Saturday night saw several Eastern Conference teams stand out, including the Brooklyn Nets and Washington Wizards. The tanking duel ended with Houston’s victory in Detroit.
The derby: Kyrie Irving and the Brooklyn Nets dominate the New York KnicksQuality opposition Saturday night between the Brooklyn Nets and the New York Knicks. A rivalry which saw the first named win at home (122-115) thanks to a very big three-point address (22 out of 40 in the exercise, 55%). In favor, too, of Kyrie Irving, excellent from start to finish (32 points, 6 rebounds, 9 assists) and especially in the last quarter (21 points). Indispensable since the hosts evolved without Kevin Durant in Ben Simmons.
Relaunched after two defeats, the Nets are in fourth place in the Eastern Conference (30v-19d) while the Knicks, who have won only two of their last seven games, now point to a victory for Miami (27 v. against 28 d.), sixths.
read also: The results of the night
Tanking race: Houston “misses” in DetroitAs the title suggests, the losing streak – dubbed NBA “tanking” (the act of deliberately losing games in order to get a very high Draft pick) – offered a “tantalizing” Detroit-Houston Saturday night. And on the Pistons’ floor, the Rockets clearly “failed” by winning (117-114), which means that the Texas franchise, which has the worst record in the League (12v-38v), does not now has more than one victory less than his victim of the evening.
read also: Western conference standings
read also: Eastern conference standings
After 50 regular season games, four teams seem to want to fight for the three worst places. A particularly important podium to occupy since the three worst records of the season will each obtain a 14% chance of obtaining the first choice of the next Draft (where the Frenchman Victor Wembanyama should be the first chosen). The fourth worst record will only get a 12.5% chance (10.5% for the fifth). Gold Detroit (13 v.-38 d.) and now Charlotte and San Antonio (14 v.-36 d.) seem able to challenge Houston for this objective. Orlando (19 v. 31 d.) is a little further.
The surprise: Washington sinks New Orleans and passes the fifthWithout Kristaps Porzingis but with a very good Daniel Gafford (21 points, 12 rebounds, 5 blocks), the Washington Wizards obtained one of the most convincing results of the evening by winning against the New Orleans Pelicans (113-103). The match had started particularly badly for the Pels, the fault of exclusion for a high elbow from Jonas Valanciunas (9 minutes of play) on the head of That Gibson.
With five consecutive victories, the current series, the franchise of the American capital has completely relaunched itself in the race for the “play-in”, the preliminary tournament for accession to the play-offs. With 23 wins, the Wizards are now tenth, with the same record as the Chicago Bulls (11th) and a success for the Indiana Pacers (24 v.-27 d.).
In the West, the Pelicans – deprived of Zion Williamson for the thirteenth game in a row (thigh) – are in trouble: seven defeats in a row and a fall to fifth place (26 v.-24 d.). “We will find our style and our joy in the game”, promised coach Willie Green. At the Milwaukee Bucks, starting this Sunday evening, it will be anything but a cakewalk.
read also: Lakers injured and beaten in Boston
read also: The night of the Blues: Gobert in double-double, Fournier glued to the bench
