NBA: Despite strong Pöltl – Jazz Spurs shooting out of the hall

The Utah Jazz really catch fire against the San Antonio Spurs – thanks to a new franchise record they sweep the guests out of the hall with 34 points! Jakob Pöltl delivers a new career record. Meanwhile, the Kings are also celebrating a blowout victory, while frustration is growing with the Heat.

Game one after the dismissal of head coach Fred Hoiberg didn’t bring any real improvement for the Bulls, at least in terms of the result. For Chicago it was the seventh consecutive bankruptcy in Indiana – and yet the new man had reason to rejoice on the sidelines.

“I really like this team. I think we fought well. I’m proud of these guys,” coach Jim Boylen said after the close defeat. Although the Bulls scored just 40 per cent out of the field in the first half and were now trailing by 9 points, they were able to keep the game tight for the full 48 minutes.

This was mainly due to Lauri Markkanen, who finally made his season debut after a long injury break and convinced directly with 21 points and 10 rebounds. Only when throwing, the Finn still noticed some rust (8/24 FG, 5/13 Dreier). Despite the successful debut of Markkanen or the good performance of Rookie Wendell Carter Jr. (12 points, 13 rebounds) it was not enough to win.

The Pacers fought it out thanks to the Starting Five. The starters scored 71 of the 96 Pacers points, led by Darren Collison with 23 points. Myles Turner also contributed 18 points, 11 boards and 5 blocks, but was self-critical afterwards: “That wasn’t a great success, but winning in this league isn’t easy and we made it.”

Indiana again had to give up Victor Oladipo, who was not used due to knee problems. The absence of the All-Star was clearly noticeable, especially offensive (18 turnovers, only 27.3 percent of downtown) the game of the Pacers was not particularly attractive.

With the Heat, the house blessing is slowly but surely hanging a little crooked. After two wins in a row, the Heat had to put up with a solid slap against the Florida rival from Orlando. “I’m pretty upset, like we all are at the moment,” Head Coach Erik Spoelstra summed up the emotional state of the Heat.

This seems to be especially true for Hassan Whiteside. After a strong first half (12 points total, 6/7 FG, 9 rebounds) the center had to spend the complete final section on the bench. Shortly before the end he obviously had enough of it and left the bench before the final siren in the direction of the cabin. Then he did not answer the journalists’ questions about the scene.

Although Dwyane Wade explained that his team mate probably only went to the catacombs early for a visit to the bath, a bitter narrow cling still remained. Especially because even Wade couldn’t hide the frustration: “Our Offense just really stunk today.”

That was a fitting description, especially for the third quarter of the Heat. Miami scored just 12 points in this section, while on the other side Aaron Gordon used this section for 16 points. The Magic won the third quarter with 30:12 and entered the final section with a 14-point lead. That was too much for Miami.

Gordon finished the game with 20 points, 13 rebounds and 5 assists, Nikola Vucevic also contributed a double (19 and 10). Terrence Ross also got 19 points from the bank. Orlando presented himself in a really good mood this evening, especially from downtown (14/28 threes).

Page 1: Boylen debut at the Bulls is a complete failure – high the heat stopped

Page 2: Kings and Jazz celebrate Blowout victories