The Los Angeles Lakers suffered their second away bust in two days in Detroit. Above all, LeBron James runs out of breath in the end. The new front runners in the West are the Clippers, who win the Miami Heat with a rump troop. Golden State, on the other hand, has no chance in Phoenix.
The Rockets confirm their good form against Portland, while the Lakers and LeBron run out of breath in the end.
Houston Rockets (8-9) – Portland Trail Blazers (9-8) 104:101
- Fourth win in a row for the Rockets, who are officially back in the race for the playoffs. Led by Victor Oladipo (25, 11/23 FG), the Texans also beat Portland, who have now lost the last two games. “The boys are hungry and can’t be beaten,” said Rockets coach Stephen Silas after the game.
- A few weeks ago the Rockets would have lost that game. Portland got off to a hot start and was already leading 30:10 after ten minutes. Damian Lillard recorded 13 points in the first quarter, in the end the point guard had 30 (11/23 FG) and 9 assists. Later it became noticeable that the Blazers in Jusuf Nurkic, CJ McCollum and Robert Covington were missing three starters.
- Already at the break the hosts had equalized the deficit, especially Christian Wood, who scored 14 of his 22 points (12 rebounds) in the second quarter. Houston then extended his lead to up to 13 points, before Gary Trent Jr. (23, 7/13 threesome) shot his colors back into the game with seven three-pointers in the second half.
- In the crunchtime, the Rockets kept their nerve. Oladipo set a drive to 101: 98 with 26 seconds left on the clock. Trent Jr. missed on the opposite side before Wood dropped a free throw and Anfernee Simons (14) reduced it to one point. Eric Gordon (8) netted two more free throws and a buzzerbeater from Simons was too short, so the Rockets won.
- John Wall also scored 20 points for Houston, while Danuel House contributed 11 points from the bench. Among the guests, Carmelo Anthony (6, 3/15 FG) disappointed as a starter, while Enes Kanter (13, 13 rebounds) posted a double-double. Portland is now the first team in the league this season to lose at least two 20-point leads.
Detroit Pistons (5-14) – Los Angeles Lakers (14-6) 107:92
- After the defeat in Philadelphia the day before, the Lakers went off the field as losers in Detroit. Anthony Davis missed the champion because of a quadriceps contusion, LeBron James was long in doubt because of ankle problems, but ultimately ran up. The King posted 22 points (8/19 FG), 7 rebounds and 10 assists, but only scored 2 points after the break. LeBron scored at least 20 points before the break for the third time in a row, in the past 25 years only Shaq and Kobe Bryant have achieved this at the Lakers.
- After 24 minutes, the guests were still leading with 58:56, after which the offense crumbled, mainly in the final section. Almost seven minutes before the end, Blake Griffin started a 16-0 run for the Pistons with a three-point, LA remained almost seven minutes without a single point. James in particular produced some bricks. The finals MVP had hit all of his first seven litters, after which he sank only one of his twelve attempts.
- At Detroit, Griffin (23, 5/10 threesomes) had a hot hand from a distance, as did shooting guard Wayne Ellington (20 6/9 threesomes). Derrick Rose contributed 14 points from the bench, Mason Plumlee (17, 10 rebounds) posted a double-double. The Pistons hit just under 40 percent of downtown and only lost 9 balls, so the Lakers hardly got into the fast break.
- In addition to LeBron, Kyle Kuzma, who was allowed to start for Davis, also scored 22 points. Dennis Schröder, on the other hand, remained inconspicuous and had 10 points (2/8 FG, 5/7 FT), 3 rebounds and 4 assists. In addition to the German, only bank player Talen Horton-Tucker (13, 3/3 threesome) scored double digits. That was too little in the fourth quarter when the Lakers only scored 14 points and scored 28 percent from the field.
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