With a very strong clutch performance, Kyrie Irving leads Celtics to victory in the overtime thriller against the wizards. The Trail Blazers also win in extra time, despite a monster game by Kemba Walker. The evening was less successful for the Thunders, who were lost at the Lakers without Russell Westbrook. Dirk Nowitzki makes a strong appearance in the defeat against the Warriors and Jakob Pöltl is also convincing in the blowout of the Raptors against the Knicks.
Three victories in a row for Orlando – that’s what the team from Florida managed to do just over six months ago at the start of the current season. However, the Magic were not really in the mood for celebration, after all, they did not deliver a brilliant performance against the Hawks by far – but this was also true for the guests from Atlanta.
Both teams scored just over 43 percent of the field, and the Hawks also suffered a total of 17 ball losses. The game was definitely not nice to watch, but there was a lot of suspense. In the fourth quarter alone, the statisticians recorded seven lead changes, and only shortly before the end of the match did the Magic stand out.
The hosts were mainly thanks to Evan Fournier. The Frenchman started a personal 8:2 run and put his team in front with 94:89 just one minute before the end. Although Atlanta came near again, Dewayne Dedmon finally failed to equalise with a three-way attempt.
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“We never found our rhythm, but a couple of boys took a step forward and made some important plays that brought us the victory,”was the conclusion of Fournier, who scored 22 points in total. D.J. Augustin, who started for the Elfrid Payton traded to Phoenix a few hours earlier, contributed 18 points and 9 assists, Marreese Speights scored 14 points (4/9 threesomes) from the bank.
On the other hand, Dennis Schröder showed a solid performance. With 19 points (5 rebounds and 5 assists) the German was together with Taurean Prince top scorer of the Hawks. Tyler Dorsey and Malcolm Delaney contributed 11 points each, but that’s not enough to beat the Magic.
One of the key success factors for Toronto Raptors in the current season is clearly the strong bank. The Canadians also proved this against injury-stricken Knicks, who lost their fifth consecutive defeat in the Air Canada Centre. In addition to Kristaps Porzingis, Enes Kanter and Ron Baker also dropped out. The good performance of Michael Beasley with 21 points by far did not help to stand up to the extremely dangerous Raptors away from the bank.
The hosts’ reservists won the bench duel with a score of 61:35, so Toronot’s starters were able to miss the entire fourth quarter in their third game in a row.”That’s very good. We enable the older boys to take a few breaks”, Jakob Pöltl joked afterwards. The Austrian played a very strong match and scored 13 points (6/7 FG) and 5 rebounds.
In addition to Pöltl, six other Raptors players scored double-digit points, and Jonas Valanciunas was the best scorer with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Pascal Siakam scored a career high with 14 points, while Fred VanVleet (10) as well as Delon Wright and C. J. Miles (11 in each case) rounded off the strong performance of the Raptors Bank.
This was especially important against the Knicks as DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry had a used evening. Both had enormous problems with their litter and only got to 8 (DeRozan, 2/11 FG) and 7 (Lowry, 2/8 FG) points respectively.”They play with a lot of heart and don’t care who scores,”said Head Coach Dwane Casey, who was satisfied with his second unit.”If you play like that, then a lot of good things will happen.” For example, a blowout win against the Knicks.
Only a few hours after Greg Monroe’s signature had dried under his new Celtic contract, the Big Man made his debut in the Celtic jersey. Monroe contributed a solid 5 points and 6 rebounds in 20 minutes of operation time. But the difference that night was made by another one: Kyrie Irving.
Celtics’ Point Guard was responsible for 12 of Boston’s last 17 points, leading the visitors to their fifth win in the last six games. Irving scored a total of 28 points (plus 5 rebounds and 6 assists), and Jaylen Brown also provided helpful support, scoring five of his 18 points in overtime – and also scored the win with a difficult baseline three-wayer just before the end.
Previously, the Wizards had saved themselves after a 10-point gap in the fourth quarter thanks to a good performance by Otto Porter Jr. (27 points, 11 rebounds) in the extra time. Bradley Beal scored 18 points (7/27 FG) and 9 assists, Tomas Satoransky scored 14 points. Without the still injured John Wall (knee), however, the hosts did 22 turnovers and the last five throws of the wizards ended up in overtime only on the ring. Washington could no longer prevent the second defeat in series.
Page 1: Irving single-handedly kills the wizards
Page 2: OKC Thunder go under with the Lakers