In the absence of Stephen Curry and Draymond Green, Kevin Durant takes full control and sets up a triple double. LeBron James confirms his best form and keeps the Cavaliers’ winning streak alive. DeMarcus Cousins dominates the nuggets with 40 points, Dennis Schröder wins an OT bankruptcy and the Bulls with Paul Zipser lose extremely unhappy.
If you have 12 consecutive victories as runners-up and then the Sacramento Kings are guests, you don’t really expect any problems. But the whole thing wasn’t that simple – because the underdogs from California were about to come up with a surprise.
Led by Zach Randolph, who had already scored 18 points after the first three quarters, they led with 14 points in the meantime. But with a lot of self-confidence in their backs, the Cavs picked up speed in time and could rely on LeBron James again in the important moments. 1:35 minutes before the end he scuttled a Skyhook to the 97:95 lead, a short time later he took care of the Dagger with a stepback threesome.”That felt good,”the King then put on the record.
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No wonder: James met the said threesome about JaKarr Simpson, with whom he had previously clashed. The boys from Ohio are now standing at 13 wins in a row and have thus broken the franchise record.
James finished the evening with 32 points, 11 rebounds and 9 assists and showed himself – like the whole team (14/39 3FG) – without fail from Downtown (5/8 3FG). Kevin Love contributed 18 points and 13 rebounds to the win, Jeff Green (17 points) and Kyle Korver (15) led them to second unit. On the other side, Z-Bo remained 18 points and 10 boards, while Buddy Hield, coming from the bank, hung up 17 points.
The bulls, who were already badly shaken with nine defeats at a time before this game, experienced the most bitter version of a defeat in basketball. They first took the lead 2-0 (yes, let’s say that in Chicago) and then stayed ahead. They defended well, struck their throws and extended their lead to 17 points in the meantime.
Normally, a classic start-finish-victory jumps out of such play processes. But the Bulls missed it by 31 seconds. Then a very strong Victor Oladipo set out for a threesome and met for the first Pacers tour of the evening. After a miss from Kris Dunn on the other side, it was Oladipo, too, who scored the final stand from the free-throw line, as Lauri Markkanen did not hit a threesome from far out to the possible equalization.
This collapse (the Bulls lost the fourth quarter at 13:29, hitting only 27 percent of the field),”extremely painful”, was reported by a buckled coach Hoiberg, who said,”It’s useless to play well for three and a half quarters and then throw everything away.”
So also the strong performance of Dunn was worthless, which reached 18 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists. Paul Zipser stood 17 minutes on the floor and scored 6 points, while Oladipo finished the game with 27 points and 8 boards. Bojan Bogdanovic contributed 17 points to Pacers’ victory.
The evening could have been so nice for the Magic. Although they were trailing for a long time and made a lot of mistakes, they showed their hearts at the end and saved themselves – thanks to a D. J. Triple. Augustin 6.2 seconds before the end to equalize – in the extra time in which they prevailed with 14:10.
However, the overtime began for Orlando: Evan Fournier injured his ankle directly in the first Possession because he landed on the foot of his team mate Nikola Vucevic. After all: The floater, which he got rid of before, found its way through the Reuse. The Frenchman had to be taken off the field afterwards. According to coach Frank Vogel, X-ray images were taken immediately and showed no structural damage at first. However, more precise diagnoses have yet to be made.
Fournier, who became the top scorer of the game with 27 points, became a tragic hero:”He is an unbelievable scorer,”praised Highflyer Aaron Gordon, who scored 24 points himself. Vucevic contributed 22.
The Hawks then discussed whether it would have been better to fouled the last attack of the Magic in regular time before Augustin could start to the threesome. It’s probably the eternal discussion in basketball. Coach Budenholzer, however, explained that one must always trust his defense and Dennis Schröder also found it to be “the right decision”:”When he makes it, there is extra time, if not, we win the game” DS17 was meanwhile in a good mood and came to 26 points and 7 assists, Taurean Prince supported him with 19 points.
Page 1: Cavs save their run, Hawks win a bitter OT bankruptcy
Page 2: Knicks win Porz-Comeback, Durant triumphs with Triple-Double
Page 3: Cousins dominates the nuggets, Spurs without problems