The Los Angeles Lakers, without LeBron James, were knocked even further out of the play-in race by Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets, although Russell Westbrook and Anthony Davis played well. The top teams in the east fought tight duels, Kyle Lowry was celebrated as a folk hero in Toronto.
Boston Celtics (49-30) – Washington Wizards (34-44) 144:102 (BOXSCORE)
- Another show of force from the Celtics against Wizards, who traveled to Boston with some good games behind them. However, the Celts quickly made things clear with 35:22 in the first quarter and never gave up the lead, top scorer Jaylen Brown scored 13 of his team’s first 17 points.
- Brown ended the game with 32 points at 12/17 FG and 7 rebounds and 5 assists in just under 29 minutes, Jayson Tatum followed suit with 22 (9/17 FG) and 7 assists. The Celtics’ bench was particularly outstanding, hitting 25/34 from the field (15 three-pointers). 4 reservists scored double digits, Derrick White (17) and Grant Williams (16) each converted 6/7 FG.
- The Wizards defended themselves with a strong second quarter (37:35), but after the break the resistance dropped significantly. Boston scored 32 points (to 4) in the fast break alone, hit 61.5 percent from the field and 52.3 percent from downtown and played 39 assists with only 7 turnovers. Thanks to the Bucks’ loss to the Mavs, Ime Udoka’s team is back in second place in the Eastern Conference.
- At the Wizards, Kristaps Porzinigs (5/15 FG, 7 rebounds) and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (7/17) were already the top scorers with 17 points each, Ish Smith contributed 16 points with 8/10 FG coming off the bench. Rui Hachimura remained completely without points (0/5 FG, 7 rebounds) in almost 25 minutes as a starter.
Milwaukee Bucks (48-30) – Dallas Mavericks (49-30) 112:118 (SPIELBERICHT)
Los Angeles Lakers (31-47) – Denver Nuggets (47-32) 118:129 (BOXSCORE)
- 27 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists at 11/15 and only 2 turnovers from the field by Russell Westbrook, plus Anthony Davis with 28 points (11/25 FG), 9 rebounds and 8 assists – after LeBron James hours before the start of the game as inactive was reported, delivered the two remaining stars of the Lakers. Still, the Lakers failed even though they could hardly afford another loss.
- Nikola Jokic made sure of that, scoring at least 37 points in the third game in a row. With 15/22 from the field, he had 38 points, 18 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks. The Nuggets’ offense was in full swing, with Denver hitting 57.3 percent of his field shots and playing 33 assists with just 12 turnovers (7 through Jokic).
- With the loss, the Lakers are two games behind the San Antonio Spurs, who also have the tiebreaker secured. So Los Angeles needs three more wins from the last four games of the season than the Spurs to not miss the play-in tournament. “We don’t care about the math,” said Lakers coach Frank Vogel after the game: “We’ll take care of the next game. We have to learn from the defeat and hopefully win against Phoenix.”
- The Lakers took the first lead and had early success with an aggressive Davis, who repeatedly attacked Jokic and also impressed on defense with a total of two steals and three blocks. Los Angeles led for much of the first three quarters. In the final period, the Nuggets ran 7-0 to give them a 7-point lead with just under 6 minutes to play. The Lakers had no answer and couldn’t get any closer than -5.
- Behind Davis and Westbrook, Carmelo Anthony scored well coming off the bench (17, 8/18 FG), but was also involved in the Lakers’ weak three-point quota (6/20, 30 percent). By the way, it was announced before the start of the game that Melo became the first bearer of a new honor. Anthony received the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Trophy als Social Justice Champion of the league for his social commitment during the 2020/21 season.
- At the other end, Jokic received a lot of support, Will Barton sank 6/8 threes for 25 points, Aaron Gordon (24, 9/14 FG) was also very accurate. DeMarcus Cousins led three Nuggets reservists in double digits with 14 points (6/9 FG) in just 15 minutes. Only Monte Morris (6, 1/9 FG) didn’t find his throw, but he made himself useful with 10 assists.
