The Los Angeles Lakers with national team captain Dennis Schröder are in the NBA–playoffs just one more win from reaching the finals of Western Conference removed. The end threatens Isaiah Hartenstein and the New York Knicks.
The record champions of the North American Basketball League won 104:101 in the second half on Monday (May 8th, 2023/local time) despite being twelve points behind Golden State Warriors. In the Best of sevenseries, the Lakers now lead 3-1 after victories.
A team has to win four times to advance, and the next – and possibly decisive – game will take place on Wednesday (local time) in San Francisco.
Curry scores, but weakens from the line of three
The best pitcher of the game was Warriors star Stephen Curry with 31 points, but an unusually weak three-pointer yield with only 3 goals in 14 attempts caused his team trouble. With the Lakers, LeBron James had 27 points, Anthony Davis contributed 23 points.
After a weak third quarter, the hosts, driven by Schröder’s energy, worked their way back in the final quarter and equalized to 84:84. The man from Braunschweig pushed the Warriors into turnovers with good defensive work. Because both teams missed many chances in attack, the game remained tight and exciting until the end.
Hartenstein’s Knicks is threatened with the end
In contrast to Schröder’s Lakers threatens the New York Knicks with national player Isaiah Hartenstein out. The team lost Miami Heat 101:109 and was thus 1:3 behind. Here, too, a decision could be made on Wednesday.
Despite the 32 points, New York was able to Jalen Brunson not use his home advantage to equalize in the series. Hartenstein scored two points on the floor in just over 15 minutes. Most successful Heat player was Jimmy Butler with 27 points.
After hitting Suns owners: Fine for Jokic
Nikola Jokic from the Denver Nuggets must after a bump against the owner of the Phoenix Suns pay a fine of 25,000 euros, but he will not be suspended. The NBA announced this on Monday.
The incident happened in playoff game four. In the 124:129 defeat of the Nuggets, Jokic had excelled with 53 points, but the Suns still managed to equalize 2:2.
At the end of the second quarter, he elbowed Suns owner Mat Ishbia, who was watching the game in the crowd, in the chest, for which Jokic conceded a technical foul.
“The fan touched me first”said Jokic afterwards: “I thought the league wanted to protect us. Maybe I’m wrong. I know who he is – but at the end of the day he’s a fan, isn’t he?”
Ishbia had then tried to de-escalate himself. “Suspending or punishing someone for the incident would not be right”the 43-year-old wrote on Twitter: “I have a lot of respect for Jokic and I don’t want to see anything like that.” Game five takes place in Denver on Tuesday (local time).