Joel Embiid dominates against the Los Angeles Lakers with a historic performance, while the Atlanta Hawks once again clearly win. Paul Zipser and the Bulls have no chance against Oklahoma City Thunder, the Cleveland Cavaliers are building an impressive series against Charlotte.
Against disastrous Sacramento Kings Dennis Schröder could win the highest victory in the history of the Hawks franchise. The 46 point difference was two points more than the previous best scores (44) from 1965 and 1994. We currently have the worst record in the league – every victory is a good one,”summarized a sober Taurean Prince, who had probably forgotten that Dallas was even worse off.
This match was also historic for Dewayne Dedmon, who set his new career record with 20 points (9/10 FG) and took 14 rebounds to do so,”It feels great,”commented a lucky Dedmon,”We have to take this momentum with us into the next few games,” Schröder also had it easy against Sacramento and scored a strong 21 points (8/12 FG).
“Losing is one thing, but we have to do a better job of holding out,”Kings coach Dave Joerger said. His players were sometimes a bit more consternated.”46 points difference in the NBA… It’s like lying down on the floor,”said a stunned George Hill,”but you have to accept it. We got our ass kicked” Top scorer of the Kings was Zach Randolph with 16 points.
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Heat coach Erik Spoelstra could hardly hide his frustration after the defeat:”We can’t influence the referees’ decisions, but it was obviously a factor in the end,”commented Spo regarding the big free-throw difference (31-19) between the two teams, looking in particular at Bradley Beal and John Wall, who kept coming back to the line.
With the help of these free-throwers, the Wizards also made a huge comeback in the fourth quarter. John Wall led a 29:13 run that ended the game in Washington’s favour. Spoelstra also admitted, however, that the many ball losses in the final quarter ultimately led to the defeat and saw a recurring problem there:”Nothing is more damaging to our defeats than our turnovers and our inability to handle the ball sensibly”.
This game was one of a series of disappointments in Heat’s 6-8 season to date. Once again they could not reward themselves for their up to the fourth quarter good defense around Hassan Whiteside (14 points, 21 rebounds). Goran Dragic (21 points, 9/17 FG) and Dion Waiters (19 points, 7/17 FG) were mainly responsible for the build-up of the interim leadership.
Washington could rely on their Backcourt-Tandem as so often. John Wall (27 points, 9/21 FG) enchanted the fans even in a foreign arena with a series of highlights and Bradley Beal showed himself to be extremely sure of the line (13/14 FT) despite a weak field throw rate (26 points, 6/19 FG).
After the Knicks scored 40 points in the fourth quarter of the Cavs in their last home game, their motivation was particularly high in the final quarter against Jazz. Utah earned a 12-point lead until late in the third quarter, which then melted further and further due to strong Knicks-Defense.
Tim Hardaway Jr., who was his team’s top scorer with 26 points (7/15 FG), then also met a clutch trio shortly before the end, who brought the Knicks to the front two posessions and shortly afterwards was also on the line to bring home the victory. The Knicks seem to have developed a penchant for comeback victories,”It says a lot about us and our will to win,” explained Matchwinner Hardaway. Every time a team comes to New York, they give their very best.”
Kristaps Porzingis (22), Enes Kanter (13) and Courtney Lee (19) also scored double-digit points. Nobody deserved the praise of his coach as much as Hardaway Jr. did:”He is someone who can attack the basket and as defensive as he is defensively fighting, he is a big reason why we can still win these games,”said coach Jeff Hornacek about his protégé.
For Jazz Rodney Hoods was probably the best game of the season (30 points, 10/20 FG) in the end for free. Rookie Donovan Mitchell scored 19 points (8/17 FG). Utah is currently the only team in the league that has not yet been able to win away. Utah coach Quin Snyder hopes that this will soon change:”I just want us to play well and then it will work out with the away win at some point. Of course, this was also due to the fact that Rudy Gobert is still missing.
Page 1: Schröder’s Hawks beat up Sacramento
Page 2: LeBron expands series against Charlotte
Page 3: OKC sweeps over the Bulls
Page 4: Embiid turns up against the Lakers historically