Wizards 109 – Raptors 116
The Toronto Raptors regain ninth place in the East after winning overtime in Washington. The top scorer for the Canadians was Gary Trent Jr., with 26 points, although the key man at the end was Fred VanVleet, who scored 25 but, above all, hit two key triples in extra time. In the premises, Kristaps Porzingis stood out with 22 points. Bradley Beal had 21 and dished out 10 assists, but missed 15 of the 22 shots he attempted, including one late in regulation that would have prevented overtime.
Cavs 114 – Pistons 90
The Cleveland Cavaliers have ended up sweeping the Detroit Pistons in their four game regular season series, in which they have ended up accumulating a total advantage of 95 points. In today’s match they went 35 up and that allowed none of their players to spend 30 minutes on the court. The one who played the most was Evan Mobley, who finished with an outstanding statistical line (16 points, 11 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 blocks) and with the compliments of the rival coach, Dwane Casey: “Watching him play, you don’t know if they are 20 up or 20 below. I love his temper.” Ricky Rubio finished with 5 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks in 20 minutes.
Heat 117 – Hawks 109
A key victory for the Heat who have only won two of their last ten meetings. However, today’s is worth double, since their rival is the team immediately behind them in the standings and which they now lead a game and a half away. Those from Miami managed to leave Trae Young at 8 points with a shooting series of 2/13. It is the 17th time in his career that the point guard has not reached double figures in scoring. The Heat, therefore, remain seventh and have the sixth place of some Nets in free fall two victories away.
Spurs 110 – Rockets 122
The Houston Rockets ended a streak of 11 consecutive losses, which does not have to be good news precisely since they did it against one of their direct rivals for taking the number 1 in the next draft, the only objective right now for these two franchises. Those from Houston, last, and the Spurs, penultimate, are now separated by half a game. Rookie Tari Eason, with 20 points, was the highlight of a Rockets in which eight players reached double-digit scores. Usman Garuba was one of them (11 goals in 9 minutes). The entire team shot with 56% accuracy and dished out 26 assists, something extremely difficult to see this year in Houston.
Bucks 130 – Sixers 133
Farewell to the best winning streak (16) of the season. The Bucks had it done in the third quarter, but Phila recovered from everything with a legendary game from Harden and Embiid. Read the chronicle here.
Kings 134 – Wolves 138
The Minnesota Timberwolves are close to the top six in the West (in fact tied with the sixth, the Mavs) after winning their third straight game. There are green shoots in Minnesota, who were able to beat a rival on the track that was coming off five straight wins. The Sacramento Kings fought until the end, but a huge basket by Anthony Edwards (27 points) and two free throws by Mike Conley (24) in the last minute gave the victory to the visitors, who managed to keep De’Aaron Fox below thirty points (25).