A late rain of three makes the Toronto Raptors the sixth victory in a row. Even Memphis Grizzlies that play a lot cannot stop the Canadians. Meanwhile, the Heat are losing a thriller to Atlanta, while the Pacers and Pistons are winning.
With three wins in a row behind them, the Knicks went into the game with a lot of self-confidence in their backs and turned this directly into a 13-5 start. But then all of a sudden almost nothing worked out.
“We got off to a great start, but when we scored 17 points everything came to a halt for some reason,” said Knicks coach David Fizdale after the match. At the end of the first quarter his team had missed 22 of the 29 attempts, Detroit took over with a 17:4 run.
In the second section it didn’t get any better either, at halftime New York was 15 out of 50 out of the field (30 percent), in the meantime they were trailing by 16 points. Although New York led by Allonzo Trier (24 points, 10 rebounds, 7 assists) and Enes Kanter (16 and 14) shortened the gap to 6 points towards the end of the third quarter, they could not turn the game around.
Detroit quickly found the right answer again and increased the lead to 18 points in the final section, but Damyean Dotson (17) and Trier narrowed the game again in the final minutes, came too late in the end. Best man in the pistons was Blake Griffin with 30 points (9/21 FG, 0/5 three) and 5 assists. He got support especially from Reggie Jackson and Stanley Johnson with 21 counters each.
For Josh Richardson and the Miami Heat the victory was actually within reach. After Taurean Prince had missed to bring the Hawks from the free-throw line with 3 points in front (only 1 of 2 free-throw was successful) the Heat got the ball for a last attack – and with it the chance to win this game after all.
Miami showed a rather disappointing performance for most of the game. Early in the third quarter, the guests were already looking forward to a 19-point deficit. At least the Heat showed fighting spirit and made it exciting again.
With a 14-0 run in the final section, Miami even took the lead for a short time before Atlanta responded with their own 7-0 run. Again the Heat came back, finally shortened to one point and were exposed to a 113:115 gap after the free throws from Prince.
14 seconds were left to play at this point, Miami used the entire time for the attack, at the end of which Dwyane Wade (18 points) found the wide open Richardson on the perimeter. The shooting guard pressed on, but the potential game winner only landed on the ring.
Despite this missed chance to win, Richardson was the best man at Miami. It was he who led the Heat back into the game in the fourth quarter on the way to 22 points. But in the end it wasn’t enough. On the other side, Prince (18), Trae Young (17 and 11 assists) and Trae Young (17 and 11 assists) played well, bringing the Heat their sixth consecutive home defeat and the Hawks their second win in a row.
Page 1: Pistons beat Knicks – Heat lose against Atlanta
Page 2: Comeback victory for the Raptors – Pacers defeat Suns