Atlanta Hawks – Milwaukee Bucks : 121-114
Winning at home had become mission impossible for Atlanta, one of the great disappointments of the season and incidentally the hometown of Martin Luther King, honored Monday evening by the NBA. The Hawks remained on ten defeats in a row at the State Farm Arena, their last victory in front of their public dating back to November 22.
On Monday, they once more spent the evening chasing following the score in a lackluster remake of the last Eastern Conference Finals. The Bucks were ten points ahead with seven minutes remaining (89-99) before suffering the lightning of Trae Young (30 points including half in the fourth quarter) and collapsing. “Everything starts from the mind, we had to believe that we might do it but we doubted it”, summarized the Atlanta coach, Nate McMillan, relieved.
San Antonio Spurs – Phoenix Suns : 107-121
The Spurs are looking for an offensive leader, a dominant, regular, carrier striker. The Suns have it in Devin Booker. It’s one of the many differences between the No. 12 Western Conference Texans and the NBA’s No. 1 Suns. The All-Star guard completed the fifth best individual performance of the season with 48 points (eight lengths from the record held by Trae Young), guiding Phoenix to its fourth victory in a row following a long undecided match (100-103, 41st). If Booker was so brilliant, it was « respect » for Spurs, he explained. “I know their level of competitiveness”, he greeted. San Antonio fans might have preferred contempt.
Miami Heat – Toronto Raptors : 104-99
This duel between two in-form teams turned late in favor of the locals. PJ Tucker extinguished the last Canadian hopes with a three-pointer scored twenty seconds from the end. He validated in passing the triple double of Jimmy Butler, author on the stroke of his 10th assist (plus 19 points and 10 rebounds). More good news for the Heat: All-Star insider Bam Adebayo (14 points, 9 rebounds) played for the first time this year following nursing an injured thumb.
Orlando Magic – Portland TrailBlazers : 88-98
The final difference, all in all reasonable, does not reflect the face of a match crushed by the visitors, who counted up to 24 points in advance (62-86, 38th). A sign of Orlando’s low level, Portland was dominant despite starving skill percentages (41% on shots including 21% at 3 points). Note on the Portland side both the return of CJ McCollum following six weeks of absence (pneumothorax) and the enormous double-double of Bosnian pivot Jusuf Nurkic (21 points, 22 rebounds).
Dallas Mavericks – Oklahoma City Thunder : 104-102
Almost unstoppable since the start of the year, the Mavs have nevertheless suffered to repel the penultimate of the Western Conference, kept alive by the Canadian Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (34 points) even if OKC has never led. Luka Doncic signed yet another triple double (20 points, 12 assists, 11 rebounds) but without scoring in the last seven minutes, delegating the scoring to his teammates (six Mavs finished at 10 points or more). If Frank Ntilikina played a little for Dallas (8 minutes), scoring his only basket in the last quarter (see the tweet), the Thunder did not use any of the French present in its lap (Théo Maledon, Jaylen Hoard, Olivier Sarr).
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