We learn it a few hours before the match, LeBron James et Anthony Davis will be available to play at Madison Square Garden against the Knicks! And the game is off to a good start for the Angelinos! The defense is well in place and the trio LeBron James – Anthony Davis – Rui Hachimura is already on pace while opposite, the Knicks are struggling to score. They start with an awful 2/16 on shots allowing the Lakers to take a ten-point lead. No local player can find the solution until Jalen Brunson take matters into your own hands and unblock the situation a little (29-24). The second quarter time is a little better for the Knicks who put more intensity and take advantage of the rest of LeBron and Davis and the less good overall passage of the team to come back to score. Quickley et Hartenstein make a good run and New York recovers its biggest advantage of the match thanks in large part to the bench, before seeing a small run from the Lakers to bring everyone back to the status quo before the break (53-52). Again, Anthony Davis and LeBron James do a lot of the work while opposite, Julius Randle et RJ Barrett very little present, are compensated for their shortcomings by a Brunson in very good shape and still author of 10 points so as not to lose the rhythm. The two teams no longer leave each other and the gap does not exceed 6 points in this tension at Madison Square Garden. But the last quarter and especially the last minutes where Los Angeles had a 6-point lead will be surprising. Better for a few minutes, Barrett, Randle and of course Brunson push the Lakers to their limits and the leader of the Knicks finds all the solutions to bring his people back in the last seconds and finally equalize! They even had the possibility of winning but the last possession tragically played by Randle will not give anything. However, in overtime, the experience, strength and intelligence of the James-Davis duo will be too much for the Knicks who will not resist and lose 129-123.
If Randle (23/12) woke up at the end, it was Brunson who had a superb game with his 37 points and 6 assists. Opposite, Davis was excellent with 27 points and 9 rebounds, Westbrook interesting with 17 units and Hachimura solid in his role with 19 points. But the palm of the evening goes to LeBron James who, in addition to his new triple double in 28 pts, 10 rebounds and 11 assists, passed Steve Nash and Mark Jackson to become alone the fourth most prolific passer in the history of the league… while waiting to be the top scorer because he only has 89 points left!
We continue with the game that could/d (?) be the game of the night, that is to say the confrontation between the Heat and the Cavs for the battle for fifth place in the East. In this match where the gap never exceeded 11 points and where everything was tough for the teams, the defenses and the intensity of the playoffs were there! As for the Knicks, the Heat started the game very badly and already let Cleveland escape. But little by little, Miami is coming back and the two teams hardly let each other go. Miami came back well before halftime taking the lead but cracked again on the way back from the locker room to leave the score to the Cavs before launching a run to arrive almost 10 points ahead and see it all melt away with a new start to complicated fourth quarter. But the last twelve minutes will be perfectly managed by the duo Jimmy Butler (23 pts, 5 assists) and Bam Adebayo (18 points, 11 rebounds). Thanks to their two leaders, Miami flew to victory by scaring itself until the end because Donovan Mitchell (16 pts, 9 assists) misses the overtime ball. Finally, Miami wins 100-97 thanks also to the 18 points of Herro et Caleb Martin while Cleveland tried everything despite a very weak 3pts success with in particular the 14-11 of Jarrett Allen and the 19 points of Mobley.
Nice game from the Clippers who won 108-103 against the Bulls. In a game where they got scared while Chicago was leading quickly by 19 points, the Clippers gradually reduced the advantage before managing with difficulty but surely the last quarter where they won thanks in particular to 33 points of Kawhi Leonard, back. To be noted on 16-10-7 from Paul George and the 27 points of Norman Powell who helped the Clippers enormously because opposite, Chicago did everything not to lose this game after having had such an advantage and behind the 20 points of DeRozan and on 23-14 of Vucevic, they didn’t drop anything. However, the Clippers were too strong at the end (especially on the free throw line and on defense) and even the 18-14-8 of LaVine was not enough.
Quiet victory for Milwaukee against Charlotte with a balanced match for 3 quarters before seeing the Bucks shift into second gear and win 124-115. For this, Milwaukee withstood the triple double of LaMelo Ball (27-10-11) and 20 points of Terry Rozier and could rely on a standard Giannis: 34-18-4. Note the 18 points of Middleton off the bench and the 15 points, 13 rebounds from Jrue Holiday.
We end with the 122-113 victory of the Nuggets against the Pelicans who tumble in the Western conference. In addition to the victory smoothly led in the second period after having struggled in the second quarter time, and the 32 points of Jamal Murraywe especially had the opportunity to review a new masterclass of Nikola Jokic: 26 points, 18 rebounds, 15 assists and 10/14 on shots! A new individual demonstration against which the Pelicans could not do anything!
MIAMI 100 CLEVELAND 97
LA LAKERS 129 NEW YORK 123 – PR
LA 108 CHICAGO 103
CHARLOTTE 115 MILWAUKEE 124
NEW ORLEANS 113 DENVER 122
