When the Denver Nuggets clearly win against the Phoenix Suns, Nikola Jokic writes himself into the history books. The Boston Celtics win a real thriller against the New York Knicks, while the Raptors win even without Kawhi Leonard.
Almost three quarters of the Nets were able to keep up with one of the better teams of the Eastern Conference, but then all goals opened in the defense – an invitation that Victor Oladipo and Co. of course accepted gratefully.
The Pacers could hardly be stopped in the final section and gave the guests 37 points, the marksmanship of Downtown was outstanding, as over the entire 48 minutes. The landlords hammered a total of 16 out of 24 threes (66.7 percent) around the ears of the Nets.
After all, the Nets also had a strong sip of target water, the guests sank 16 distance throws led by the strong Caris LeVert (19 points, 8/9 FG), but needed 37 attempts (43.2 percent). So Brooklyn kept up well for a long time, also Joe Harris (19, 5/6 Dreier) made a strong appearance.
But as I said, in the final section Indiana was unstoppable. Not only Oladipo (27, 7 rebounds, 4 steals) presented the Nets with problems, the Pacers could convince through the bench away. Nine players scored double-digit points, especially Kyle O’Quinn convinced with 16 points (14 in the final section) and 8 rebounds. He also played a big part in a 19-2 run in the fourth run, which allowed Indiana to bag the second win of the season.
The season is still long, the Raptors are obviously aware of this. Already after two games Head Coach Nick Nurse decided to give Kawhi Leonard a breather. After all, the Spurs newcomer missed a large part of last season due to various injuries and will only gradually be introduced to back-to-backs.
How good that Toronto still has a certain Kyle Lowry for such cases as well as an impressive depth in the hindquarters like in the previous season. The Canadian Point Guard led his team to the third victory in the third game with 28 points and 12 assists. The bank contributed a strong 49 points.
The reserves around Serge Ibaka (16 and 9 rebounds) and Pascal Siakam (10 and 10) were also the ones who gave Toronto a 13-point lead at the beginning of the fourth quarter. John Wall and Bradley Beal were able to resist the imminent defeat with all their might, but the duo were unable to turn the game around.
Wall and Beal were responsible for 19 of the 27 Wizards counters in the final section, Beal scored a total of 32 points and 6 assists. Wall contributed 25 points as well as 6 templates and 4 steals, but this did not help against the strong team structure of the guests.
After Wall had brought his colours back to 111-113 one minute before the end, Fred VanVleet sunk the decisive jumper after a series of offensive rebounds. The Backup-Guard put on a total of 13 points, 5 assists and 4 rebounds, Jonas Valanciunas, who was allowed to start again for Ibaka, also showed a good performance (16 and 7 rebounds).
What a wild finish in Madison Square Garden! A good 20 seconds from the end, Jayson Tatum sunk a butter-soft fade-away jumper to take the Celtics into the lead with 3 points. Instead of letting the clock run down, however, the Knicks opted for two quick points from Trey Burke.
But this forced the landlords to send Tatum to the line, who showed no nerves and sank both free throws. The Knicks therefore found themselves in the same initial situation as a few seconds earlier. After a failed Inbounds-Play Burke almost had to pull off the middle line – and was actually fouled by Tatum!
So the 25-year-old entered the line with the possibility to send the game into overtime. However, the first free throw landed directly at the ring: Cheers from the Celts, bewilderment from the Knicks fans. Al Horford finally grabbed the rebound after Burke deliberately missed the third free-throw, securing a truly crazy victory for the guests.
After the first quarter, it looked as if Boston could achieve a loose away win. The Celtics won the first section with 31:18, but the Knickerbockers came back thanks to good performances of Tim Hardaway Jr. (24 points), Enes Kanter (17 and 15 rebounds) or Allonzo Trier (15).
In the Celtics, Tatum was the best thrower with 24 points (plus 14 boards), Kyrie Irving contributed 15 points, as did Marcus Morris. Daniel Theis stood 14 minutes on the floor and scored 2 points (1/4 FG) as well as 2 assists, 1 rebounds and 1 block.
There was also bad news for Knicks fans from rookie Kevin Knox. The Nr.9 pick already kinked badly with the left ankle in the first section. A first X-ray examination apparently did not show any results yet. According to Shams Charania (The Athletic) the newbie will be out for two to four weeks.
Page 1: Nerve-strong Tatum breaks brave Knicks – Raptors win without Kawhi
Page 2: Historic Jokic takes the Suns by surprise – Sixers tremble to victory