NBA: Portland continues to win – Cavaliers defy strong Spiser

The run of the Portland Trail Blazers doesn’t end against the Detroit Pistons either. The replacement weakened Cavaliers only narrowly win against the Chicago Bulls – this is also due to the strong performance of Paul Zipser. Meanwhile, the Mavs lose in Brooklyn and the Hawks are defeated by the Bucks. The Wizards and Jazz win important playoff races. Pelican coach Alvin Gentry is pissed off after his defeat against the Rockets.

From the Bucks’ point of view, the past days and weeks have not necessarily been rosy. In the end it hailstormed against the Magic the seventh bankruptcy of the last ten games and also against the Hawks the hosts had to fight for a long time. Despite a strong game by Giannis Antetokounmpo, who scored 33 points, 12 rebounds and 7 assists, the decision was only made in the final minutes.

The Hawks had a good fight before, even a 13-point gap in the meantime didn’t let the guests bury their heads in the sand. Atlanta had Taurean Prince to thank for keeping the game so tight for a long time. The 23-year-old set his career record with 38 points (13/26 FG), while Dennis Schröder contributed 18 points.

In the crunchtime, however, the German was no longer there. Just three minutes before the final siren Schröder got his sixth foul and had to leave the field. As if that wasn’t enough, he followed the Referee with a few strong words and collected a technical foul – points given to the Bucks.

“That mustn’t happen,” Schröder subsequently proved self-critical:”I just have to stay calm and go to the bank. Without their ball handler, the Hawks couldn’t find any more offensive answers. Milwaukee finished the match with a decisive 11-5 and took an important victory in the battle for play-off placings in the East.

We knew what the game was about and wanted to make sure we did our job,” said Bradley Beal, explaining his team’s motivation:”We made a good start both offensively and defensively.

Especially in the offense a lot of things came together near Washington. Overall, the capital met 54.8 percent from the field, with Beal and Co. on from downtown a hot little hand (10/20 threesome). On the other hand, the Pacers lost 15 balls, which Washingotn turned into 26 direct points, “We just couldn’t get into a rhythm today,” Pacers coach Nate McMillan correctly analysed.

The wizards, led by Beal with 19 points, 6 assists and five other players with a two-digit score at half-time, achieved a 12-point lead. Thanks to Beal and especially Marcin Gortat (18 points, 6/8 FG, 8 rebounds) this lead even increased to 20 points in the third quarter. The Pacers’ comeback attempt, in which Lance Stephenson was the best pitcher with 25 points, finally came too late. Both teams are now in fourth and fifth place with the same results. But Washington have the tiebreaker over the Pacers after the win.

Even the Pelicans can’t stop the Houston Rockets and James Harden. Thanks to the bearded MVP candidate, the guests took 21st place. victories in the last 22 games and underpinned their supremacy in the Western Conference. Harden scored 32 points, 11 rebounds and 8 assists, but besides strong clutch moments he was also in focus after the game because of another action.

About six minutes before the end Harden pulled a questionable foul from Jrue Holiday and was allowed to the line for three freebies. From Pelican coach Alvin Gentry’s point of view, this call was not only questionable but simply wrong: “You can’t just guess when teams fight for playoff spots in such games,” said an angry Gentry after the match.

What bothered him most was the fact that Anthony Davis (only 4 free throws against the Rockets) on the other hand did not get calls like this: “AD never gets the whistles. And you know why? Because he’s not complaining. He just keeps playing,” says Gentry. Nevertheless, the Pels head coach also praised Harden: “He is the MVP of the league. He has done everything to earn this honor.”

The controversial foul call was not decisive for the game. Led by Davis (26 points, 13 rebounds), New Orleans did not give in and shortened the gap to 10 points about 17 seconds before the end to four points. Then Jrue Holiday (19 points, 8 assists), who was also strong, put a free throw on the ring in the hope of getting the offensive rebound.

But Chris Paul grabbed him instead. The Point Guard scored 21 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists and brought victory with the decisive free throws into dry cloths:”We could have played a little better at the end of the game, but we are satisfied with the victory,” said CP3 after the game. The visibly eaten Pelicans, on the other hand, suffered their fourth defeat in the last five games.

Page 1: Hawks lose in Milwaukee – Gentry pissed off

Page 2: Nets beat Mavs – Cavaliers defy strong Spiser

Page 3: Bitter defeat for the nuggets – Jazz win again

Page 4: Trail Blazer winning streak continues – Dubs beat Suns