The Lakers won the night from Saturday to Sunday among their historic rivals the Celtics after a suspenseful match. On the side of individual performances, Damian Lillard offered a success to the buzzer to the Blazers, on the floor of Chicago, accumulating 44 points and 9 assists.
The NBA clasico still keeps its promises: after two consecutive losses, the Lakers won against their historic rivals the Celtics, with whom they share the record for the number of league titles (17 each), at the end of a suspenseful match. . This very narrow victory (96-95) does LA as much good as it hurts Boston, who failed to win in the dying seconds and lost Marcus Smart to injury. On the ground after an insignificant support in the 4th quarter, the latter, in tears, could not rely on his left leg to return to the locker room. His club has mentioned calf pain, but an Achilles tendon rupture is feared. He will have an MRI on Sunday.
After this action, the Lakers took the opportunity to slightly escape the score in the wake of Anthony Davis (27 pts, 14 rebounds) and LeBron James (21 pts, 7 assists). But Jayson Tatum (30 pts, 9 rebounds) allowed Boston to pick up at a point 30 seconds from time. In vain for the C’s: Kemba Walker, who had just countered Davis, then missed the shoot for the win and Daniel Theis his tap. Boston slips to 5th place in the East. Los Angeles remains 3rd in the West.
COMEBACK STILL LOSING BUCKS
Like the day before in New Orleans, where he could not completely erase a 23-point deficit at the break, Milwaukee once again paid a big delay, 20 units in the 3rd quarter, conceding a second loss of ‘affiliated with Charlotte (126-114). Alone, Giannis Antetokounmpo, yet omnipresent (34 pts, 18 rebounds, 9 assists) could not fill such an air gap, which forced his team to share 4th place in the East with Indiana. Side Hornets (8th), alongside Gordon Hayward, still prolific (27 pts), the rookie LaMelo Ball, chosen in 3rd position of the last Draft, shone (27 pts, 9 assists, 4 interceptions).
BUTLER HEATS THE HEAT
Absent from the last ten matches (Covid), Jimmy Butler sorely missed the finalist of the last championship who lost eight in this period. His return with fanfare (30 pts, 8 assists, 7 rebounds) coincided with the seventh success (12 losses) of the season for his team, nevertheless narrowly won against Sacramento (105-104). Because if he scored the basket of victory with 42 seconds to go, it was Bam Adebayo (18 pts, 13 rebounds) who saved it from a counter on Richaun Holmes at 3 / 10th from the end.
DeAaron Fox shone in vain (30 pts) for the Kings, who stagnate in 12th place, in front of Dallas, still losing (111-105) at home against Phoenix, after a beautiful duel between Luka Doncic (19 pts, 8 rebounds, 7 assists) and Chris Paul (29 pts, 12 assists).
LILLARD COMPLETES THE BULLS
In Portland, the money-time is renamed “Dame Time”, so much Damian Lillard has become accustomed to registering the baskets of wins in the last seconds, even at the buzzer. In Chicago, he pushed the vice to do both to offer an almost unexpected success to the Blazers (123-122). At 11.5 / 10th to play, the Bulls, who had just increased their lead to 122-117, thought they had victory in their pockets. Lillard then planted a first three-point banderilla, 10 meters from the basket, then a second, lethal, to the siren after a jump ball won by his teammates.
The best player in the bubble, last year at Disney World when the regular season resumed because of the coronavirus, finished with 44 points (15/26 on shots, 9 assists). And Portland to climb to 6th place in the West, just behind Memphis who won (129-112) on the floor of San Antonio. A sixth consecutive victory in particular due to the 19 points (11 assists) of his young star Ja Morant. The Spurs are tied for 8th with Golden State, an easy winner over Detroit (118-91) thanks to Stephen Curry (28 pts, 6/8 behind the arc).
