns and wins, Schröder is fit again
Page 3: Wolves beat OKC again, spectacle at the Warriors