Seven games are played tonight (Friday-Saturday) in the best basketball league in the world and apart from Washington’s win over Detroit, in which Danny Abdia recorded a career high, five more games have meanwhile ended, in all of which the team with the lower balance surprised each other with the preferred balance. Atlanta inflicted on Golden State a fourth loss in five games, Charlotte inflicted on Utah a third loss in a row, Miami on the verge of losing the Eastern Conference title after a third loss in a row, this time to the Knicks, Minnesota trying to avoid a play-in defeated Dallas fifth in the West, and even Houston won.
If the Warriors thought the win over Miami would lead to a recovery, Terra Young arrived and made it clear to them that the crisis they were in was far from over. The Hawks star scored 33 points on 60 percent from the field, handed out 15 assists and led his team, which is in tenth place in the East and trying to secure a place in the playoffs (and maybe even improve positions within it), to a big win. Without Steph Kerry, who is expected to return only in the playoffs, even a display by Clay Thompson who sniped 37 points, including 9 of 16 from the three, would not have been enough for Various, who also enjoyed 24 points and 10 assists from Jordan Paul. Young enjoyed a better assist team, with 25 points from Danilo Glinari, 20 from Kevin Heather and 19 and 13 rebounds from Clint Capella.
Something bad is going on for Miami, which has already seen around the corner the Eastern presidency and the home advantage until the final, but collapsed last week and is now only half a game away from Philadelphia. If the losses to Philly and Golden State were still received with understanding, then the crash tonight in the fourth quarter against the weaker team from the Big Apple is a piece of warning light ahead of the playoffs. Miami led from the middle of the first quarter to the middle of the final without a break, including a record 17-point lead early in the fourth quarter, 73:90. But then the heat froze completely, the Knicks ran 5:30 to take an 8-minute lead to finish, and went on to win. Leading the Knicks ‘run was Emanuel Quickley, who entered the final quarter with 3 points and finished it with 23, as the Knicks’ outstanding scorer in the game. Jimmy Butler’s 30 points and Kyle Laurie’s and Bam Adbaio’s 17 points were not enough to hit.
The Hornets, struggling like the Hawks for a place in the playoffs and a place in the playoffs, are only half a game away from Brooklyn eighth after the important home win over the Jazz, who continue to look very bad, recorded a third straight loss and reach the playoffs without a home advantage. A minute and a half to the end of a three-pointer by Royce O’Neill further brought the Jazz back to a 99-99 tie, but Terry Rosier and Miles Bridges scored 8 points until the end against a lone basket from Donovan Mitchell and left the win in North Carolina. Bridges led the Hornets with 26 points and 11 rebounds, Rosier added 25 and Lamello Ball 21 for the winner, Mitchell stood out on the other side with 26 of his own.
Luka Doncic’s almost triple-double (24 points, 10 rebounds and 8 assists) was far from enough for the Mavericks, who were embarrassed in a one-sided game in Minneapolis and failed to overtake Utah and move up to fourth place. The Timberwolves, who are in seventh place and want to climb to sixth and avoid the play-offs, just look great lately and have recorded a No. 11 win in their last 14 games. On the way there they enjoyed a balanced display with seven players scoring in double digits, led by Carl Anthony Towns with 20 points. With the Mavericks, with the exception of Doncic, no one has scored over 13 points, and suddenly Dallas is only two and a half games away from playing in the playoffs.