Dirk Nowitzki is in a good mood and hangs up 20 points in the Mavericks’ victory. The Trail Blazers win from OKC without Damian Lillard and the Heat obviously win every time it gets tight.
Wayne Ellington is known as a marksman. During the decisive Possession of his Heat in the thriller against the Raptors, the opponent had prepared himself for it and had done everything possible to prevent a longball. That’s why Ellington surprised the whole hall and moved to the basket. Per Layup he sunk the winner of the game.
“That was probably the last thing anyone expected of him,”explained his coach Erik Spoelstra,”he surprised everyone with his dribbling – including me” It was by the way the only basket of Ellington in the second half – that’s what they call good timing. The Heat have won their third consecutive close match.
The Raptors had to forego Kyle Lowry in a game in which they were constantly running behind. He had injured himself against the Nets on his back the day before the back-to-back. DeMar DeRozan (25 points) took 29 throws, but only scored 10. Jakob Pöltl was not a big factor (3 points, 1 rebound) in 9 minutes. Top scorer of the Heat was Goran Dragic with 24 points, Hassan Whiteside played a double-double (13 points, 15 rebounds). Serge Ibaka and James Johnson were ejected in the third quarter after they had come up against each other.
This was an extremely important away win for the Trail Blazers – after all, they had as many defeats before the game as OKC. In addition, both teams play in the same conference. In football, the duel would probably have been called a “six-point game”.
That the Blazers succeeded in this coup was quite surprising, because they had to renounce Damian Lillard, who has to fight with calf problems,”That’s why we had no pressure at all,”revealed C. J.. McCollum,”no one expected anything from us here,” led for much of the second half of the game and scored 53.1 per cent of the field, which OKC’s Carmelo Anthony justified with a “lack of energy” in the defense.
McCollum was top scorer of the game with 27 points (11/19 FG), Shabazz Napier supported with 21 points. Jusuf Nurkic (20 points, 8 rebounds) also played well. On the other side, Russell Westbrook (12 Assists, 9 Rebounds) and Paul George came up to 22 points each, Melo played 19.
Page 1: Heat win next crime thriller, Blazers win key game in OKC
Page 2: Dirk with 20 points in Mavs victory, Lakers win Keller duel