Jaylen Brown shone with 50 points in the victory of the Boston Celtics on a Sunday NBA game in which Luka Doncic returned after missing ten games, the Miami Heat had their streak of five consecutive victories cut short and the Phoenix Suns destroyed the Charlotte Hornets.
CELTICS 116 – MAGIC 111
The performance with capital letters of the day was signed by Jaylen Brown, who with 50 points (best score of his career), 11 rebounds and 4 assists captained the victory in overtime for the Boston Celtics against the Orlando Magic.
Terrence Ross (33 points and 5 rebounds) was the best of a Magic who survived a shot from Brown on the horn in the fourth quarter but could not resist the tornado of the Celtics in overtime.
Dominican Al Horford added 9 points, 8 rebounds, 5 blocks and 2 assists for some Celtics in which Spanish Juancho Hernangómez had no minutes.
MAVERICKS 95 – THUNDER 86
Luka Doncic returned to play after ten games off the courts – first due to injury and then due to coronavirus – and touched the triple-double (14 points, 9 rebounds, 10 assists) in the discreet and tight victory of the Dallas Mavericks against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Apart from the return of the Slovenian, the headline of that game was given by Australian Josh Giddey of the Thunder, who at 19 years and 84 days became the youngest player in NBA history to achieve a triple-double ( 17 points, 13 rebounds and 14 assists).
Argentine Gabriel Deck had no minutes in the Thunder.
KINGS 115 – HEAT 113
Jimmy Butler had a shot in the last second to tie the game but his ball did not go in and the Sacramento Kings stopped a Miami Heat that was thrown in for their sixth straight victory.
Buddy Hield with 26 points was the Kings’ top benchmark while Tyler Herro and Omer Yurtseven, with 22 points each, were the Heat’s most productive.
SUNS 133 – HORNETS 99
Like a hurricane, the Phoenix Suns passed through Charlotte to disarm the Hornets totally outmatched and lost by 43 points.
Seven Suns players had more than 10 points with Devin Booker as the leading scorer (24 points) while LaMelo Ball (17 points) led a disappointing and off-target Hornets (9 of 35 on 3s).
LAKERS 108 – TIMBERWOLVES 103
The Los Angeles Lakers played the entire game with a low five – and LeBron James again at the center – and thus beat the Minnesota Timberwolves despite the bleeding they suffered on the rebound (28 compared to 56 for the visitors).
James (26 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals) led the Lakers with an irregular Westbrook (20 points but 9 turnovers) while the most prominent in the Wolves was Naz Reid (23 points and 11 rebounds).
Argentine Leandro Bolmaro was left without playing for the Wolves.
CAVALIERS 108 – PACERS 104
The Cavaliers closed their "curse" after the serious injury of Ricky Rubio and, after three games in a row losing, they brought down the Indiana Pacers.
The duel was decided on the inside with Evan Mobley (24 points and 9 rebounds) and Kevin Love (20 points and 8 rebounds) leading the Cavaliers and Domantas Sabonis (32 points, 13 rebounds and 7 assists) doing the same in the Pacers.
RAPTORS 120 – KNICKS 105
Fred VanVleet (35 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists) became the Raptors’ beacon to clearly beat Knicks who were all the game behind on the scoreboard.
Evan Fournier (20 points) was the main offensive resource of some Knicks that showed many deficiencies in the rebound (30 against 44 of the Raptors).
EAST CONFERENCE
1.- Chicago Bulls (24-10).
2.- Brooklyn Nets (23-11).
3.- Milwaukee Bucks (25-13).
4.- Miami Heat (23-14).
5.- Cleveland Cavaliers (21-16).
6.- Philadelphia 76ers (19-16).
7.- Charlotte Hornets (19-18).
8.- Washington Wizards (18-18).
9.- Boston Celtics (18-19).
10.- Toronto Raptors (16-17).
11.- New York Knicks (17-20).
12.- Atlanta Hawks (16-19).
13.- Indiana Pacers (14-23).
14.- Orlando Magic (7-30).
15.- Detroit Pistons (6-28).
WEST CONFERENCE
1.- Golden State Warriors (28-7).
2.- Phoenix Suns (28-8).
3.- Utah Jazz (26-10).
4.- Memphis Grizzlies (23-14).
5.- Denver Nuggets (18-16).
6.- Los Angeles Clippers (19-18).
7.- Los Angeles Lakers (19-19).
8.- Dallas Mavericks (18-18).
9.- Minnesota Timberwolves (16-20).
10.- Sacramento Kings (16-22).
11.- San Antonio Spurs (14-21).
12.- Portland Trail Blazers (13-22).
13.- Oklahoma City Thunder (13-23).
14.- New Orleans Pelicans (13-23).
15.- Houston Rockets (10-27).
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