Monday’s day brought us some serious surprises, although they are a little less so if we see how badly the three strong teams that lost last night have started the year: Utah Jazz, Brooklyn Nets and Milwaukee Bucks.
Utah fell 126-116 at Detroit following blowing a 22-point lead; Brooklyn lost 114-108 to the Blazers with no Damian Lillard Y C.J. McCollum, little matter what Kyrie Irving will play his second game of the season; and Milwaukee was beaten 103-99 by the Hornets who have beaten them twice in 48 hours.
Jazz, Nets and Bucks – all located at the top of the rankings – have something in common: they all have the same brand so far in 2022 … they all have 2 wins and 4 losses! Minicrisis in the three teams.
Pistons 126 Jazz 116
Utah sin Rudy Gobert it’s less Utah, but it would be very unfair to put the accusing finger on your substitute, Hassan Whiteside, because the pivot was one of the best of a team that was erased from the game in the second half.
The Mormon team prevailed 21-35 in the first quarter, had a 22-point lead in the second, and then rested on their laurels to such an extent that the Pistons scored 78 points in the second half to win the game. .
No. 1 in the draft, Cade Cunningham, exploded in the third quarter scoring 18 points. He finished the game with his best NBA scoring: 29 points, 8 assists, good shooting percentages and 5 triples. And his winning partner was Saddiq Bey, author of 29 points, 6 rebounds, 10 of 14 on the shot and 5 triples. They were the ones who unbalanced the party. With them on the track, Detroit was unstoppable.
Rain of triples from the local team, which scored 19 with an effectiveness of more than 50%. And very important the contribution of the second unit, which scored 47 points with Cory joseph (4 out of 4 in triples) and Trey Lyles in front.
The Utah thing was a real disaster following the break. A first-rate defensive horror.
Donovan Mitchell he added 31 points, Whiteside had 21 points, 14 rebounds and 3 blocks, the team working well with him on the court, Jordan Clarkson scored 16 and Eric Paschall it worked very well once more (13 points in 18 minutes). The worst thing for the team was with Mitchell, Bogdanovic Y O’Neale on track. It seems surprising, but it was.
Utah finished 2021 with 6 consecutive victories and begins 2022 with a 2-4 record following losing its last 3 games.
Blazers 114 Nets 108
Without Lillard and without McCollum. Without its two big stars, Portland was able to defeat a Nets without James Harden, but with Kyrie Irving doing his second installment of the season. They are not, yes, in their best moment these Nets.
Many casualties in both teams and another aimless game from Brooklyn, which following coming from a very strange first quarter (17 free throws for the locals and 3 for the visitors following calling 3 fouls to Blazers and 10 to Nets) and signing a convincing second quarter he conceded a surprising 32-19 in the third.
The team of Steve Nash he has lost 5 of his last 7 games, and he still cannot find a game development that identifies him in any way.
Portland, a team lost in the madding crowd of the competition, aimlessly, had 3 players in their twenties and their entire starting five in double-digit scorers.
Anfernee Simons He shone once more with 23 points and 11 assists, and he left us an incredible play of 2 + 1 10 seconds from the end of the second quarter, even if the additional one failed. In addition, 21 points, 3 steals and 5 triples from Robert Covington and 20 points and another 5 triples of Ben McLemore.
Brooklyn, which already has Miami on its heels, had 28 points and 10 rebounds from Kevin Durant, which went to 42 minutes, and 22 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists in 39 minutes from Kyrie Irving. They only accompanied them Cam Thomas with 21 points and Day’Ron Sharpe with 14 points, 7 rebounds and 3 blocks.
Numerous losses in Nets, which does not excuse the team in this defeat, bad game of Patty Mills, horrible night of Nic Claxton, who made 3 fouls in his first 4 minutes of play, and another presence of a former player of Blake Griffin.
Hornets 103 Bucks 99
Milwaukee is not to shoot rockets. The turn of the year has hit him like a shot. He ended 2021 winning 5 consecutive games and starts 2022 2-4 and losing 4 of his last 5 games. The low of Jrue Holiday it shows, but it is not a sufficient explanation for the team’s bump.
Hornets (22-19) took the measure to Milwaukee and won two games in a row in 48 hours: 114-106 the first and 103-99 this.
Milwaukee was killed by turnovers. Committed 20, of which 13 carried the signature of Giannis Antetokounmpo Y Khris Middleton, and in the final stretch of the meeting, with an even score, he lost 3 balls in important moments.
Charlotte, a team with a very balanced squad, did not have this time Kelly Oubre Jr., just got into the protocols, but enjoyed Terry Rozier (27 points and 7 rebounds) and LaMelo Ball (23 points), who was the decisive player, scoring 18 of those 23 points in the second half and scoring the crucial basket, a tricky foreshortening shot that solved beautifully to put it 101-99 with 7.9 seconds remaining. After Ball’s basket, Milwaukee, of course, lost the ball.
The locals also had 17 points and 11 rebounds from Miles Bridges, who had the mettle to put the 2 free games with which the game was closed, and with the 14 Gordon Hayward.
Milwaukee went 15 down in the third quarter, but persevered to get 99-99 with 38.8 seconds from the end following a 2 + 1 from Anteto, who, failing the additional, gave rise to the score with a tap from his teammate. Wesley Matthews.
The Bucks had Middleton with 27 points and 11 assists and Antetokounmpo with 26 points, 13 rebounds and 8 basket passes. Jordan Nwora scored 18 and Matthews had 13.
On the downside, the gray night of Bobby Portis and the poor performance of second unit players such as Connaughton (0 out of 6 in the shot) or DiVincenzo (0 of 8).
