Russell Westbrook led the Oklahoma City Thunder to a nervous defeat against the Atlanta Hawks, who were without Dennis Schröder. James Harden is once again on 51 points, but the Houston Rockets stumble again in their home arena. The Los Angeles Lakers once again offer the Golden State Warriors a real fight, with both Kyle Kuzma and Lonzo Ball convincing.
As against the Dallas Mavericks, Pistons-Center Andre Drummond had to fight with problems of foul and played only seven minutes in the first half. If this was still a problem against the Mavs, Detroit still had everything under control against the Knicks and went into the break with an eight-point lead. But then the Knicks fought and came back (thanks to an 18:2 run, among other things) so that the spectators got to see an exciting final phase.
Jarrett Jack set a jumper at 99:95, but Reggie Jackson (10 points, 8 assists) equalled 44 seconds before the end. Ron Baker then lost the spalding and Jackson marched to the line where he could only hit one. The Knicks were looking for Courtney Lee (16), whose jumper was too short. Stanley Johnson scuttled the subsequent free-throw, but the Knicks still had 14 seconds to force an extra time.
Without a timeout, this was frighteningly unplanned. Lee was put in charge again, but the guard was delivered, so Kristaps Porzingis had to take a deep, desperate threesome that didn’t even touch the ring. However, the Latvian team played well after a weak performance against the Boston Celtics (1 point, 0/11 FG). This time the unicorn scored 29 points, while Michael Beasley (6) stayed pale this time.
Enes Kanter put the pistons underneath the basket in front of big problems and put on a strong double-double (22 points, 16 rebounds). The same also applied to his opponent Drummond (18,15). In total, seven of the nine piston players entered scored double-digit points. Especially Tobias Harris (24) and Reggie Bullock (14,6/8 FG) stood out.
If you want to get into the playoffs in the West, you should win games like in Orlando and so did the Pelicans. This means that the mandatory task has been fulfilled. New Orleans finally managed to keep an opponent below 100 points,”If we defend, we have the chance to switch over quickly,”analysed strong Anthony Davis (20 points, 11 rebounds),”We get good throws. If we defend well, we’ll have a good game to play in nine out of ten cases.”
However, this was only possible against the Rumpf troop from Orlando, who had to do without Aaron Gordon, Evan Fournier and Terrence Ross. After a weak start of Magic, frustration spread to the hosts. Orlando won four Techinals in the second quarter.
Especially from outside, there wasn’t much to do. Orlando only scored four threes in 20 attempts throughout the game. We don’t have many good shooters, so we depend on them to hit. The best scorers in Orlando were Jonathon Simmons (22.8 rebounds) and Nikola Vucevic (21).
The guests were able to rely on his stars in particular. In addition to Davis, DeMarcus also delivered cousins (26 points, 11 rebounds, 6 assists) and Jrue Holiday (24). Rajon Rondo (6 points, 8 assists) also did a good game and provided some highlight plays with incredible passes.
Ouch! That was a nasty slap for the wizards. While the game was still within reach for Washington at the break, Brooklyn overcame the visitors in the following and gained a lead of up to 40 (!) points in the meantime. Especially the backcourt around John Wall (10) and Bradley Beal (4) was a complete failure. The duo scored only five points after the break and shot 6/26 out of the field over the entire game.
“Nets-Guard Spencer Dinwiddie (15) was astonished by the performance of the two All Stars:” They are great players, but we prepared well and of course we had a bit of luck,”but not only the guards disappointed. Apart from Wall, only Kelly Oubre Jr. (13) scored double-digit points. As a team, the score was a slim 36.6 percent from the peloton,”It was awful,”admitted Beal,”it was a game you quickly forgot and want to play the next game.”
On the other hand, there were smiling faces at the Nets, who were superior in all respects. Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (21 points, 11 rebounds) played a good double-double and Caris LaVert (17,7/9 FG) also played a good game as Sixth Man. Novice Nik Stauskas scored 15 points, while Jahlil Okafor was the only Nets player to receive a DNP.
Page 1: Knicks’ outbreak continues – Brooklyn beats up Wizards
Page 2: Westbrook with game winner against Hawks – 51 Harden points are not enough again
Page 3: Nuggets storm Portland – Lakers brave at champion