NBA: Stronger Nowitzki fails to prevent Chicago bankruptcy

Dirk Nowitzki shows one of his best seasonal performances against the Chicago Bulls, but it’s not enough for the Dallas Mavericks. The Minnesota Timberwolves stumble with the Utah Jazz, the Toronto Raptors remain dominant.

Who would have thought that the Magic would win another game this season? After all, there were already seven bankruptcies at a time and in view of the refuelling fury in the league, bad tongues could even claim that Orlando did not want to win any more. But in the game against the pistons this was not confirmed; the Magic fought until the end and were able to enjoy a sense of achievement in the end.

The pistons, who are still officially taking part in the playoff race, actually had some pretty good cards six minutes before the end – but they missed each and every single field goal in the regular game time until James Ennis scored the equaliser by dark a few seconds before the end. The Magic could have won the game before the overtime, but Nikola Vucevic couldn’t get any more action before the siren sounded.

Evan Fournier then promptly made up for this in the overtime. The Frenchman scored directly the first 6 points of extra time and Detroit had no more energy at all to come back. The pistons only scored 2 points in overtime and won the fifth defeat in the last seven games. It won’t be the postseason anymore.

Top scorers of the pistons were Reggie Bullock and Ennis with 21 points each. Blake Griffin only scored 12 points, but added 10 rebounds and 9 assists. Andre Drummond scored 10 points and 15 rebounds. With 27 points and 13 rebounds, Aaron Gordon was the strongest player in the Magic competition, and Vucevic (22 and 12), D. J., convinced Vucevic (22 and 12). Augustin (20) and Fournier (17).

Slowly, there is no longer too much doubt that the Sixers will be able to finish their playoff drought once and for all this year – no matter how hard they may be on their way to victory. After all, Philly had a hard time competing against the Hornets, who would like to re-enter the race even in the ideal case, for a long time – meanwhile the Sixers were even 14 points behind in the second half of a back-to-back race. But the last quarter should be theirs.

The round was opened after a few minutes with goals from Dario Saric and newcomer Ersan Ilyasova, and the sixers already took the lead with 91:89. Afterwards, there was still a bit of to-and-fro, but the Sixers had enough defensive power to dominate the last quarter. In the last few minutes both Ilyasova and J. J. J. Redick scored decisive points, and the final quarter was 36:19 to Philadelphia overall.

“Trust the Process! chants went through the Wells Fargo Center in the end – again. The Sixers have now clinched 13 home wins in a row and could even focus on the home advantage in the first round of playoffs if they can maintain the form of the last few weeks. Of course, it’s very important for Joel Embiid to stay fit, the center also had a bit of a frightening second when he crashed on the court. But he was able to continue immediately.

With 23 points and 18 rebounds, Embiid was once again the most productive player of his team, scoring four more players in Double Figures, including Ben Simmons with 15 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists. But Ilyasova’s appearance was also particularly pleasing, with the bank’s 18 points scoring well. As usual, Kemba Walker was the best man with 31 points in the Hornets, who have to say goodbye to the playoff race. Frank Kaminsky scored 19 points.

What a mystery story in the US capital! In the duel between two of the best teams in the Eastern Conference, nuances finally decided. First Washington dominated, then Toronto beat back, then the match remained even-tempered, so that no team with more than 4 points could take the lead in the fourth quarter for a long time. In the end it was DeMar DeRozan (23 points) who won the game and kept the Raptors’ best record in the Eastern Conference.

A threesome from C. J. Miles (20) in the final stage, Bradley Beal was able to counterattack again, but then All-Star DeRozan scored 4 points at a time, leading the Raptors by 8 points 56 seconds to the end. After that the Wizards didn’t make a comeback, so Toronto ended up with their fourth away win in a row – the Canadian record for the season.

They have now also won ten of their last eleven games. In addition to DeRozan and Miles, Jonas Valanciunas (12), Kyle Lowry (10) and Fred VanVleet (12) also scored double-digit points. Jakob Pöltl scored all three of his throws (6 points) and scored three attempts at throwing the wizards.

Otto Porter was the top scorer with 24 points at Washington, Beal came in 23, Markieff Morris scored 15 points. After eight games in a row with 25 assists each, this time it was “only” 24 submissions from the capitals who had to make do without John Wall.

Page 1: Toronto Maintains the Best Balance – Sixers at Home a Power

Page 2: Dallas loses despite strong Dirk Nowitzki

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