The Los Angeles Lakers win the classic against Boston thanks to Kyle Kuzma. However, they made it more exciting than necessary. Russell Westbrook saves the Thunder with a game winner and the Warriors beat the Knicks after a difficult first phase.
The Magic provided a prime example of how not to finish a game in the basement duel against the Kings, and they led for long stretches of the evening, as was the case 7 minutes before the finish: Elfrid Payton hit a 91:86 pullup jumper for his team.
If you now take a look at the final score, you will notice that after this basket there was not much going on at Orlando. A Bismack Biyombo Dunk was the only field goal in the remaining time, so Sac-Town passed the hosts after all. Magic coach Frank Vogel didn’t even know what he was going to complain about: the way his team ended the game offensively or the way Garrett Temple defended it – or didn’t defend it.
It was Temple who became the hero of the game. With 34 points, he scored a career high of which 19 points in the last quarter alone – some spectacular, some without resistance.”Garrett has been a fantastic leader for us the whole time,”said coach David Joerger,”He is the ultimate professional and he deserves to be here tonight”.
For his 34 points, he needed 17 throws from the field, of which he scored 14. Then there were 5 assists. Willie Cauley-Stein played 21 points and 9 rebounds, Magic Topscorer was Evan Fournier with 22 points. Payton came up to 21 with 7 rebounds and 7 assists.
Spencer Dinwiddie is one of the best clutch scorers in the league – that still sounds funny, but it’s already known. He also proved this in the OKC tour, but in Russell Westbrook he had an opponent who prevented another Dinwiddie winner.
But first things first. For a long time, the Thunders did not come into play at all and were trailing behind. Especially from downtown there was almost nothing to fall in. The New Yorkers led the third quarter with 15 points, but this was not enough.
OKC still had enough arrows in the quiver and came back into the game thanks to the intensity of the game. And the final seconds were tough: practically from attack to attack, the lead went back and forth, one outcome of the game could not be predicted. 1:03 minutes before the end, Russ scored two free throws for 107:106. After the following tickets on both sides, Dinwiddie’s obligatory appearance came 7 seconds before the end: A Driving-Layup against the complete Thunder-Defense turned the game around again.
But the counterattack came immediately. After a Thunder break, Westbrook grabbed the leather with little surprise and set off for an irresistible drive, which he completed over the board. This should remain the winner of the game, even if it was hectic: It took a total of 3 time-outs before the Nets threw in the ball for the last Possession. Dinwiddie was strongly defended by Andre Roberson and only got rid of an emergency throw.
Matchwinner Westbrook had collected 32 points, 6 assists and 5 rebounds, Paul George contributed 28 strong points and 9 boards to the victory. Carmelo Anthony (10 points) remained pale. On the other side behind Dinwiddies name were 13 counters and 7 templates, top scorer of the guests was Joe Harris (19 points). D’ Angelo Russell stayed at his limit of 15 minutes (7 points, 4 assists).
Page 1: Westbrook saves Thunder in exciting closing phase
Page 2: Warriors loose at the end, Lakers win great classics