Beautiful posters this night with in particular the duel between the Celtics and the Kings, both big teams in their conferences but also that for the race for the playoffs between the Clippers and the Thunder. See also the performance of the Cavs against the Nets! Here is the summary of the night.
We start right away with the match of the night, the one that ended in pain, madness and tension. In this confrontation, each team was still playing big things. The Thunder are still looking to stay in the play-in, or even go out of the play-in in place of their evening opponents, while the Clippers are obviously looking to qualify directly for the playoffs. The game was therefore fundamental.
And it’s the Clippers who start the game perfectly. Through an 18-4, the Californians quickly took the lead thanks to Russell Westbrook et Ivica Zubac who are in a good rhythm and dominate the interior. But that does not last because very quickly, and as soon as the Clippers enter rotations, the Thunder launches a run in turn to come back, thanks to Shai Gilgeous Alexander et Jalen Williams. Everything has to be redone for the two teams, which no longer leave each other. Neither of the two will pass the 5 points difference and the rest of the match will be completely under sporting tension. Unfortunately for the show and the league, with five minutes remaining and 91 all, on a defensive rebound, Paul George going to injure his knee… Clear end of the game and waiting for the results but a sudden blow for the Clippers.
Despite this, the match continues and everyone still goes blow for blow. Shai continues to try to penetrate even though Russell Westbrook is doing a good defensive job on him late in the game. Despite everything, he manages to put his family ahead. But the Angelinos don’t give up and on a 3 pts d’Eric Gordon after an offensive rebound, they return a possession. A good defense later, the match point is in the hands of Kawhi Leonard who… will find no solution because of the excellent defense of Luguentz there and misses an extremely complicated shot at the buzzer. OKC therefore won 101-100 and won a superb and important victory!
Shai finished with 31 points, J.Williams with 20 while opposite Kawhi posted 21-6-5 and Paul George 18 points.
We start this summary with the most enticing poster of the night, even if there was no match. Finally yes, there was a match for 24 minutes and the first half. During this one, Kings and Celtics surrendered blow for blow, neither taking a lead of more than 7 points while Tatum had already scored 15 points at the end of the first quarter. But the 9-7-5 of Domantas Sabonis compensated for this. Unfortunately for the Kings, the second half is going to be a whole different ball game. Boston will move up a gear, and if offensively Sacramento is still there, it’s defensively that they take on water. Almost 70% success for the greens in the third quarter and almost 60% in the fourth. Boston thus takes little by little a bigger and bigger card and wins with panache, 132-109. Tatum has 36 points, Brown 27 et White 20 in front of 16-13-12 from Sabonis, very limited after the 1st quarter.
Cleveland won 115-109 in an important game for direct playoff qualification. For this, they built a little bit a 24-point lead to make the game… not at all quiet. Brooklyn got very dangerously close at the end and would have done the heist very well! But the Cavs held on and won thanks to 31 points from Mitchell or the 12-14 of Jarrett Allen.
Nice victory for the Magic which won 122-112 thanks to a very good last quarter time (35-24). Despite the 30 points of Porzingisthe overall Orlando collective was stronger.
Logical victory for the Hawks on the side of Detroit. Without too many worries and with a sudden acceleration in the second half, and despite the 31 points of Marvin Bagley IIIAtlanta wins thanks to 30/12 of Trae Young and at the 18 points of Bogdanović.
We end this summary with the quiet victory of the Pelicans 119-84 against the Spurs. There was no debate and the Pels dominated from start to finish thanks in particular to the 32 points d’Ingram.
WASHINGTON 112 ORLANDO 122
DETROIT 107 ATLANTA 129
CLEVELAND 115 BROOKLYN 109
SAN ANTONIO 84 NEW ORLEANS 119
BOSTON 132 SACRAMENTO 109
OKLAHOMA CITY 101 100 DAYS
Jayson Tatum of Sacramento
Donovan Mitchell dynamite les Nets
Top 10: Donavan Mitchell slams an incredible dunk on Yuta Watanabe