Phoenix stays hot…
There was a slight scent of play-offs at the Target Center in Minneapolis. There’s no guarantee the Minnesota Timberwolves and Phoenix Suns will meet in the playoffs, but the intensity that reigned throughout their clash Wednesday night gave a glimpse of what the duel might hold. And the promises are tempting: a crazy opposition between Deandre Ayton and Karl-Anthony Towns, two of the most dominant pivots in the League, work for Devin Booker, and trash talking at will since the young wolves seem to have mastered the art. .
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Phoenix is on a six-game winning streak.
Without Ayton’s 35 points, a personal best, the Suns would have had a much harder time winning the game (125-116), while the referees needed to come up with some techniques to calm the tensions. Still deprived of Chris Paul, the leaders of the regular season (59 wins) were obviously able to count on Booker, author of 22 of his 28 points following the break. To imagine a possible reunion, Wolves would have to come out of the play-in as eighth. For the time being, the franchise is still in the running to qualify directly (42 wins, 7th, to a success in Denver).
…and Boston too
In addition to having gleaned a fifth success in a row, the second best current series in the regular season, the Boston Celtics have put the way at home once morest the Utah Jazz of Rudy Gobert (14 points, 11 rebounds). A one-sided first quarter (39-24), then a second to confirm the tenor of the debates (29-21, 68-45 at the break), quickly killed the suspense (125-94 in the end) in a match where the locals relied on a crazy address (59.5% shooting, 19 of 36 from three points). Jayson Tatum (26 points to 9 out of 15) and Jaylen Brown (26 points), friends in tune, did not have to force while the two coaches, Ime Udoka and Quin Snyder, were able to save their stars given the progress of the game.
Golden State frustre Miami
Even without Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, the Warriors are doing Warriors. On the floor of the Miami Heat, the San Francisco franchise relied on its three-point address (15 award-winning baskets) and the vista of fullback Jordan Poole (30 points) to get an astonishing success in Florida (118 -104). An evening badly experienced by the locals, to the point of seeing Jimmy Butler and Udonis Haslem, two of the most experienced players in the Heat, beating each other up in front of everyone.
It should be noted that Miami has just lost two games in a row, and sees its lead at the top of the Eastern Conference shrink visibly: only two wins (47) more than the Philadelphia Sixers (45 wins) and the Milwaukee Bucks (45), and one more game played. The Warriors, they remain firmly attached to third place in the West (48 wins).
19-0
While the two teams were tied at the break (50-50), the Warriors started the third quarter with a 19-0.
Memphis mates Brooklyn, Sixers dominate Lakers orphaned by James
Nice duel in Memphis, where the Grizzlies, deprived for a second consecutive evening of Ja Morant (knee), bent the Brooklyn Nets of Kyrie Irving (43 points) and Kevin Durant (35 points), a little too alone to contain the local furia in the last quarter, one-sided (29-16, 132-120 final score). In the absence of Morant, Desmond Bane (23 points) and Dillion Brooks (21 points) took over, as did Deanthony Melton, author of 23 points off the bench. It is also the contribution of the substitutes which, in part, made the difference: 52 points for Memphis, once morest 11 for the Nets.
The dense evening ended with a Lakers-Sixers duel that smiled on Philadelphia (126-121), where Joel Embiid and James Harden made their comeback. The first cracked a big double-double (30 points, 10 rebounds), the second ensured in all areas (24 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists). Opposite, the Angelins played eight, without LeBron James (knee), leaving Dwight Howard (24 points) and Russell Westbrook (24 points, 9 rebounds, 8 assists) the opportunity to heal their statistics.
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The Lakers (31v-42d) are now guaranteed to end the regular season with a negative record. And this for the seventh time in nine seasons.