The Cavaliers’ winning streak ends with the Pacers as Victor Oladipo plays his next big game. The Mavericks with a cold Dirk Nowitzki don’t reward themselves for a good performance at the Bucks, the Warriors finish a perfect road trip and the Bulls can still win. Besides: Zach Randolph turns up and takes care of the pelicans.
The Hornets seem to be a grateful opponent for the otherwise disastrous Chicago Bulls. In the second game against Charlotte, Chicago scored their second victory. Against the rest of the NBA teams, on the other hand, there is a sad 2-20 record. With this overtime victory, the guests also finished their defeat series of ten games in a row.
With an 8:0 run the Bulls around a strong Lauri Markannen (24 points, 12 Rebounds) were able to gain a lead early in the last quarter. In a hectic final phase Kemba Walker (20 points, 5/16 FG) equalled the game with two free throws and Kris Dunn missed the potential winner in return. In the overtime the bulls didn’t allow much more and Markannen put a three-way cover on it.
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“Lauri showed again today that he’s a hell of a good player,”said a proud Fred Hoiberg after the game. Point Guard Dunn was very aggressive and scored a double double (20 points, 8/24 FG), 12 assists. Robin Lopez equalled him with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Paul Zipser was allowed to stand on the floor for 10 minutes, but remained without points. Nikola Mirotic also made his comeback after a long injury break and scored 6 points in 15 minutes from the bank.
Without the injured Big-Men Frank Kaminsky and Cody Zeller, Dwight Howard had to play 43 minutes and produced a massive double-double with 25 points and 20 rebounds. With Marvin Williams (17 points), Walker and Nicolas Batum (9 points) three other players played more than 40 minutes and maybe that was one of the reasons why the Hornets ran out of steam.
Interim coach Stephen Silas didn’t want to use that as an excuse, but recognised it as a problem for the next games:”That’s a Mindset thing. We just have to have the right attitude when we go out there. Our guys from the bank will have to play more minutes than they’re used to.”
After a clear lead for the Warriors, things got really tight at the back: Avery Bradley had taken his team to two points with two free throws in 22 seconds and Shaun Livingston failed to keep his nerves on the line. Reggie Jackson missed the chance to equalise with a wild basket attempt, but Klay Thompson kept his nerves and scored the free-throw to the 102:98 final score.
Despite the trembling moments at the end, Warriors coach Steve Kerr was overjoyed after the match with his team, who ended a perfect road trip with the sixth win:”This is just a great end to an incredible trip. The last two games without Steph (Curry) have of course caused us problems, but I’m overjoyed with the effort of my team and I’m looking forward to going home.”
Kevin Durant (36 points, 12/23 FG, 10 rebounds, 7 assists, 5 blocks) was once again the clear leader of his team and Draymond Green showed a sensational performance with 6 blocks, 3 steals and 13 assists despite only 2 points. Responding to the numbers he and Durant put together, Green openly admitted,”Okay, that’s really impressive.”
Avery Bradley was the best man in the pistons with 25 points (9/17 FG). Andre Drummond with 8 points (2/9 FG) and 17 rebounds just barely missed the usual double-double. Drummond also showed a bit of frustration after the game when he pointed to a scene where Kevin Durant fell slightly delayed after a missed threesome and was rewarded with three free throws:”I don’t want to get a penalty – so I won’t comment on that”.
After 13 victories in a row, the series of Cavs is torn – thanks to Victor Oladipo. The Pacers’ newcomer showed once again not only a strong performance with 33 points (11/24 FG) and 8 rebounds, especially in the crunchtime his Pacers could rely on him once again. His threesome to 103:97 finally decided the game and the Cavs coach went so far as to call Oladipo an “all-star” after the game.
Of course, Oladipo was pleased to hear these comments:”It’s a great honour to hear from someone like him, who has been surrounded by so many great players in his career and has played with so many great players so far, but he is not satisfied with himself and his team:” I have to get even better and we as a team have to get better “.
Before Oladipo hit the pre-qualifying threesome, the Cavs actually had plenty of chances to equalize the game – but in the end they just didn’t have a bit of luck and Kyle Korver and JR Smith in particular missed out on very feasible throws for their circumstances.
With 29 points (12/22 FG), 10 rebounds and 8 assists, LeBron James only just missed a triple double. Kevin Love scored 20 points (6/16 FG).
Page 1: Bulls quit bankrupt series, Cavs streak against the Pacers past
Page 2: Raptors turn game against Memphis, Nuggets win loosely
Page 3: Mavs don’t reward themselves, Z-Bo takes care of the Pelicans