What a smack for the Warriors who left head coach Steve Kerr pissed off. The Grizzlies wiped the floor thanks to a strong second quarter with Golden State as the playoff race heats up in the east. The Raptors take down a decimated Celtics in overtime, the Bulls are left empty-handed again and Miami is shooting back on the road to success.
Charlotte Hornets (39-37) – Denver Nuggets (45-31) 109:113 (BOXSCORE)
- Second night of a back-to-back for the Hornets, that almost automatically spells defeat. In such games Charlotte is now at 1-13, this time Nikola Jokic was just too much. The reigning MVP had his 19th triple-double of the season and led Denver to a third win in four games with 26 points (9/17 FG), 19 rebounds and 11 assists.
- The remaining starting five of the guests around Aaron Gordon (21), Will Barton (18), Jeff Green and Monte Morris (14 each) also delivered good performances, but that was not the case for the bank. The Hornets’ reservists won the duel on the bench 33:20, so the Nuggets, with Jokic on the bench, lost almost a 13-point lead in the fourth quarter.
- Among others Isaiah Thomas (12, +14), but especially Miles Bridges (27 and 11 rebounds) helped to make it exciting again. But Charlotte also missed a lot of chances to equalize in crunch time until Terry Rozier (12, 2/7 threes) reduced Downtown to -2 with 30 seconds left. Jokic missed a hook shot at the other end, but then grabbed his own offensive rebound and sealed the win from the free throw line.
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- That was not necessarily a matter of course that evening, Denver revealed major weaknesses on the Charity Stripe (21/28), Jokic was “only” at 8/12 FT, but remained strong in crunch time. Denver benefited from 17 offensive rebounds, which they converted into 32 second chance points (CHA: 13). LaMelo Ball showed a decent performance for Charlotte (22 and 11 assists, 8/21 FG), Montrezl Harrell followed a minor scuffle expelled from the field. The defeat slipped the Hornets back down to ninth place in the East.
Cleveland Cavaliers (42-33) – Orlando Magic (20-56) 107:101 (BOXSCORE)
- Cleveland may have had to pay dearly for the win against the basement child of the Eastern Conference. Rookie Evan Mobley sprained his left ankle early in the game and was forced off the court. A first X-ray examination gave loud ESPN at least a slight all-clear and Darius Garland and Lauri Markkanen finally made for a conciliatory conclusion.
- In the second quarter, the hosts pulled away by up to 20 points, but quickly gambled away this lead again. The game then remained even until crunch time, then Garland and Markkanen took over. The duo rattled off a 12-0 run, a Stepback threesome by Garland put Cleveland at a distance, then Markkanen alley-ooped after a pass from his point guard and put the finishing touch to the 10-point lead just over a minute before the end.
- In the meantime, the Finn had also been hit, at first he hobbled off the court, but came back later and scored 10 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter. Garland had 25 points (5/10 threes) and 12 assists, otherwise Kevin Love also impressed with 19 points from the bench. Without the injured Mobley and Jarrett Allen, however, Orlando dominated the zone (62:40).
- The Magic starters had already finished work in the last round and were only used for less than 30 minutes each. Franz Wagner had the best plus/minus of his team (+12) and collected 10 points, 6 assists and 3 rebounds. His older brother Moritz had some problems with his shot (2, 1/5 FG, but 5 rebounds and 5 assists), the best Magic scorer was Wendell Carter Jr. with 15 points (plus 12 rebounds and 6 assists).
Indiana Pacers (25-51) – Atlanta Hawks (38-37) 123:132 (BOXSCORE)
- The Hawks are keeping the 11th-placed New York Knicks at a distance, while at the same time reducing the gap to 9th place in the East (Charlotte) to 0.5 games. Atlanta owed that to a red hot Bogdan Bogdanovic and a season best from Trae Young.
- The guests’ point guard distributed 16 assists, which he has never done so far this season. But he missed his career high by two assists. It won’t have mattered to him, the Hawks shot their way to victory with three fireworks in the first quarter. 10 triples in 14 attempts enabled a double-digit lead.
- However, the throwing luck decreased during the game. In the end, Atlanta still had 17/35 threes and almost 55 percent field shot rate. Although Indiana kept fighting within striking distance, the Hawks always found a suitable answer in good time. Mostly Bogdanovic had his fingers in the game, who finished the game with 29 points (5/7 threes). Kevin Huerter and Clint Capela (15 rebounds) each contributed 22 points, Young had more problems with his own scoring (14 points, 2/9 threes).
- On the Pacers’ side, Tyrese Haliburton (25 and 13 assists, plus 2 steals and blocks each) attracted positive attention, while Buddy Hield (26, 5/7 threes) and Keifer Sykes (16, 4/6 threes) also held one safe hands from a distance well against it. Indiana also sunk 17 long-range shots in 36 attempts. However, they could not prevent the fourth bankruptcy in a row.
