A round of eight NBA games kicked off yesterday (Sunday) and continued into the night. In the early game Atlanta defeated the Lakers, and later came a surprising loss to Dallas and a Denver explosion against the champion Milwaukee.
Night Games:
Atlanta (25:24) – L.A. Lakers (27:24) 121: 129
Charlotte (23:28) – L.A. Clippers (26:26) 115: 90
Chicago (18:31) – Portland (29:21) 116: 130
Detroit (37:12) – Cleveland (20:30) 105: 115
Orlando (40:11) – Dallas (22:29) 108: 110
Milwaukee (21:31) – Denver (21:28) 136: 100
Minnesota (25:25) – Utah (21:30) 106: 120
Phoenix (9:40) – San Antonio (32:19) 110: 115
Milwaukee (21:31) – Denver (21:28) 136: 100
Nikola Jukic and his teammates are starting to gain momentum, and tonight they provided the perfect proof of that with an explosion in front of Yannis Antokompo and the champion. The first half was still relatively close, but a second half in one-sided status gave the Nuggets a sixth win in the last seven games, including four straight away. Yukic had 18 points, 15 assists (a season-high, out of 39 team assists) and 9 rebounds, and he missed his 13th triple-double of the season slightly, beating Yannis in a duel between last season’s MVP and that of The two years that preceded it. Aaron Gordon led the Nuggets’ scoring list with 24, while Antocompo finished with 29 (22 in the first half) and Jero Holliday with 14 in the losing ranks.
Phoenix (9:40) – San Antonio (32:19) 110: 115
A tenth consecutive victory for the team with the best balance in the league, which this time had to work very hard before marking V on Popovic’s gang. The Spurs led by 12 points over the final quarter, but Chris Paul woke up and two consecutive Devin Booker threes in money time completed the turnaround, ensuring the Suns went into the All-Star break from first place in the West (and that coach Monty Williams coached LeBron James’ All-Star team). Devin Booker led with 28 points, Paul had 20 alongside 19 (!) Assists and 8 rebounds, and Mikel Bridges was excellent as well with 26 and 8 rebounds. On the other side, Doug McDermott (24) and Lonnie Walker (22) stood out for San Antonio.
Orlando (40:11) – Dallas (22:29) 108: 110
The Mavericks came to Florida in excellent shape and with two straight wins, but suffered a surprising loss to one of the weakest teams in the league. Franz Wagner’s layup (18 points) with 54 seconds left on the clock turned out to be a basket of victory, after in the following moves the Magic sent a double save to Luka Doncic and he released the ball to the available players, who missed twice. The last was Maxi Caliber, who missed an opportunity to win the game on the buzzer. Until the last minute Doncic maintained an impressive dominance, finishing with 34 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists and reaching 43 triple-doubles in his NBA career, equaling the 10th all-time high in the league. On the other hand, besides Franz Wagner, Chuma Okiki also excelled with a season-high 19 points.
Detroit (37:12) – Cleveland (20:30) 105: 115
After eight wins in nine games and a streak of three wins, the Cubs were actually stopped in the City of Cars. Sadick Bay with 31 points, Cade Cunningham with 19, 10 rebounds and 10 assists and Frank Jackson with 19 helped the Pistons overcome a terrible game opener after falling 15-0 after four minutes, and took the lead for the first time late in the final quarter. On the other hand, Darius Garland with 24 and Owen Mobley with 18 were not enough for the Cubs.
Minnesota (25:25) – Utah (21:30) 106: 120
A fifth straight loss to the Jazz, who continue to suffer from a very lacking squad and this time too have appeared without Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gover, getting another cause for concern following a potentially difficult Joe Ingles injury. Carl Anthony Towns recorded a second triple-double of his career with 31 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists, Jayden McDanieles recorded a season-high 22 points from the bench, and a dominant third quarter for the Wolves gave them the win. Boyan Bogdanovich (23) and Mike Conley (22) were the bright spots for the jazz.
Atlanta (25:24) – L.A. Lakers (27:24) 121: 129
The visitors from City of Angels came into the game after losses to Philadelphia and Charlotte, the host took advantage of LeBron James ‘absence, deepened the Lakers’ crisis and recorded a seventh straight win. The team from California dragged the Hawks to a close game and even climbed to a 62:71 lead at the break, but paid dearly for a catastrophic final quarter, in which they were defeated 38:20, including a 0: 8 run in the last two minutes.
Trey Young, who was named the All-Star’s top five in the East this weekend, proved his place in the All-Star Game with a double – a 36-point double and 12 assists. John Collins added a double – his own double with 20 points and 11 rebounds. Malik Monk fired on the back with 33 points, Anthony Davis contributed 27 points, Russell Westbrook recorded 20 points, 12 assists and 7 rebounds.
Chicago (18:31) – Portland (29:21) 116: 130
After the disappointing loss to San Antonio, Chicago is back to winning with an offensive display at the expense of Portland, which in turn continues to wait for the return of Damien Lillard. The visitors surprised in the first quarter and also led at the end, but the Bulls exploded with 44 points in the second quarter and opened a double-digit gap that they maintained until the end. Nikola Wojciech, who arrived this summer from Orlando, continued to deliver the goods with 24 points, 14 rebounds and another purposeful display. Damar Drusen added 23 and 10 assists and Zack Lavine of the third side added 20 to Chicago, which along with the injured Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso will be a team no one will want to face in the playoffs in the East. C.J. McCollum scored 29 for Portland, Anfrani Simmons sniped 5 of 10 from outside the arc and added 21. Portland scored 18 threes at 46 percent, but with such defense she would get nowhere.
Charlotte (23:28) – L.A. Clippers (26:26) 115: 90
The Clippers continued their successful foreign campaign in the East with a fourth win in six games. The match was pretty close until the last quarter, where the guest defeated 14:31 on the way to a very impressive victory. Five Tyrone Lou players scored in double digits, with rookie Brandon Boston Jr. standing above them all, contributing 20 points from the bench. Lamello Bull who scored 23 points and delivered 10 assists failed to prevent a painful home defeat.