New NBA day with up to 7 games played. And two bad news: the injuries of Luka Doncic and Kevin Durant, which can mark, depending on their severity, the future of the 2022-23 basketball season of the best League in the world. In the midst of all that, Nikola Jokic gives in to the Bulls, the Clippers win with a great Kawhi Leonard and Hawks, Celtics and Cavaliers get the win. All this and much more, in the summary of the day:
WASHINGTON WIZARDS 120 – 122 ATLANTA HAWKS
Kristaps Porzingis signed the highest score of his NBA career with 43 points but the Wizards fell in a very close game against the Hawks. Trae Young (28 points and 10 assists) took the lead for Atlanta.
BOSTON CELTICS 115 – 93 PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS
After four losses in their last five games, the Celtics took a breather by beating the Blazers at home with 30 points and 7 rebounds from Jayson Tatum. Dominican Al Horford had 17 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists. Damian Lillard stood out for the Blazers with 27 points and 8 assists.
MIAMI HEAT 100 – 104 CLEVELAND CAVALIERS
With Darius Garland (25 points and 7 assists) leading a group of five players with more than 10 points, the Cavaliers defeated the Heat led by Jimmy Butler (28 points) on their visit. The Spanish Ricky Rubio added 5 points and 4 assists with Cleveland.
NEW ORLEANS PELICANS 113 – 106 DALLAS MAVERICKS
Luka Doncic is injured and the Mavs fall again. Check the chronicle here.
DENVER NUGGETS 96 – 117 CHICAGO BULLS
In a disappointing season in Chicago, the Bulls were given a real and well-deserved joy by surprisingly winning in Denver a very powerful Nuggets on their court (30-5) thanks to 29 points from Zach LaVine and 25 points and 15 rebounds from Nikola Vucevic. Nikola Jokic was close to the triple-double (18 points, 12 rebounds and 8 assists) in Denver.
PHOENIX SUNS 132 – 101 OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER
The Suns win, but Kevin Durant is injured in warm-up. Check the chronicle here.
LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS 108 – 101 TORONTO RAPTORS
Kawhi Leonard (24 points and 12 rebounds) and Paul George (23 points) shook hands in the victory of the Clippers over some Raptors who had a better percentage of three (40.6%) than in total field goals (38.5%). Pascal Siakam (20 points and 6 rebounds) was the benchmark in attack for the Canadians.