The Houston Rockets are still unstoppable and won their tenth consecutive game in a wild shootout against the New Orleans Pelicans. The Oklahoma City Thunder take the next home defeat, while the Golden State Warriors with the Portland Trail Blazers have to tremble again in the final stages.
What was that crazy game in Houston? The pelicans scored 76 points, but the hosts still held the lead, scoring 78 points. Since 1990, no other team had managed to reach such a high score. At this time, the Pels had hit 14 of 19 threesomes.
The Rockets, however, had a James Harden, who scored less this time, but always had the eye for the free player. The beard had played 14 assists at the halftime and thus set the franchise record of Jerry Lucas. In the end it was 17 and thus the setting of the personal record. In addition, there were 26 points (8/16 FG) and 6 steals.
Every single point was necessary, because the guests were the first to start playing Defense. Alvin Gentry’s team held Houston at 18 points in the third quarter and meanwhile took the lead of 13 points. But that was not enough against the rockets, where the backcourt turned up like it did against Portland in the final section. 20 of the 34 rockets points went to Chris Paul (20) and Harden.
Three minutes to go, the match was even, but Harden scored the next seven points. The strong Jrue Holiday (37 points, 16/21 FG) brought the guests of Downtown once again, but Harden stole the spalding from E’ Twaun Moore and netted the following free throws.
In addition to CP3 and Harden, Clint Capela (28 points, 13/14 FG) and Eric Gordon (27.5/6 threesomes) were also convincing in the offense. The pelicans also hit 57.6 percent of the field, but could not win because of 18 ball losses. In addition to Holiday, Moore stood out with a career high of 36 points (15/20 FG, 6/8 threesomes). DeMarcus Cousins scored 24 points and 14 rebounds, while Rajon Rondo scored his first triple-dobule of the season (13 points, 12 rebounds, 12 assists). Anthony Davis was suspended due to adductor problems.
“We didn’t give our fans what they deserve today,”said Grizzlies coach J. B. The same goes for the entire organisation and the team,”said Harter Tobak, who was joined by Marc Gasol and said that the team had lost its culture. After a balanced match during the break, Heat kept the hosts at only 40 points after the switch and scored 37 points in the fourth leg alone.
Once again it showed how deep Miami’s squad is. Seven players scored double-digit points, while Goran Dragic was top scorer of his colours with 19 points. In the fourth quarter, however, his backup, Tyler Johnson, turned up the heat. All of his 14 points (5/5 FG) were scored by the microwave in those 12 minutes and pocketed four threesomes. As a team, Miami scored over half of his distance throws (14/27 threesomes).
After the break, Memphis was kept out of the field at a meager 33 percent, which caused the subsequent disillusionment after the game. It was the 15th. Defeat on the 16th. Game. Gasol scored 19 points, but his throwing rate was again not glorious (5/14 FG). Andrew Harrison, who continues to represent the injured Mike Conley, scored 16 points.
For Heat-Coach Erik Spoelstra it was the 454. Victory as coach Miamis. Thus, the master coach of 2012 and 2013 is missing only one victory, in order to set the franchise record of the Heat. Spoelstra’s boss – Pat Riley – is still holding it.
“We’ve only played 26 games. But there’s 82nd” That almost sounds like a pause that Russell Westbrook dictated to the microphones after his defeat against the Hornets. Paul George was a little more critical:”We can say that we still have to find, but at some point this has to happen.”
Charlotte had won this season in a foreign arena before the game, but was obviously comfortable at the Chesapeake Energy Arena, after an 8-0 run at the latest, which gave the guests a 74-66 lead in the third quarter. A short time later, the lead even grew to 20 points. The Hornets scored a whopping 40 points, while they considered OKC to be the section with only 22 points and a throwing rate of 31.8 percent.
The preliminary decision, even though MVP Westbrook was able to reduce the score to 11 points later. Charlotte had regained self-confidence and scored two thirds of the throws in the last twelve minutes. The strong Dwight Howard scored 9 of his 23 points in the final section. The other starters also marked more than 10 points each. Kemba Walker only narrowly missed the double double with a cautious performance (19.9 assists).
On the other hand, the Thunder’s house blessing is still crooked. Carmelo Anthony (11) left the hall wordlessly. Westbrook stemmed with 30 points and 7 assists against the defeat. PG-13 contributed another 20 counters. The Bank of Thunder came together at only a meagre 19 points (6/22 FG).
Page 1: Wild Shootout in Houston – OKC with setback
Page 2: Warriors make it unnecessarily exciting – Teodosic makes a comeback