Strong Dennis Schröder and Jayson Tatum led the Celtics to another victory. While Giannis Antetokounmpo is unstoppable, the Wizards are only half a game apart from the leaders in the east after a comeback against Miami.
New York Knicks (9-7) – Houston Rockets (1-15) 106:99 (BOXSCORE)
- At Madison Square Garden, the worst team in the league performed bravely. But that the Rockets still have a lot to learn, as Daniel Theis recently explained in the SPOX interview, was also evident in the tenth loss of the season in the tenth away game. The Texans were still ahead of the game in the middle of the fourth quarter, before too many turnovers and a hot Alec Burks turned the game over.
- He met three of his six threes (career high) in the closing stages, added four of his five steals. After a 12-2 run, the Knicks were suddenly eight points ahead with two and a half minutes before the end and didn’t let anything burn. Before that, they had their worst first quarter of the season (13 points, 5/23 FG), so Tom Thibodeau said: “It wasn’t nice, but I liked the way the guys found a way to play the game to win.”
- The Rockets have been waiting for a win since October 24, against the Knicks they were led by Christian Wood (18 points, 12 rebounds), and Jae’Sean Tate also had a double-double (12 and 10). Jalen Green contributed 16 points, Eric Gordon threw a lot and hit little (15, 5/17 FG). Theis also remained extremely pale (2, 1/6 FG, 5 rebounds). 22 turnovers, 8 of them late in the game, were simply too many in the end.
- While Houston only hit 25.6 percent from a distance (10/39), the hosts did significantly better (18/41, 43.9 percent). Burks was top scorer with 20 points from the bench (6/7 3FG), Evan Fournier (19), Julius Randle (16, 4/15 FG, 10 rebounds, 9 assists), Immanuel Quickley (13) and RJ Barrett 11 scored ) binary.
Indiana Pacers (7-11) – New Orleans Pelicans (3-15) 111:94 (BOXSCORE)
- After the disastrous performance against the Hornets, Indiana showed the right reaction and brought in an easy win against the Pelicans. Head coach Rick Carlisle had already taken the starters off the field in the middle of the third quarter. A day later it became clear that they wanted to prove something to him. The quintet scored 23 points in the first section, which resulted in an early double-digit lead.
- “When we move the ball at this rate, a lot of good things happen. It was a much needed win,” said Carlisle. This was perfect after the third quarter at the latest, which went to the Pacers at 38:18. In the course of this, Myles Turner created an exclamation mark, when he grabbed an offensive rebound and dunked two defenders.
- In front of his own audience, the balance is 5-2, to which Justin Holiday, who slipped into the starting lineup, contributed with 4 three-pointers and 17 points. Sabonis (20 and 10), Malcolm Brogdon (16, 6/8 FG) and Turner (11 and 9) also scored double digits. 14 three-pointers of the Pacers (36.8 percent) were compared to only 6 (33.3 percent) of the Pels. The litter rates also spoke a clear language (46.2 vs. 39.8 percent).
- In New Orleans, Jonas Valanciunas was most likely to leave a positive impression (19 and 13), while Brandon Ingram (12, 4/14 FG), Nickeil Alexander-Walker (6, 2/9 FG) or Tomas Satoransky (2, 1 / 3 FG) did not want to succeed. “We didn’t play with the necessary energy,” said coach Willie Green after the Pelicans had defeated the Clippers last night.
Washington Wizards (11-5) – Miami Heat (11-6) 103:100 (BOXSCORE)
- Two days ago in Florida, the Heat were still ahead of the game, and the Wizards grabbed the win in the direct revenge – even if it didn’t look like it for a long time. With 16 points, Miami was ahead in the third quarter, just under five minutes before the end it was still 10. With a 15-2 run, the especially shaped by Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Spencer Dinwiddie Washington turned the game around and Kyle Kuzma took it home from the free throw line, even if he missed 2 of his 6 attempts.
- “We just fight, it’s in our DNA,” said Caldwell-Pope, summarizing the will of the Wizards, who are only 0.5 games behind the Nets and number one in the East. “Everyone is still learning. But it is great that we are still able to get so many wins,” said Bradley Beal about the interaction with his many new colleagues.
- Beal was his team’s top scorer with 21 points (8/17 FG, 9 assists), but only hit one of his nine three-way attempts. Dinwiddie and Caldwell-Pope came on 16 points, Montrezl Harrell from the bench on 13. All ten players used scored at least 4 points. In the end, the three-man quota in particular spoke clearly in favor of the home side (36.7 vs. 25.9 percent).
- “As soon as you think that you are good and think a lot of yourself, you get missed. This league will get you back on the ground quickly,” said Jimmy Butler, summarizing the game. The Heat had won four games in a row, but it wasn’t because of Butler (29, 11/19 FG) that this series ended. But apart from reservist Tyler Herro (20) and a few threesomes from PJ Tucker (14), there was little else. Kyle Lowry needed twelve throws for 7 points, even Duncan Robinson could not play his danger from a distance (7, 1/5 3FG),
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