The Nets give the bell in Boston after coming back from 28 points and take the game 105-115
The Wolves exposed the shortcomings of some Lakers without LeBron and won 102-110
A fabulous Julius Randle, with a winning triple in the last second, gave the New York Knicks their eighth consecutive victory this Friday while the Boston Celtics were surprised at home by the Brooklyn Nets who signed a huge comeback after losing from 28 points.
With permission from Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Milwaukee Bucks (impressive 16-win streak), the knicks They are the fittest team in the NBA right now and they showed it with a very valuable win ‘in extremis’ against the Heat in Miami (120-122).
The end of the game was vibrant. Tyler Herro (29 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists) stole a crucial ball and with a penetration put the Heat +1 with 23 seconds left. But then a gigantic Randle (43 points with 8 3-pointers and 9 rebounds) emerged, hitting a sensational 3-pointer with just 0.7 seconds left and after a stunned play in which he nearly lost possession twice.
Accustomed to all kinds of troubles in the last two decades, the Knicks have once again been excited this year by Randle and Jalen Brunson, player of the month in the East in February and who scored 25 points and 8 assists against the Heat. Jimmy Butler (33 points and 8 rebounds) was the top scorer for a troubled Heat who have only won one of their last seven games.
There was also good news before the weekend for the other New York team, the brooklyn netswho staged the biggest comeback of this course in the NBA by assaulting Boston after trailing by 28 points in the second quarter (105-115). The biggest comeback so far was the Los Angeles Lakers with their great victory last Sunday in Dallas against the Mavericks of Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving after trailing by 27. Mikal Bridges (38 points and 10 rebounds) was the hero of Brooklyn , who had lost four consecutive games, while Jaylen Brown (35 points) was the top scorer for some Celtics in which the Dominican Al Horford contributed 6 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists.
After being the best team in the league for months, the Celtics have lost ground to the unstoppable Bucks and are now second in the East (45-19) behind Milwaukee (45-17).
The Wolves storm Los Angeles
Steady and consistent virtually from start to finish, the Minnesota Timberwolves surpassed this Friday los angeles lakerswith obvious shortcomings and for whom, without LeBron James, a great Anthony Davis or the epic ending was not enough (102-110). Wednesday’s victory against the Oklahoma City Thunder (117-123) reactivated some Lakers with a lot of urgency and their spirits touched after learning that LeBron will miss at least three weeks due to injury. But the Wolves, direct rivals for the West play-in, revealed the weaknesses of the Los Angeles team especially in attack (41.9% in field goals and a limp 32.3% in triples).
It wasn’t because of Davis, impressive with 38 points and 12 of 22 shooting, but this time the infantry in purple and gold failed with some misguided Dennis Schroder (6 points and 3 of 13), Rui Hachimura (6 points and 2 of 9 ) and Austin Reaves (6 points and 2 of 8). Faced with some Lakers (30-34) that only worked in lurches, Minnesota (33-32) showed a remarkable regularity throughout the night, defensive solidity and a very choral game with five players over 10 points. Rudy Gobert (22 points and 14 rebounds), Anthony Edwards (19 points) and Naz Reid (15 points and 8 rebounds) led the Wolves.
With only 18 games to go, the Lakers’ accounts begin to get almost as complicated as their calendar: on Sunday they will face the Golden State Warriors, launched with five straight victories and with Stephen Curry about to return; and on Tuesday they will face the Memphis Grizzlies on the day they will retire Pau Gasol’s number 16.
The Wolves bet on Kyle Anderson over Davis at the start and reserved Gobert for assists, but the Lakers center didn’t care who was in front of him. With a sensational first quarter, Davis went up to 16 points, drew two fouls from Gobert (who suffered a dunk from the Los Angeles interior in the first person) and gave the impression of assuming the challenge of leading the Lakers with LeBron absent. However, Darvin Ham’s men did not take advantage of Davis’ takeoff and the Wolves remained close (34-33) after a first quarter in which the solidarity contribution of the entire team stood out (8 of the 9 Minnesota players who took the field scored).
The second quarter was very different for Davis for two reasons: he no longer felt so comfortable and loose in attack and he also added his third foul and went quickly to the bench. Unsuccessful offensively and little effort in defense, the Lakers saw how some more constant Wolves took the lead until they reached +7 protected by a Gobert asking for passage in the area. However, the locals took advantage of Minnesota’s turnovers and came into the break with their options intact (55-56).
Gobert extended his good moment in the restart with 6 points in four minutes and Edwards, with a front triple, set off the first alarms for the Lakers after a 2-11 start (57-67 with 7.54 to play). The Wolves defense began to prevail over some fearful Lakers but Davis threw the team on his back and also drew the fourth foul on Gobert with 7.10 in the third period. Edwards multiplied with Gobert on the bench and the Lakers, despite Davis’ 11 points in that quarter, left in the last twelve minutes with homework ahead and their attack in low hours (76-83).
Reid gave the Wolves a few minutes of luxury with Gobert absent and the Lakers got the game too uphill (81-95 with 8.58). However, two consecutive three-pointers by Davis and Malik Beasley opened the door to a 13-3 run with which the Lakers got to just 4 points. With the Los Angeles fans imagining a great comeback, Edwards hit a 3-pointer and silenced the stands and Davis responded immediately with another 3-pointer. The center had another triple to have tied the game with only 2.32 left on the clock but it did not go in and Jaden McDaniels took advantage of it on the counterattack to place a +5 that Mike Conley finished off in the last minute with 5 consecutive points against some Lakers already exhausted and without ideas.