Goose bumps atmosphere at the Staples Center! The Los Angeles Lakers put Kobe Bryant’s jerseys under the roof of the hall in an emotional ceremony. The overtime victory of the Warrios almost becomes a marginal note. Meanwhile, thanks to Dennis Schröder, the Hawks win against Miami, the rockets catch fire late, Oklahoma City wins a thriller and the Bulls beat Philadelphia. The Dallas Mavericks, on the other hand, lose to the Suns.
The Knicks celebrated their last four victories in a row, but this series ended against the Hornets. That was mainly because of one man: Frank Kaminsky! The 24-year-old led his team to success with 24 points (season’s best score) and the Big Man was unbelievably hot right from the start.
Only in the final section did he put his first throw on the ring, but by then the game had already been decided. Kaminsky scored a total of 10 of his 13 attempts from the field and 4 of 6 from downtown. Additionally he also played 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocks. At the end of the first quarter, when Kaminsky was replaced for the first time, the Hornets were still behind (11:15).
However,”Frank the Tank” quickly led his team to a 22:4 race and clear leadership. In the course of the game, Charlotte expanded this to 27 points in the meantime. Beside Kaminsky this was mainly due to Michael Kidd-Gilchrist with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Kemba Walker remained pale with 9 points and 6 assists, Dwight Howard still contributed a double double (11 points, 10 rebounds).
On the Knicks side, Michael Beasley was the best man with 23 points and 9 rebounds. Jarrett Jack was still on 12 points and 7 assists, but otherwise the guests disappointed all along the line. Especially downtown New York didn’t want to run into anything that night (3/18 threesomes, 16.7 percent).
Bad luck has struck Miami in its most unattractive form: four of the team’s most important players were struck at the same time. In addition to the long-term injured Hassan Whiteside, Goran Dragic, James Johnson and Justise Winslow also dropped out against Atlanta. Head coach Erik Spoelstra had only nine healthy players at his disposal.
In view of the circumstances, they didn’t look so bad. Despite a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter, the Heatles were not beaten. Led by Josh Richardson (26 points), Dion Waiters (23) and Tyler Johnson (19), Miami fought his way back to one point a minute before the end.
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Then, however, the hour of Kent Bazemore struck, who first scuttled a jumper and then a layup. This gave the Hawks another small lead, which they were able to save over time.
Bazemore scored a total of 16 points, but Taurean Prince was the best scorer of the Hawks with 24 points (7 rebounds). Dennis Schröder’s appearance was also strong. The German scored 23 points (10/19 FG), distributed 6 assists and snatched 6 rebounds at just 2 ball losses. Schröder thus also played his part in Atlanta’s first victory after four crashes in series.
What’s going on with the Chicago Bulls? The sixth consecutive win against the Sixers has already been won for the sixth time in a row – on the other hand, this question can be safely converted to Philly, who meanwhile had to give up six of the last seven games. However, the Sixers also had to give up Joel Embiid, who was ordered to rest for a while.
Despite the good performances of Ben Simmons, who only narrowly missed a triple double (19 points, 11 rebounds, 9 assists, 4 blocks) and above all Dario Saric (27 points, 8 rebounds), Philadelphia did not manage to take an 8-point lead a few minutes before the end of the time.
Rookie Lauri Markkanen rang in a 15:2 run for the Bulls from downtown, with the hosts taking the lead. Chicago owed this to the duo of Nikola Mirotic and Kris Dunn, who were extremely dangerous during this phase.
Both scored 22 points each and were responsible for some important clutch plays. Mirotic grabbed another 13 rebounds, while Dunn played an additional 6 assists and 4 rebounds. Simmons last attempt to force the overtime was unsuccessful. Paul Zipser stayed pale in 10 minutes (0 points, 2 rebounds, 0/2 FG).
Page 1: Hawks beat Miami – Sixers lose again
Page 2: Thanks to Westbrook: Thunder win thriller
Page 3: Lakers honor Kobe – Mavs lose to the Suns