Cavs 118 – Celtics 114
The Boston Celtics lose their second game in overtime in 24 hours. After two timeouts at Madison and arriving at their Cleveland hotel at 2:30 a.m., they fell again after 48 minutes. In this case it is evident that the game was very long for them. They were leading by 14 at the start of the fourth quarter, but the outing of Lamar Stevens, a player who averages 12 minutes with the Cavs, turned everything upside down. The forward scored 8 points and grabbed 8 rebounds in 17 minutes, but above all he finished with a +/- of +18, the best on his team. Donovan Mitchell was the top scorer with 40 goals and Ricky Rubio finished with 2 in the 7 minutes he was on court. The Celtics, who have lost three times in a row, are already at the same distance from the first, the Bucks, as from the third, the Sixers: two games.
Pacers 143 – Sixers 147
Game without defense in Indiana, where the combination of Joel Embiid and James Harden paid off for the Sixers, who stepped on the accelerator for two minutes of the last quarter to unbalance a game that at that time had been very close. With the Pacers shooting with 58.9% accuracy and seven of their players in double figures (Haliburton stood out with 40 points and 16 assists), and the Sixers with 58.5% and six players in double figures, three of them reaching 20 points (Embiid 42, Maxey 24 and McDaniels 20) the match was more reminiscent of an All Star Game. Those of Philadelphia begin to see the second place in the East within a shot.
Pistons 104 – Blazers 110
Damian Lillard is still in tremendous form. He confirms it with the triple-double, the second of the season and the third of his career, achieved tonight against the Pistons: 31 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists. He was especially involved in the rebounds due to the lack of centimeters from his team. He scored 16 points already in the first quarter, helping to get an advantage (31-18) on which the game moved, until in the end the Pistons got within 6 points with 1 minute and 39 seconds left in the game. Jerami Grant (26 points) then hit a triple to close out the contest. The Pistons are officially the worst solo team in the league (until tonight they were tied with the Rockets).
Heat 130 – Hawks 128
The Atlanta Hawks have not yet reacted to the arrival of Quin Snyder on the bench and tonight they lost a key game in Miami. The Heat are two and a half wins away from them in the fight for seventh place in the East and, in addition, they win their particular series (3-1). The local bench was key in their best performance of the season. 59 points, 43 of them between Victor Oladipo and Caleb Martin. Jimmy Butler was the best of the match with 26 points, 9 rebounds and 9 assists.
Nuggets 118 – Raptors 113
The Nuggets win another home game and are already 24-1 in their last 25 home games. Although tonight’s was on the wire. The Raptors had a 6-point lead with 2:20 to go. Then the Nuggets linked 7 straight points to get ahead at 1:15. VanVleet hit two free throws and put his team back in the lead, but once again the locals endorsed their rival with a run, in this case 6-0 from the foul line, to take the game. That the Nuggets are going to be first in the West is almost the only more or less certain thing at this point in a conference that behind them is crazy.
Kings 123 – Pelicans 108
Amidst all this madness, the season of the Sacramento Kings is less and less attention-grabbing, however, they are going to remove the curse of being the team that has not played in the playoffs in a big way for the longest years. Because the Californians are already only half a game away from the second place occupied by the Grizzlies. Since the All Star break they have gone 6-1 and far from their legs shaking before the ocean liners that were approaching them from behind, especially the Suns but also the Warriors or the Clippers, they do not stop winning. In any circumstance. For example today, without his biggest star, De’Aaron Fox. But with his other star, Domantas Sabonis, who achieved his eighth triple-double of the course: 19 + 11 + 11. Kevin Huerter, another revived in Sacramento, was the top scorer with 25 points. The Pelicans, who have lost seven of the last ten games, close a group of four teams tied in the standings (31-34 balance) between 9th and 12th place.