Almost the entire league was in action the night before Thanksgiving – and the games had it all! The Mavericks continued their upward trend, while the Celtics embarrassed themselves at home. Meanwhile Milwaukee and Toronto marched on impressively and James Harden is back in MVP form.
It doesn’t always have to be a Kemba Walker scoring gala for the Hornets to succeed. Not that the Point Guard, who was so outstanding in the last match against Indiana, didn’t play well again – but this time Walker could concentrate on playmaking again. The Hornets bribed by balance in the offense and could not throw from the three line almost beside it (18/29 3FG).
Two additional factors played into their cards. Indiana had to play without Victor Oladipo and the most effective Pacer could only play a little thanks to Foul-Trouble: Domantas Sabonis got off to an outstanding start, potting all of his first seven throws, but then he barely made it to the pitch and only managed 19 minutes of play (15 points) until he fouled out.
The remaining Pacers tried a few things, but in the third quarter Charlotte finally took control and dropped comfortably to more than 20 points, so that the Pacers’ comeback hope was nipped in the bud early on. In the last quarter, for example, Walker did not have to go back to court at all.
Kemba had 16 points and 11 assists in the end, Jeremy Lamb was the top scorer of the Hornets with 21 points and five other players landed in Double Figures. Bojan Bogdanovic scored 20 points in the Pacers.
What was this weird night for Anthony Davis? Within a game there was a milestone for the Braue, an extremely rare 5×5 statline and then at the end the huge disappointment as a tragic figure – the possibility to end the game with a triumph was actually served to him on a silver platter. But it should come differently, in the end it was the hosts, who despite various mistakes in the Crunchtime just so with the victory could go into the evening.
The game began quite remarkably. Unimpressed by Markelle Fultz’s latest reports, Joel Embiid in particular showed a very strong performance with 15 points in the first quarter, while Davis scored his 10,000th career point in the initial phase as the eight youngest player in history. Davis was not the one who kept his team offensively in the race – rather Jrue Holiday and E’Twaun Moore with 30 points each as well as Julius Randle, who came from the bench to 22 points.
Philly clearly dominated the first quarter (38:25), but the Pelicans bite their way back into the game and also came within striking distance at the end, not least because Embiid (31 points, 19 rebounds, but also 7 turnovers) and Ben Simmons (22 points, 6 turnovers) did not always make the right decisions in the final minutes and Jimmy Butler did not make his best game (13 points, 5/16 FG). Moore and Nikola Mirotic (13 points, 13 rebounds) shot NOLA in the end again and 2.5 seconds before the end Simmons Davis foul in the attempted three-way – with exactly 3 points difference.
So Davis had a chance to equalize the game. Although the Big Man had a hard time offensively throughout the game (10 points, 4/13 FG and 6 Turnover at that point), he shone in every other category: 16 rebounds, 6 assists, 5 steals and 5 blocks were recorded by Davis. Now he could have crowned this 5×5 game, but the third free throw missed his goal – and so it became nothing with the happy ending. This was only possible for the Sixers, who now celebrated their fourth victory in a row.
Kawhi Leonard wasn’t there, neither was O.G. Anunoby. No problem, however, for the Raptors, who present themselves again and again this season as a collective with a strong bear – and that was also true in this game. One player stood out: Kyle Lowry delivered one of the individual best games of the season so far.
In 32 minutes Lowry scored 21 points (7/12 FG), grabbed 12 rebounds and distributed 17 assists (!) with only 2 ball losses (!) – you can’t expect much more from a point guard. For the All-Star it was the eleventh triple-double of his Raptors career, in the history of the franchise only twelve of the other players were played.
Of course, there was no doubt about the clear victory against the overstrained Hawks, especially as Jonas Valanciunas (24 points, 13 rebounds), Pascal Siakam (22) and Serge Ibaka (19) played really well. That could only be said about Jeremy Lin, who played a strong 26 points from the bench.
Apropos Bank: Vince Carter, who scored a total of 14 points – among them a milestone: Just by Dunk – and against the Raptors – the 41-year-old broke the 25,000 point barrier in the NBA. He’s the 22nd player to reach this mark.
Page 1: Sixers win crazy game against 5×5-Davis
Page 2: Celtics embarrass themselves against New York
Page 3: Bucks beat Portland, Harden in MVP form
Page 4: Mavs take next victory – Memphis still at the top