Irving brings down the Bucks
Not vaccinated against Covid-19, he still hopes for an easing of health constraints to play in New York, but Kyrie Irving does the job as soon as he can. This Saturday evening, the leader of the Nets was the great architect of the success of the New York franchise on the floor of the Milwaukee Bucks. In a game that felt like the playoffs, the Nets won 126-123, including 38 points from Irving, his best game this season. “It’s all the guys in the locker room, honestly they keep me fitcommented the leader of Brooklyn. They keep pushing me, I stay motivated thanks to them. »
Opposite, the defending champions, despite Giannis Antetokounmpo’s 29 points and 14 rebounds, and a seven-point lead in the fourth quarter, gave way in particular to a big end to the game from Irving, who without Kevin Durant (who could resume next week according to his coach Steve Steve Nash), nor Ben Simmons (freshly arrived from Philadelphia), holds the New York barracks. “When we have recovered all our players, we will be good”, warned Irving. The Nets (32 v.-29 d.) point only to 8th place in a very tight Eastern Conference and now led by the Miami Heat.
Miami takes the lead in the East
Back to back before this day with 65% of victories, Miami and Chicago saw their road separate, at least until the next game. Faced with Spurs who had rotated their workforce (absence of Murray, Poetl and Johnson), the Heat players took time to make the difference, especially since the Spurs had made the best start (40-28 at the end of the first quarter).
Despite Keita Bates-Diop’s 22 points and 11 rebounds, San Antonio ultimately lost 133-129, preventing their coach Gregg Popovitch from equaling Don Nelson’s 1,335 NBA wins for the time being. Bam Adebayo (36 points, 7 rebounds) and Miami add, for their part, a 40th success this season (for 21 defeats).
With 36 points and 7 rebounds, Bam Adebayo carried Miami to victory against San Antonio. (J. Miron/USA Today Sports/Sports Press)
Especially since Chicago failed to get this 40th success. Opposed to Memphis, the Bulls lacked skill (41.9% shooting) to get out of the grip of Ja Morant, author of his regular season record with 46 points.
Neither Nikola Vucevic (5 out of 17 in the shoot), nor DeMar DeRozan (10 out of 29) were able to set the sights perfectly, contrary to their habits. With 31 points, DeRozan even remained below his insane standards of his last eight games at more than 35 points. All this put together allowed Memphis to win 116-110.
Valuable success for Atlanta
Well led by Trae Young (41 points), the Atlanta players won 127-100 against Toronto, allowing them to pick up in Charlotte in the last jump seats for the play-offs in the East. Frenchman Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot played three minutes without adding any stats to his tally.
In the last two games of the night, Cleveland won 92-86 against Washington, despite Kyle Kuzma’s 34 points and 13 rebounds. While Denver overcame Sacramento (115-110).
