Does the trend for the Dallas Mavericks point up again? Against the Pacers, Dirk Nowitzki and Co. the second victory in a row. Meanwhile, Rajon Rondo sets a new assist record for the blowout win of the Pelicans, the Thunders are still on fire and the Cavaliers stumble thanks to a vintage performance by Vince Carter in Sacramento. The Timberwolves win an overtime thriller, while the Celtics, Bulls, Warriors and Grizzlies also win victories.
Three of the last four games, including the Christmas game against the wizards, were lost for Celtics. In the first half against Charlotte it looked like they wanted to forget this little negative run as soon as possible. The Celts gained a 20-point lead in the first 24 minutes.
However, the game was far from over. Led by Kemba Walker (24 points, 5 assists) the Hornets started a chase to catch up, the third quarter they won 31:16 more than clear for themselves. Dwight Howard contributed 12 points and 17 rebounds, but the center (3/10 FG) had problems with the physical defense of Aron Baynes all evening.
At the beginning of the final section, Boston’s once comfortable lead had finally shrunk to one point. A Terry Rozier three-way (15 points) and a strong action by Al Horford (20 points, 11 rebounds) put the Celtics back on the winning track.
Jayson Tatum, who scored 10 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter, killed Boston with only 16 opponent points left. Kyrie Irving scored an additional 21 points and 8 assists, Daniel Theis scored 2 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist and 1 block in 17 minutes. On the one hand, Boston ended his own bad run. On the other hand, they exacerbated the Hornets’ crisis. In 13 of the past 17 games, they went down as losers.
Does the Mavericks trend point upwards again? After a surprising win over the Raptors, Indiana’s first win in eight straight away away defeats was a success:”I’m really happy for the boys,”said Head Coach Rick Carlisle after the match,”The team has a lot of character and fighting power. We want to carry on our momentum.”
None of the teams were able to beat the entire game, but the Pacers had a slightly better starting position five minutes before the end (90:84 for Indiana). For Dallas, however, abandonment was not a matter of debate. About two minutes before the end, Yogi Ferrell (13 points) scuttled a tremendously important threesome that brought in a 4-point lead.
Although the Pacers were able to make up for it, a turnover by Lance Stephenson brought the decision in favor of the Mavs. The guests punished the loss of the ball with a basket at the other end of the field and brought the game home from the free-throwing line. Besides Ferrell, Harrison Barnes also scored 13 points, but Dirk Nowitzki was the best scorer in Dallas.
The German scored 15 points and also collected 7 rebounds and 3 assists. The tall blonde scuttled 7 of his 10 attempts at field throwing. Maxi Kleber also convinced with 5 points and 5 rebounds in 18 minutes.
On the other hand, the absence of Victor Oladipo was particularly noticeable in the final phase. The best scorer of the Pacers missed the game with knee problems, in his absence Stephenson as well as Myles Turner and Darren Collison were 16 points each. Stephenson also snatched 15 rebounds, but he could not lead his team to victory.
Speaking of an uptrend, the Bulls have definitely seen this trend in recent weeks. Now Chicago confirmed their good form with a narrow victory against the Knicks. In the first half, the hosts were already 15 points behind, but at the end of the game they nailed their own basket.
The Knicks, in which Kristaps Porzingis delivered a strong performance with 23 points (9/22 FG), 6 rebounds and 3 blocks, scored a meager 3 points in the last five and a half minutes of the game. On the other hand, Justin Holiday (11 points), Lauri Markkanen (12) and above all Kris Dunn (17) did better. The latter also grabbed the victory with the decisive free throws into dry cloths.
Previously, Jarrett Jack had left the free-throw line to equalize a few seconds before the end. In addition, there was not much for New York from a distance (4/23 threesomes, 17.4 percent), while Chicago drove the race to catch up with a few threesome (10/28.35.7 percent). Paul Zipser was only used in 11 minutes, but convinced with 8 points (3/3 FG, 2/2 threesome) and a rebound.
Page 1: Mavericks, Celtics and Bulls win more
Page 2: Thunder on fire – Rondo pulverizes record
Page 3: Cavs stumble in Sacramento – win Dubs