Even though the Dallas Mavericks showed some improvement against the San Antonio Spurs, they were not enough for the victory. Meanwhile, the Boston Celtics were already in 13th place. Victory in a row. The Toronto Raptors won at the Houston Rockets.
Kyrie Irving had to abandon a game with a slight facial fracture, and now he played masked against the Nets – and helped to expand the Celtics series to 13 consecutive victories. Uncle Drew shone with 25 points and 5 assists and then looked forward to the next duel on Friday night when Boston had to play Golden State:”It’s an incredible series we’re about to play. Now, of course, all the talk comes from:’ When does it end? What happens when the Warriors come to Boston?’ I’m looking forward to it.'”
The match against Brooklyn was fiercely contested. Boston was ahead all the time, but 3:40 minutes before the end the Nets were all of a sudden on only 4 points again. Then it was an Irving-Jumper and a Driving Layup about 35 seconds later, which decided the game:”He found his way and bagged the victory for us”, praised Al Horford, who also played a strong 17 points and 11 rebounds.
In addition to the two stars, all three other starters also scored double-digit points, especially Marcus Morris (21 points, 10 rebounces) and Jayson Tatum (19) showed really good performances. Jaylen Brown also liked it with 14 points, while Daniel Theis had no luck in 11 minutes (3 points, 1/5 FG), but collected 7 rebounds and 1 block.
The Nets lacked the best man with D’ Angelo Russell, although he was duly represented by Spencer Dinwiddie (12 points, only 4/14 FG, but 11 assists). Top scorer was Joe Harris with 19 points from the bank, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson with 16 points and 9 rebounds.
Impressive presentation of the Raptors! Having struggled to keep the upper hand in tight matches against good teams at the end of the day, this time in Houston the winning streak of six consecutive rockets came to an end, despite repeated attempts by the latter. James Harden alone started several comebacks on his own in the fourth quarter, but somehow DeMar DeRozan (27 points) and Co. the right answer again and again.
Constance is hard to reach in this league, and that’s what it’s all about for us every night,”said Dwane Casey,” If we could catch tonight, the energy, toughness and collaboration would be great.”
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Indeed, it was not only the stars who brought Toronto this victory. In addition to DeRozan, backcourt partner Kyle Lowry was in good shape (19 points, 10 assists), but the Raptors played well and four other players scored double figures, a total of eight players scored at least 7 points. Among them was Jakob Pöltl, who showed a strong performance in 14 minutes time (7 points, 3/4 FG, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal and 1 block). O.G. Anunoby showed his maybe best game of the young career (16 points, 6/8 FG).
On the other hand, Harden was powerless in the end, although he set a rockets record with 19 free throws without a miss throw and scored massive 38 points, 11 assists and 6 rebounds. The beard, however, also made 8 turnovers. Trevor Ariza (20 points) and Clint Capela (11 points, 11 rebounds) were also strong.
Already bitter for Dallas: Against the old local rivals San Antonio the Mavs showed one of their best performances for a long time over long distances, still after three quarters was with only 2 points behind even a surprising victory in it, after last often directly after the break was given away. But this time the Mavs sold really well before the last quarter was the end of the season. It was LaMarcus Aldridge who drove Dallas mad.
LMA laid down 32 points and scored 12 of his 21 throws, including 8 points in a pre-decisive stretch in the last quarter. The forward was unstoppable and had plenty of support from his team: Patty Mills scored 19 points, Manu Ginobili (13) and Dejounte Murray (10) delivered appealing scoring from the bank.
Nevertheless, the game was at least a ray of hope for the Mavs. Dirk Nowitzki (12 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, 5/8 FG) showed his best performance of the last days, but above all Dennis Smith, who with 27 points (5/11 3FG) pulverized his previous career high, was enthusiastic. The fact that he played only 2 assists at 6 ball losses should be pushed onto the rookie learning curve for the time being.
Apart from that, Harrison Barnes played a mixed match (16 points, 5/16 FG, 8 rebounds), while J. J. Barnes played a very good match. Barea from the bank ran hot (16 points). Maxi Kleber was also conspicuous as well, who in 21 minutes of use came “only” to 5 points, but unpacked two worth seeing dunks and brought the ACC to a boil. Nerlens Noel was allowed to take five minutes this time.