The champion continues to pile up victories, and with a smile on his lips because this moment of COVID protocols and cascading casualties has it with no other absence than the very long and lasting Brook Lopez. The others are, lo and the Bucks have gone from their initial 6-8 to 17-5 for the 23-13 total with which they chase the Nets and Bulls in the East. They won in Orlando (110-127), a simple track where they will play again tomorrow as well. It is their fourth win in a row, the fifth in seven games.
Was scare, largely due to excess relaxation: the Magic were 19-0 in the third quarter (from 47-76 to 66-76 in less than five minutes). And they had a certain life (98-106) in the last quarter before Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday linked seven points and saved a victory that seemed certain in the first half, in which the Bucks amassed 29-point leads. They went to the break 45-72. Giannis Antetokounmpo finished with 28 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists, Middleton with 21 points, Jrue with 18 and 10 assists and Bobby Portis with 19 points and 7 rebounds (17 points in the first half). In the Magic, devastated by absences and in a totally lost year (7-28 now), Wendell Carter finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds and rookie Franz Wagner, who is playing a great season, signed his best score: 38 points (27 in the second half) with 7 rebounds and 3 assists. The Magic, for whom everything goes basically wrong, at least hit No. 8 from the last draft.
RAPTORS 109-SIXERS 114
The Sixers, with much less hopeful looks than the Bucks, of course, also met the record (109-114) and are still positive (18-16). They were lucky that they were playing in Toronto against some Raptors completely devastated by casualties and that at least they recovered Pascal Siakam (28 + 6 + 8) and Gary Trent Jr, who added 19 points and 7 assists but failed in the last attacks, when the Raptors gave up (0-6 in the final minute) after fighting with pride and get ahead (109-108) to those last few possessions. Chris Boucher was largely to blame: 28 points and 19 rebounds.
But neither Boucher nor anyone else had answers to stop Joel Embiid, who played another tremendous game: 36 points, 11 rebounds and 4 assists with 11/16 shooting. The Cameroonian is at MVP level (33 + 10 on average in the last five games), but his team does not play comfortable with him at that level and against opponents in a precarious situation. Bad signal. Beyond the exceptional center, the best was Niang’s wrist (19 points, 5 triples). Tobias Harris finished with the first triple-double of his career (19 + 12 + 10) although his match was not at all brilliant. Something that can be applied to almost all your companions.
HEAT 119-WIZARDS 112
Ahead of the Sixers and behind the Bucks (now 22-13, fourth from the East) marches the Miami Heat, who beat the Wizards who, after their fascinating start to the season, are already 17-17, in 50% of victories and eighths of his Conference. It was one of those survival games that, unfortunately, are beginning to abound in the NBA. The locals had eight players available … and Jimmy Butler (tremendous: 25 + 8 + 15) ended up with ankle problems. The Wizards’ casualty list, led by Bradley Beal, was virtually endless.
At minimum, it was worth the weight of the trio Butler-Tyler Herro (32 points, 6 rebounds, 5/7 in triples) -Duncan Robinson (26 points, 8/16 in triples). The Heat had a 28-point lead as early as the third quarter but had to row again when a stubborn Wizards got to five. He did not give them for more. Spencer Dinwiddie continues to recover good feelings (24 + 7 + 11), Kyle Kuzma finished with 22 points and 7 rebounds and Bertans added 19 points with a 5/10 in triples.
TIMBERWOLVES 88-KNICKS 96
It wasn’t pretty at all. But the Knicks won in Minnesota and have two wins in a row. They are not at a good level, but they are having luck: at Christmas they played against some Hawks with many casualties and this time they visited some Wolves also in the frame and exhausted after squeezing themselves to win a day before the Celtics in a heroic way. That’s four losses in five games for the Wolves. Both teams have an identical 16-18. Little thing.
It was, under the circumstances in which it was played, a basically gruesome game. The Wolves were 40% shooting, the Knicks 41%. But the locals added a terrible 7/38 in triples and the visitors a decent 16/40 (and a terrible 6/16 in free throws), including a very important one in the last minutes (for 81-88) by RJ Barrett, who he was otherwise very gray (8 points, 10 shots). Like Kemba Walker (10 points, 11 shots) and Fournier (13 points, 14 shots). The best thing, as it was, was the rebounding ability, against a very limited team on the inside, of Julius Randle (13 points on 20 shots but 15 rebounds) and Mitchell Robinson (14 + 18). Towns, Russell and Edwards are still out for the Wolves. McDaniels added 18 points and 6 rebounds and the hero against the Celtics, Nowell, this time stayed at 11 points and 6 assists. Malik Beasley scored 20 points on 23 shots and a 4/16 triples and Greg Monroe, in his second game with the team, returned to fulfill: 7 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists.
KINGS 117-THUNDER 111
In Sacramento, duel of weak teams from the West ended with victory for the Kings, who played at home and had fewer casualties than a very depleted Thunder. Now it is 14-21 for the locals and 12-21 for the OKC, who held on to the game as best they could to the rhythm of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who finished with 33 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists. The Kings secured the victory in the first 4 minutes of the fourth quarter, when they converted an 87-81 into a 98-81 with an 11-0 run completely signed by Hield (21 points) and Haliburton (24 with 10 assists), the best of the Californians in recent games. Harrison Barnes finished with 17 points in another very low-key Fox game (12 points, 8 assists, 4/17 shooting).