Golden State, weighed down by absences, weakened its second place in the West a little more, with a defeat in Minnesota on Tuesday in the NBA, while Brooklyn, still deprived of its stars, still had to bow against Toronto.
The Warriors are tough. Two days after their embarrassing defeat against Dallas, squandering a 21-point lead, they never gave the impression of being able to dominate the Timberwolves, who accelerated in the last quarter to win (129-114 ).
In the absence of Klay Thompson (sick) and Draymond Green (back), Golden State lacked deterrence in defense and this was seen by the number of points conceded and the opposing success percentage (52.8% ), Karl-Anthony Towns taking full advantage (39 pts).
Stephen Curry did what he could and rather well (34 pts), but without preventing the Californians from conceding a second consecutive loss, which reduced his lead over the Grizzlies (3rd) of the phenomenon Ja Morant to one loss. .
Minnesota remains for its part 7th, just ahead of the Clippers (8th), who chained a fourth success in a row in Houston (113-100), carried by the pivot Ivica Zubac (22 pts, 12 rebounds). Nicolas Batum (4 pts, 4 rebounds) was discreet.
In the East, Boston consolidated its 6th place, the last directly qualifying for the play-offs, by defeating Atlanta (107-98). A victory that the Celtics hope not to be Pyrrhic, Jaylen Brown having played only three minutes, victim of a sprained right ankle.
Ubiquitous Tatum
It was in the 3rd quarter that they made the difference (31-13), in the wake of the ubiquitous Jayson Tatum (33 pts, 8 rebounds, 7 assists). Opposite, Trae Young, also victim of a torsion of the left ankle, but less severe because he was able to play the whole match, did not deserve (31 pts), just like Bogdan Bogdanovic (25 pts).
The Hawks slip to 10th place, two places behind Brooklyn, which lost (109-108) for the second consecutive time in the back-to-back match against Toronto (7th).
This time the meeting took place in Canada, where, as in New York, Kyrie Irving could not play, because not vaccinated. And without him or Ben Simmons or Kevin Durant, whose return is hoped for Thursday against Miami, after a month and a half of absence (knee), the Nets have resisted much better than the day before, only yielding in the last moments.
It took all the composure of Gary Trent Jr (24 pts, 7 assists) on free throws (6/6 in the last thirty seconds) to allow the Raptors to have the last word, while Seth Curry (18 pts) had put the two teams tied earlier in the last minute.
The period is still tough for the Lakers. Overwhelmed in the first period, the teammates of a LeBron James in his standards (26pts, 12 rebounds, 5 assists) came back to score in the third quarter. But faced with the collective of the Mavericks led by Doncic (25pts) and Brunson (22 pts), the Angelinos stumbled at the end of the match and lost for the third consecutive time.
Finally, in Washington, the Wizards (11th) also won by nothing (116-113) at the expense of Detroit, thanks in particular to Kyle Kuzma (21 pts). Killian Hayes, author of a good performance off the bench (7 pts, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 interceptions) had the equalizer ball at the buzzer. But his attempt behind the arc failed to send both teams into extra time.