NBA: Lakers bankruptcy despite strong LeBron James – 2OT madness in OKC

The Los Angeles Lakers lost the city duel despite a strong performance by LeBron James. Kevin Durant takes the Knicks apart, things get really wild between OKC and Milwaukee. The crisis is getting worse for the Timberwolves.

Charlotte Hornets (3-9) – Portland Trail Blazers (8-3) 95:105 (BOXSCORE)

• The Blazers’ excellent start to the season continues. Even without two starters (Jerami Grant and Jusuf Nurkic), Portland snagged their third win in four games, once again relying on Damian Lillard. Dame had a total of 26 points, 6 rebounds and 7 assists and had the hot hand, especially from outside (6/12 3FG). In the end, his team could get over the 6 turnovers.
• Charlotte started the game well with 30 points in the first quarter, but lost her offensive rhythm in the course of the game and ended up with only 37.4 percent of the field. The game was still balanced in the third quarter, but shortly before the final quarter Portland finally took control and slowly pulled away a bit.
• In addition to Lillard, Anfernee Simons (19), rookie Shaedon Sharpe (17) and Drew Eubanks (14) were particularly popular. In the case of the Hornets, the entire starting five scored in double digits, but in some cases very inefficiently (top scorer Terry Rozier scored 6/20 from the field for his 18 points). Charlotte has now lost six games in a row.

Indiana Pacers (5-6) – Denver Nuggets (8-3) 119:122 (BOXSCORE)

• What a strange game! With up to 18 points, the Pacers were still ahead in the third quarter, but in the end it wasn’t enough for the third win in a row. Part of that was Rick Carlisle, who picked up a technical 22 seconds from the end in the midst of a wild final minute, 2 points down, allowing Jamal Murray to take three free throws to +5…which ultimately made the difference brought.
• But one after anonther. Denver has recently had problems surviving in the minutes without Nikola Jokic. There were a lot of them in this game: In ten minutes of play, the MVP collected four fouls, so he only played 21 minutes in total and was only (successfully) used again in the last quarter for the final sprint. It was almost surprising that Denver was still in the game at this point.
• But a total of six nuggets came up with at least 15 points, so the guests somehow stayed in the game even without their best player (24 points). Aaron Gordon in particular was to be found everywhere (18, 17 rebounds, 6 assists), even if the forward had his share in the fact that his team fabricated a proud 20 turnovers in total.
• The young Pacers showed their potential, especially in the second quarter, when they handed the Nuggets 43 points. Bennedict Mathurin was particularly striking: In 13 minutes of play in the first half, the rookie scored 23 points and was completely unstoppable at times. He cooled down a bit, but the No. 6 pick was the top scorer of the game with 30 points. Tyrese Haliburton had 21 points and 11 assists, while Isaiah Jackson (17, 10 rebounds) and Myles Turner (14 and 11) also had double-doubles.