Dennis Schröder has delivered a convincing performance with the Oklahoma City Thunder against his ex-team, the Atlanta Hawks. In Brooklyn, two extensions are needed to determine a winner, with rookie Jaren Jackson Jr. showing off his skills. The San Antonio Spurs take another bitter blow, while the Denver Nuggets win a thriller in Portland.
The Boston Celtics shot the Cleveland Cavaliers out of their own hall without any problems. While Cleveland still had to do without Kevin Love, his Big Men counterpart on the Celtics side, Al Horford, got a break. Jaylen Brown (back) was still missing injured.
Nevertheless, the hosts got off to a better start in the game and were able to take a two-digit lead after just five minutes (13-3). Kyrie Irving, in particular, had a lot of fun playing and had already scored 19 points and a cream assistant for Aron Baynes on his statistics sheet at half time. In total, Uncle Drew came up with 29 counters and four templates.
The decisive factor for the clear victory of the Celts was above all the strong score of Downtown (17/31 threes, 54 percent), against which the Cavs never found an antidote. In addition to Irving, the Celtics were particularly convincing collectively – seven players came in double figures. Daniel Theis played especially well in the defensive and in 17 minutes he scored three points, three rebounds and four assists (Career-High!).
The Cavs have to accept defeat number 17 in game 21. Collin Sexton was looking for his throw (15 points, 6/18 FG) during the whole season and had to fight with foul problems. After all, Alec Burks, who came to Cleveland in the course of the Korver trade, made a good impression and contributed 15 points, six rebounds and four assists from the bank. However, he could not prevent the match from being decided after only three quarters.
The Utah Jazz game with the Charlotte Hornets was marked by the return of Kyle Korver. The 37-year-old took his seat on the bench at the beginning of the game, but was allowed to play his first minutes in the first quarter and immediately joined the game with a successful threesome. Korver scored a total of 14 points and immediately gave his new team the necessary impact with four threes.
The Jazz defense also showed a clear improvement at the beginning and kept the Hornets open around Kemba Walker at 19 points in the first quarter (33 percent FG). In the second section, however, she allowed the starters on the bench to run 11-0 and brought the Hornets back into the game. Although the hosts were able to equalise once in the third quarter, they never took the lead because Utah always had an answer ready.
Utah’s most conspicuous player was Donovan Mitchell, who scored 30 points (12/22 FG) and six assists. Jae Crowder also contributed 24 points and seven assists from the bench and Rudy Gobert had a strong double (19 points, 16 rebounds).
Six Charlotte players scored double-digit points, but Kemba Walker (21) in particular had Utah well under control. Topscorer was Shooting Guard Jeremy Lamb (24, 10/18 FG), while Tony Parker, coming from the bench, played 20 and 9 assists. Another negative highlight from the Hornets’ point of view was a rib injury by Cody Zeller, who had to enter the cabin in the second quarter and did not return to the floor.
The Detroit pistons continue to attract attention in the East. The win against the Bulls was Motor City’s fourth success in a row. Mainly thanks to Reggie Jackson (20), who played 14 points (6/6 FG, 5/5 Dreier) in the first quarter, the pistons already dropped to 15 points (55:40) at half time. In the last section the garbage time was rung in early, otherwise the victory would have been even higher.
In Chicago the throw from the outside did not want to fall (3/21 threes) and also defensively there were some mistakes in the vote. Furthermore they lost the duel on the boards again and again and finally got 12 rebounds less than the pistons (40:52).
The only positive aspect from the Bulls’ point of view was Wendell Carter Jr.’s performance, which was probably the best game of his rookie season. In the end, Carter scored 28 points and 7 rebounds, hitting a strong 11 of his 18 attempts out of the field. Zach Lavine disappointed with eight points (3/12 FG).
At Detroit Andre Drummond just missed another 20/20 game and ended up with 19 points and 20 boards. Blake Griffin also scored a double-double (20, 10 rebounds), demonstrating the dominance of the Zone.
Page 1: Boston finishes Cavs – Korver with good debut for Utah
Page 2: Philly dissects the Wizards – Memphis wins in Double-OT crime thriller!
Page 3: Schröder strong against ex-team – next slap for the Spurs
Page 4: Vucevic continues on fire – Denver survives chaos in the final phase
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