Victor Oladipo and Kyrie Irving deliver a duel worth seeing in Crunchtime with a better outcome for the Pacers. The nuggets also defeat Utah, Trae Young impresses against the Heat – and the Pelicans already get a defeat again.
No, even under Larry Drew, the Cavs won’t be a top team until further notice. The victory in the first game against Atlanta was followed by the second Blowout in a row, with Cleveland still keeping up without Kevin Love in the first half – in the third quarter, however, the Hornets then quickly broke their resistance and dropped to 93-73. The last quarter was then to a large extent only Garbage Time, whereby also the veterans of the Cavs could ran again somewhat longer.
In fact, with J.R. Smith such a veteran was even the top scorer of the Cavs with 14 points, just ahead of Jordan Clarkson (13), Sam Dekker and Kyle Korver (each 11) – somehow it fit to their situation that somebody of all people had the most points, who had expressed his trade wish a few days ago. Top rookie Collin Sexton, on the other hand, experienced a weak day, scoring only 4 points (1/5 FG).
The Hornets, on the other hand, had the expected easy task with this opponent and raged themselves out against the weak Cavs defense accordingly, apart from Frank Kaminsky all 13 players were allowed to enter themselves in the scorer list, seven of them with double-digit points. The best scorers all came from the backcourt: Jeremy Lamb scored 19 points, Kemba Walker 18 points and Malik Monk 16 points from the bench.
Two of the best teams in the East met – and the match was just right for the matchup: The Celtics and Pacers delivered a thrilling final phase, in which the game seemed to have been decided several times, but it always came differently. In the end, it was Victor Oladipo who was able to put on the clutch crown that day – with 7 points in the last 52 seconds! And the decisive throw.
But one thing at a time. The guests found the game better at first and had the whole first half over light upper water, but they could never really get away from it, also because they relied a little too much on the threesome (19/46 3FG) and only got meager 9 free throws in the whole game. So Indiana always stayed in the game and took the lead from time to time. It went high-class, although not necessarily with high speed back and forth, both teams met on eye level, so that in the end the superstars had to play out the decision.
At first things looked good for Celtics. 1:08 minutes before the end Kyrie Irving scored a 3-point lead, to which Oladipo could only answer with a 2-point lead. Right in the next attack Uncle Drew pocketed the next longball and turned the game into a two-possession game 38 seconds before the end. Oladipo hit two free throws, then Irving was sought again, but this time his layup missed – and with just under 10 seconds on the clock Oladipo secured the rebound. There was no time-out, instead the All-Star dribbled almost calmly forward and met the trio for the lead. With 3.4 seconds left on the clock, Gordon Hayward played the following slot into the hands of the Pacers – Game Over!
The winner of the Pacers match was of course Oladipo with 24 points, 10 of them in the last quarter, and 12 rebounds – Tyreke Evans delivered 17 points from the bench. Celtics top scorer was Marcus Morris with 23 points from the bench, Irving finished the game with 18 points.
For a team with play-off ambitions, the trip to Atlanta should actually be equated with an obligatory victory, at least that’s what you’d think. But Trae Young is disturbed by this perception – and he is working to get rid of it. Services like the one against Miami help! With an impressive statline of 24 points and 15 assists, the No.5 Pick spoiled the Heat’s trip to Georgia.
The own throw did not fall very well (2/8 3FG), but Young always found his fellow players in good positions and helped them to several easy points. And that was contagious: As a team, the Hawks recorded almost warrior-like 33 assists at 46 field goals. Seven players scored in double figures, with Young Taurean Prince and Dewayne Dedmon being the most successful scorers after Young Taurean Prince and Dewayne Dedmon with 15 points each. Altogether Atlanta presented itself amazingly variable and especially thanks to Oldie Vince Carter (12) in the end also more confident than Miami.
The Heat did not score a single point on the scoreboard in the last three minutes of the game and so conceded the unexpected defeat. Topscorer of the guests was Josh Richardson with 32 points, while Dwyane Wade from Bank 19 contributed. Justise Winslow acted as Point Forward in the Starting Five instead of the injured Goran Dragic and showed an overall promising performance (15 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists, 5 turnovers).
Page 1: Victor Oladipo wins clutch duel against Kyrie Irving
Page 2: Pelicans take fifth defeat in a row