After a furious start the Philadelphia 76ers collapsed completely against a strong Giannis Antetokounmpo and his Bucks and celebrated a real turnover party. Indiana won a landmark playoff duel against the wizards and the basement duel between the Kings and Knicks was crowned by a spectacular game winner.
In a match marked by battle, the Toronto Raptors won their fourth and last match of the season against Charlotte Hornets. Both teams didn’t exactly shine with impressive throwing odds, and so the Raptors’ mixed offensive performance was enough to clinch the eleventh victory from the last twelve games.
“Raptors coach Dwane Casey summed it up:” It wasn’t a nice game, but we probably would have lost a match like this last year, but we’re now mature enough to make the right moves in the decisive phases,”said DeMar DeRozan (19 points, 7/17 FG), who praised his team with a threesome and a Three-Point-P
The Hornets dominated the fourth quarter and, after a long time lag, came back again after strong actions by Kemba Walker (27 points, 8/23 FG), but Toronto kept their nerves on the line and secured the victory. In retrospect, Walker and his Hornets can be satisfied that they were within striking distance in a game against the Raptors. Earlier, the Hornets lost three times with a two-digit difference in points.
Steve Clifford was therefore relatively happy with his team’s performance despite the defeat:”We played well in the fourth quarter and defended very well – we have to build on that now.
A strong race to catch up in the fourth quarter of the Washington Wizards was ultimately not rewarded. The Pacers went into the final quarter with a 15-point lead, but then lost the thread and had to watch the lead melt away. Bradley Beal, who scored 13 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter, brought his team down to one point with 36 seconds to play, but then missed the equaliser three times.
After 43 minutes on the floor Beal could be seen as tired – but he didn’t want to apologize for that,”You just have to give everything,”Beal said soberly and took the blame for the missed chance:”I just have to hit the throws,” Beal caught Beal with a throwing rate of 8/27 in total a mixed evening.
The Pacers were not only worn by their all-star in the fourth quarter. Victor Oladipo, with 10 points in the last 12 minutes, was almost on his own against the imminent defeat and finished the game with 33 points (11/20 FG).”We’ll have to fight the rest of the games,”explained Oladipo,”Playoff basketball starts almost from now on”.
The win allowed the Pacers to pass the Washington Wizards and took fourth place in the Eastern Conference after the game. A special commendation for his performance against the Wizards was then given to Cory Joseph, who defended Beal over the entire game strongly and put 16 points (7/12 FG) on top of it.
Page 1: Oladipo prevents Wizards-Comeback
Page 2: Philly breaks down, Labissiere mt Gamewinner