Unstoppable leading the West and as the best team in the league, The Phoenix Suns added their ninth victory in a row in an NBA day in which the Atlanta Hawks chained their sixth consecutive victory and the Los Angeles Lakers, without LeBron James and Anthony Davis, were close to an epic comeback.
SUNS 134 – TIMBERWOLVES 124
Devin Booker (29 points and 9 assists) and Chris Paul (21 points, 10 assists and 14 rebounds) led one more night to about Phoenix Suns fearsome and increasingly launched that, on this occasion, defeated some Minnesota Timberwolves very worthy.
Anthony Edwards (27 points and 10 assists) and the American of Dominican descent Karl-Anthony Towns (23 points and 9 rebounds) led a Wolves team that suffered from the success of the Suns from the triple (20 of 39).
HAWKS 108 – CELTICS 92
After a very disappointing first half of the season, the Atlanta Hawks seem determined to turn things around and tonight they got their sixth win in a row defeating the Boston Celtics.
Trae Young (21 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists) and John Collins (21 points and 9 rebounds) guided these Hawks that are already approaching the playoff positions in the East, while in the Celtics the most outstanding was Jaylen Brown (26 points and 12 rebounds).
HORNETS 117 – LAKERS 114
The best Russell Westbrook of the season (35 points, 16 of them in the fourth quarter) was about to give the Los Angeles Lakers an epic comeback away from home in a game against the Charlotte Hornets in which they did not play due to physical discomfort LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
Miles Bridges (26 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists) and Ish Smith (22 points) were the benchmarks for the Hornets who knew how to keep a cool head when the Lakers were on their heels.
HEAT 121 – CLIPPERS 114
Three wins in a row lead some Miami Heat increasingly entrenched at the head of the East and tonight they defeated the Los Angeles Clippers thanks to Jimmy Butler (26 points, 6 rebounds and 9 assists) and Bam Adebayo (20 points and 12 rebounds).
Luke Kennard (23 points and 6 rebounds) was the best of a Clippers misguided in the triple (9 of 35), inferior in the rebound (37 for 51 of the Heat) and in which the Spanish Serge Ibaka did not have minutes.
PELICANS 105 – NUGGETS 116
An extraordinary Nikola Jokic (sixth triple-double this month with 29 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists) paved the way for the Denver Nuggets to beat the New Orleans Pelicans for their fourth straight victory.
The Spanish Willy Hernangómez, who two days ago played his best game in the NBA (29 points and 10 rebounds), stood out again with 18 points and 16 rebounds in 32 minutes for the Pelicans while the Argentine Facundo Campazzo played 7 minutes for the Pelicans. Nuggets in which he added 3 points and an assist.
SPURS 131 – BULLS 122
The Chicago Bulls seemed to have caught their breath with two wins in a row after a month of constant disappointment in January, but today they stumbled again and lost to the San Antonio Spurs with Dejounte Murray as their beacon (29 points, 9 rebounds and 12 assists).
DeMar DeRozan (32 points, 6 rebounds and 8 assists) was the best of a very poor Bulls in the perimeter (8 of 30 in triples) while in the Spurs the Spanish Juancho Hernangómez had no minutes.
BUCKS 123 – KNICKS 108
Giannis Antetokounmpo (38 points and 13 rebounds) went over some New York Knicks who do not raise their heads and that they added against the Milwaukee Bucks their third straight loss to continue sinking in the East.
Evan Fournier (25 points and 7 rebounds) was the top scorer for the New Yorkers.
GRIZZLIES 119 – JAZZ 109
In a duel of great hopefuls in the West, Ja Morant (triple-double with 30 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists) was once again the best of the Memphis Grizzlies who adequately defeated the Utah Jazz.
Danuel House Jr. (21 points) was the leading scorer for a Jazz in crisis that have lost four straight and have only won two of their last ten games.
The Spanish Santi Aldama did not have minutes with the Grizzlies.
MAGIC 119 – PISTONS 103
The confrontation between the two teams with the worst balance in the NBA was won by the Orlando Magic thanks to the good performance of German rookie Franz Wagner (24 points).
Trey Lyles (18 points) was the Pistons’ main offensive resource.
ROCKETS 110 – BLAZERS 125
Anfernee Simons (27 points and 6 assists) and CJ McCollum (26 points) formed the perfect duo for the Portland Trail Blazers to beat the Houston Rockets, who are bottom in the West, at home.
Christian Wood (21 points and 15 rebounds) led the Houston team.
THUNDER 110 – PACERS 113
After suffering a painful loss to the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday (126-158), the Indiana Pacers regained victory by beating the Oklahoma City Thunder after extra time.
Domantas Sabonis (triple-double with 24 points, 18 rebounds and 10 assists) led the Pacers while Luguentz Dort (27 points and 8 rebounds) did the same for the Thunder.
Dominican Chris Duarte played 31 minutes with the Indiana team in which he contributed 5 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal.
