Ja Morant of the Memphis Grizzlies continued his exceptional streak of play as the Phoenix Suns put pressure on the Golden State Warriors at the top of the West while LeBron James propelled the Los Angeles Lakers to their fourth win in five matches.
CAVALIERS 106 – GRIZZLIES 110
A basket with 30 seconds to go by Ja Morant sealed the Memphis Grizzlies’ away victory against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the attractive duel between the two revelation teams of the NBA this season.
Morant (26 points and 6 assists) led a Grizzlies who have six straight wins while Darius Garland (27 points and 10 assists) was the most outstanding of the Cavaliers.
The Spanish Santi Aldama played 13 minutes with the Grizzlies, had 2 points and 3 rebounds, and stood out for his good defense of Evan Mobley, one of the rookie of the year candidates.
LAKERS 122 – KINGS 114
LeBron James and Malik Monk teamed up in the fourth quarter for the Los Angeles Lakers to beat some Sacramento Kings fighters for their third straight win and fourth in their last five games.
Against James (31 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists) and Monk (24 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists), the Kings had their main references in De’Aaron Fox (30 points, 3 rebounds and 6 assists) and Buddy Hield (26 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists).
PELICANS 110 – SUNS 123
The Phoenix Suns (29-8) continue to hunt the Golden State Warriors (29-7) at the head of the Western Conference after the victory they achieved at home on the New Orleans Pelicans court.
Devin Booker (33 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists) and Chris Paul (11 points, 15 assists and 5 rebounds) were the leaders of a Suns in which six players added more than 10 points while the Pelicans held on to Devonte ‘Graham (28 points and 6 assists) and Jonas Valanciunas (25 points and 16 rebounds).
The Spanish Willy Hernangómez had no minutes with the Pelicans.
RAPTORS 129 – SPURS 104
The Toronto Raptors chained their third straight victory by knocking down the San Antonio Spurs at the hands of a fantastic Fred VanVleet, who scored 33 points and has three straight games above 30 points.
Jakob Poeltl (19 points, 12 rebounds and 4 assists) was the main offensive resource of some Spurs who stumbled with the triples (9 of 35).
KNICKS 104 – PACERS 94
RJ Barrett (32 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists) and Julius Randle (30 points, 16 rebounds and 4 assists) were too much ammunition for the Indiana Pacers who fell on the New York Knicks court.
Keifer Sykes (22 points, 4 rebounds and 6 assists) led the Pacers in a game in which both teams had a night to forget from the perimeter (6 of 28 in triples for the locals and 9 of 38 for the visitors).
EAST CONFERENCE
1.- Chicago Bulls (25-10).
2.- Brooklyn Nets (23-12).
3.- Milwaukee Bucks (25-14).
4.- Miami Heat (23-15).
5.- Philadelphia 76ers (20-16).
6.- Cleveland Cavaliers (21-17).
7.- Washington Wizards (19-18).
8.- Charlotte Hornets (19-19).
9.- Toronto Raptors (17-17).
10.- Boston Celtics (18-19).
11.- New York Knicks (18-20).
12.- Atlanta Hawks (16-20).
13.- Indiana Pacers (14-24).
14.- Detroit Pistons (7-28).
15.- Orlando Magic (7-31).
WEST CONFERENCE
1.- Golden State Warriors (29-7).
2.- Phoenix Suns (29-8).
3.- Utah Jazz (27-10).
4.- Memphis Grizzlies (25-14).
5.- Denver Nuggets (18-17).
6.- Dallas Mavericks (19-18).
7.- Los Angeles Lakers (20-19).
8.- Los Angeles Clippers (19-19).
9.- Minnesota Timberwolves (17-20).
10.- Sacramento Kings (16-23).
11.- San Antonio Spurs (14-22).
12.- Portland Trail Blazers (14-22).
13.- Oklahoma City Thunder (13-23).
14.- New Orleans Pelicans (13-25).
15.- Houston Rockets (10-28).
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