2023-12-15 07:53:27
One of the signs that everything is going well for an NBA team is that it never concedes two defeats in a row. This is the case this season for Minnesota, which responded to its defeat at the New Orleans Pelicans on Monday (121-107) with an authoritarian victory in Dallas on Thursday (101-119). The Mavs, however, remained on four wins and led by 15 points at the very start of the match (19-4, 5th), in the wake of Luka Doncic (14 points in the first four minutes, 39 in total, with 13 assists) .
But the Wolves never panicked and calmly came back into the game, only to pull away midway through the third quarter. Returning from injury after missing three of his team’s last five matches due to a hip problem, Anthony Edwards was not in a great shooting evening (9 points at 3/19), turning into a distributor , with 11 assists. Karl-Anthony Towns (21 points, 17 rebounds) and especially Naz Reid, incandescent coming off the bench (27 points, 7/11 behind the arc), took over the scoring. For the second time in a row, Rudy Gobert only scored 8 points (3/4 shooting, 2/6 free throws), but darkened the stats sheet elsewhere (12 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 interceptions , 1 against).
An electric duel between Fox and Gilgeous-Alexander
Minnesota is now at 18 wins for 5 losses, tied with Boston for the best record in the entire NBA, and has emerged at the top of the Western Conference. Indeed, its runner-up, Oklahoma City, lost on the Sacramento floor in an electrifying match (128-123), between two teams who like to play at full speed. Symbols of this spectacular style, De’Aaron Fox (41 points, 7 assists) and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (43 points, 9 assists, 6 rebounds) engaged in a high-flying duel in the lead. But the first had the last word, notably with a crucial basket for the Kings at the end of the match, while the Thunder had come back to two points (119-117, 45th).
Domantas Sabonis had a solid double-double (18 points and 16 rebounds, in addition to 7 assists) and the contribution from the bench served the Californians well (18 points for Malik Monk, 17 for sophomore Keon Ellis, career record ). OKC was unable to say the same (26 units in total for the bench, compared to 45 for Sacramento) and the contribution of Josh Giddey (18 points, 8 rebounds), reviled by the Sacramento public due to accusations of a relationship with a minor was not enough, nor was that of Chet Holmgren (14 points, 11 rebounds).
De’Aaron Fox and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander greet each other after Sacramento’s victory over Oklahoma City on Thursday. (D. Yamashita/Archyde.com)
The Thunder (15 wins for 8 losses) is even overtaken in the Western Conference standings by Denver (17 v. – 9 l.), easy winner of Brooklyn (124-101) thanks to a historic Nikola Jokic. The 115th triple-double of his career (26 points, 15 rebounds, 10 assists) allowed him to become the first player to achieve at least 10 in seven consecutive seasons in the NBA. And to think that the 2023-2024 financial year is barely in its quarter… But what Mike Malone appreciated the most about the Serbian pivot is his defense, Jokic also highlighting the collective effort from his team in this area, notably to hold the Nets to 26.7% at 3 points in the match (8/30).
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