Without Green and Thompson and with Curry in the shade, Golden State Utah bends anyway. Hawks shine in Charlotte. The Serbian pivot leads Denver. Phila enjoys a great Embiid
Golden State beat Utah in the sprint despite absences and poor night shooting from Steph Curry, who finished with just 13 points and 1/13 of three. The Brooklyn Nets fall under the beating of the Edwards-Russell-Towns trio in Minneapolis. Significant wins, however, for Danilo Gallinaris Hawks in Charlotte and for the Sixers in San Antonio: 30 points for Trae Young, 38 for Joel Embiid. Finally, Denver’s home win over Detroit: Nikola Jokic’s 34 points, 9 rebounds and 8 assists.
Golden State Warriors – Utah Jazz 94-92
With Draymond Green and Klay Thompson unavailable, despite a 20-point Steph Curry with 1/13 shooting and 34/13 from three points, Golden State (13-5) still manages to grab a very valuable win in Utah (30-30). -17), which played without the injured Donovan Mitchell. He pulled it off with his supporting cast, his defense, and even a bit of luck. At 94-92, the Jazz actually had a chance to prevail with a hat-trick from Bogdanovic (21 points) and then O’Neale’s tap-in to force overtime. However, both attempts failed at the bottom edge of the retina, so that the Warriors were able to celebrate their 21st home win of the season. The dubs relied mostly on the creative streak of Jordan Poole (20 points), always ready to step up if needed, and the efficiency of Damion Lee (12 points, 4/6 of three), coming on as a substitute would. Excellent performance, and this is not new, also from Kevon Looney (10 points and 6 rebounds), decisive with the offensive rebound and the following basket with an immediate foul that gave the Warriors 94-89 at 1:48 from the Mermaid.
Goldzustand: Poole 20 (7/13, 4/9 aus drei, 2/2 Tl), Wiggins 14, Curry/Porter Jr. 13. Rebounds: Porter Jr. 8. Assists: Curry 6.
Utah: Bogdanovic 21 (7/17, 1/7 on three, 6/7 Tl), Gay 16, Gobert 12. Rebounds: Gobert 18. Assists: Ingles 5.
Minnesota Timberwolves – Brooklyn Nets 136-125
Tusks on vacation and an incessant rain of baskets. Hard to beat Minnesota (23-23) when you play that way, especially at Target Center. The Timberwolves overtook the Nets at home (29-17), fueled by their offensive trident. Most notably Anthony Edwards, who was dismissed just before the final siren due to a bruised knee, with 25 points, followed by D’Angelo Russell (23 points and 10 assists) and Karl-Anthony Towns, who shot poorly all evening (7/18 out the field and 2/7 from three), but managed to close the crescendo and scored 15 of his 23 points in the 4th period. Brooklyn is very disappointing on defense and generally not very consistent on the court, despite an inspired Kyrie Irving’s thirties. James Harden’s performance wasn’t exciting at all, in the doubles doubles with 13 points and 13 assists but with 6 turnovers and a 4/13 shooting.
Minnesota: Edwards 25 (8/17, 4/8 aus drei, 5/6 tl), Towns 23, Russell 23. Rebounds: Vanderbilt 9. Assists: Russell 10.
Brooklyn: Irving 30 (11/20, 3/8 aus drei, 5/5 tl), Mills 21, Edwards 15. Rebounds: Sharpe 9. Assists: Harden 13.
Charlotte Hornets – Atlanta Hawks 91-113
Charlotte (26-21) shoots poorly throughout the game and Atlanta (21-25) wins comfortably at the Spectrum Center with 30 points from Trae Young and 8 triples scored. The Hornets came from 7 wins in the last 8, but in this race they never managed to compete: 34/87 from the field (39.1%) and most importantly 4/36 from three (11.1%). LaMelo Ball shot 0/8 from the arc, Kelly Oubre 1/9, Terry Rozier 0/6 and Miles Bridges 0/4. You’ve hardly worn it. The Hawks finished practice smoothly and were up +27 of the 4th period. Good play for DeAndre Hunter with 20 points and 3 steals, as well as Danilo Gallinari’s with 10 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block and +13 plus/minus in 22′.
Charlotte: Ball 19 (6/17, 0/8 on three, 7/7 tl), Bridges 19, Oubre Jr./Washington 12. Rebounds: Plumlee 11. Assists: Rozier 7.
Atlanta: Young 30 (9/20, 8/15 of three, 4/5 tl), Hunter 20, Hunter 11, GALLINARI 10 (4/12, 2/6 of three). Rebounds: Capela 8. Assist: Collins 5.
San Antonio Spurs – Philadelphia 76ers 109-115
Always Joel Embiid, always very strong Joel Embiid. The Cameroonian center has another fabulous, decisive and dominant performance that only an MVP is capable of. Philadelphia (27-19) wins in San Antonio (17-30), despite some chills in the final as Spurs finish at -2 at 33.2 inches from the siren. Another monster run for Embiid with 38 points, 12 rebounds and 6 assists in 32 minutes. Philly let himself be carried away by him beyond all measure, especially in the 4th third. Embiid himself, who reached the 14th straight run with over 25 points, sealed his success with some free throws in the final. Despite significant failures 4th win in the last 6 for the Sixers.
Saint Anthony: Poeltl 25 (11/16, 3/4 Tl), Murray 19, Johnson 17. Rebounds: Embiid 12. Assist: Embiid 6.
Philadelphia-Creme: Embiid 38 (16/32, 1/3 von drei, 5/6 tl), Harris 18, Maxey 18. Rebounds: Poeltl 10. Assists: Murray 12.
Denver Nuggets-Detroit-Kolben 117-111
Denver (24-21) wins in Detroit, perhaps risking more than it should but finding Nikola Jokic free to cross the finish line shortly. With the reigning MVP performing as always on the court, the Nuggets have a chance of victory in every game. His 34 points, 9 rebounds and 8 assists weigh heavily. Even more significant, however, is the 4/4 in the free in the last 40 that allowed Denver to survive the comeback of the Pistons (11-35) unscathed, who finished on 109 in the final turn even after being under 16 at the end of the 3rd trimester. Detroit had four players with 18 points, including Cade Cunningham, who also added 8 assists, 5 rebounds and 6 turnovers. For the Nuggets, DeMarcus Cousins made his debut: 2 points (1/7 shooting), 6 rebounds and 1 assist in 12′.
Denver: Jokic 34 (12/19, 1/6 von drei, 9/10 tl), Barton 14, Gordon 13. Rebounds: Jokic 9. Assist: Jokic 8.
Detroit: Cunningham 18 (7/15, 1/5 von drei, 3/3 Tl), Stewart/Joseph/Lyles 18. Rebounds: Bey 7. Assists: Cunningham 8.
