The Boston Celtics come back after a catastrophic start and defeat the Phoenix Suns in overtime. Kyrie Irving wasn’t to be held by the Suns. The Portland Trail Blazers were also successful and won their third race in a row against the L.A. Clippers.
32:13 was the very surprising score after the first quarter between the Suns and Celtics. The offensive problems of the Celtics became again clear: In the first stage only Kyrie Irving hit among the starters and the goblins hit catastrophic 18 percent out of the field. On the other hand, the duo of Devin Booker and DeAndre Ayton turned up the heat and scored 15 points.
In the second section, Boston came into the game better, but could not reduce the distance. At the beginning of the last quarter the Suns were still leading with 15 points. Three minutes before the end Jaylen Brown shortened the time to 82:94 by layup and the race to catch up could begin. Irving scored 5 points within 30 seconds, Brown added with Leger. Suddenly the Celtics were back in the action.
For the Suns, it was all about Booker, who responded with a jumper plus foul, but it was Brown and Irving again who had an answer. Kyrie hit from downtown, stole the ball from Booker and started the fast break. Brown was cleared, but grabbed the rebound and turned to 98:97 for Phoenix. There were 7 seconds left on the clock. The Celtics sent Ariza to the line that transformed both freebies – but that wasn’t the decision yet: In the last attack, Irving served Marcus Morris, who scored the equalizer from downtown at 1.1 seconds on the clock. It went into overtime.
In the overtime, no team was able to take the lead at the beginning, before Brown and Morris brought the Celtics into the lead with 114:109. Booker missed the last three Suns rolls and Jayson Tatum secured the Celtics victory on the line. Irving was the outstanding man among the goblins. He scored 39 points (13/28 FG), distributed 6 assists and snatched 7 boards – and also scored the first 6 Celtics points in extra time. Beside him Brown (17 points, 6 boards) and Morris (17, 8) showed good performances. In the Suns, Booker scored 38 points, T.J. Warren 29 and Deandre Ayton a double (14 points, 10 rebounds).
The Portland Trail Blazers are one of the hottest teams in the league in the young season, winning their third consecutive win against Los Angeles Clippers. Despite a strong collective performance of the Clippers, the backcourt of the Blazers was strong enough to achieve a relatively safe victory.
The Blazers came into the game much better, took an early lead and earned themselves a small cushion of 9 points, but the Clippers could not be shaken off and just before the break Rookie Shai Gilgeous-Alexander brought the Clippers into the lead. But Aminu answered with a three-point game and Damian Lillard added with a layup, so the Blazers went into the break with a 4 point lead.
After the break tea, no team was able to gain a decisive advantage before the Blazers increased to 98:85 seven minutes before the end with two free throws from Jusuf Nurkic. Previously the Bank Portlands had sounded the alarm: Meyers Leonard scored 7 points at the beginning of the last section and Seth Curry scattered a threesome. Gilgeous-Alexander shortened to 109:103, but C.J. McCollum answered icy cold from downtown.
Topscorer of the game was Lillard, who scored 25 points (11/25 FG) and was actively supported by his backcourt-buddy McCollum (23, 7 boards). Nurkic put up some good numbers (16.9), although he hit weakly from the field (4/12). On the other side Danilo Gallinari and Lou Williams each scored 20 points. Gilgeous-Alexander scored 19 points and scored both of his triple attempts. Montrezl Harrell also played a strong game with 19 points (8/9 FG) and 6 boards.
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