Despite Kevin Durant posting his personal career best, the Brooklyn Nets can’t win in Atlanta. The Golden State Warriors pull off an eerie comeback win over the Jazz.
Philadelphia 76ers (47-30) – Charlotte Hornets (40-38) 144:114 (BOXSCORE)
- After three losses in a row, some frustration had obviously built up in the Sixers. They found the right balance in the third quarter: the hosts gave Charlotte 45 points in this period and turned a narrow 5-point lead into a blowout (+23) at the break. This was mainly due to the 21 threes that the Sixers put in the basket.
- Joel Embiid had 29 points, 14 rebounds and 6 assists, Tobias Harris had 23 points (5/9 threes). James Harden took it easy as a scorer (12 points, 4/10 FG), but distributed 13 assists and thus participated in the strong offense. After the criticism from the previous days, the Sixers starters deserved an almost completely free fourth quarter. “We moved the ball very well,” said Embiid, pleased with his team’s 38 assists. “I was very happy with how we played today and were able to find our shooters.”
- The Hornets weren’t bad offensively themselves, but couldn’t keep up with the firepower of the Sixers that day. Miles Bridges was the guest top scorer with 20 points. Despite the defeat, there was good news for Charlotte: After a 22-game break due to an ankle injury, Gordon Hayward was able to play for the Hornets again for the first time. The ex-Celtic came off the bench and scored 5 points in 16 minutes.
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- “It will take a moment,” analyzed Hornets coach James Borrego. “He looked comfortable and I didn’t see any hesitation in him. That’s very positive.” Charlotte has already secured a place in the play-in.
New York Knicks (34-44) – Cleveland Cavaliers (43-35) 101:119 (BOXSCORE)
- After two straight bankruptcies, the Cavs are back on track. Darius Garland led his team with 24 points and 13 assists to a convincing performance at Madison Square Garden, in which the Knicks, although not to be shaken off, were never in the lead. “We finally hit a couple of shots,” Garland commented on his team’s 15/34 performance from Downtown.
- Garland hit 5/9 threes himself, with six other Cavaliers tallying in double figures, including Caris LeVert (19, 3/7 3FG) and Kevin Love (15, 3/7 3FG). The decision came late in the third quarter as the Cavs put on a 22-11 run to take a +15 lead.
- In the Knicks, Obi Toppin in particular put up resistance, starting for Julius Randle and promptly scoring a career high (20 points). Randle is likely to miss the rest of the season with a quadriceps injury, Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. Evan Fournier also got 19 points and Immanuel Quickley 17 points.
Atlanta Hawks (41-37) – Brooklyn Nets (40-38) 122:115 (BOXSCORE)
- Big point for the Hawks, who were able to take a huge step towards home advantage in the play-in with their fifth win in a row and relegated their direct competitor from Brooklyn to tenth place for the time being. The Nets will definitely not be able to make a direct playoff participation anymore. The Nets and especially Kevin Durant left no stone unturned – but even his career high shouldn’t be enough in this game.
- 55 points marked Durant, who was incredibly hot, especially from downtown (19/28 FG, 8/10 threes). In the crunch time, however, the Hawks managed to force the ball out of his hands with double and sometimes even triple teams. The rest of the Nets couldn’t punish that, including Kyrie Irving, although he scored 31 points – he needed 32 throws to do so. No other net landed in double figures, especially with Patty Mills nothing came together at all (0, 0/7 FG).
- The game seemed already decided in the middle of the fourth quarter. Atlanta led by 14 after a Delon Wright three-pointer, but then lost the thread; 12 of the next 13 points came from Durant and Irving, with 2:32 left and Brooklyn was back on 1 point. However, it was never enough for the lead because Trae Young finally took over the action.
- The point guard initially hit two floaters with 24 seconds left he followed up with a three for an 8-point lead – the dagger. Afterwards he also remained sovereign at the free-throw line; overall, Young scored 11 of his 36 points (plus 10 assists) in the last minute and a half!
- Durant’s previous career high was 54 points, which he set in January 2014, back then for the OKC Thunder. “I don’t care,” said the 33-year-old. “I’m angry because we lost.”
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