The Lakers star scores 35 points for the victory against the Blazers (95-107), while the shooting guard scores the decisive triple against his former team (106-100).
With another 35 point display, LeBron James He led the Lakers’ third victory in the new NBA Cup against the Blazers (95-107), with which the forward, about to turn 39, equaled his best scoring mark of the season. Also notable on Friday night was the decisive triple by James Harden for his first victory with the Clippers and the stumble of the Nuggets, current champions, against the Pelicans (115-110) despite the enormous triple-double of Nikola Jokic 26 points, 16 rebounds and 18 assists.
“It’s about putting in the work every day, trusting my body and my abilities. And also keeping my mind as fresh as possible to help my team,” said King James, author of five triples and nine assists in 35 minutes. .
Beyond their leader, no other Lakers player reached twenty points. Anthony Davis He stayed at 16, but made the difference on defense with 14 rebounds, three steals and five blocks. The team led by Darwin Ham It dominates Group A of the Western Conference and is the only one in the entire league with a 3-0 record.
The terrible streak of the Spurs
As in the rest of the days designated for the Cup, the 11 games on Friday scored for both this tournament and the regular season. The group stage of the Cup has three other dates in November that will determine the eight franchises that will play the single-game playoffs in December, which will culminate with the final on the 9th in Las Vegas.
A team already eliminated from the competition is Spurs that, despite the rookie’s 27 points Victor Wembanyama, suffered their seventh consecutive loss, this time against the Sacramento Kings (120-129). The Frenchman, who was coming off a poor performance on Tuesday against the Thunder (8 points), recovered with a score of 27 points, nine rebounds, two steals and several spectacular actions such as an alley-oop in which his head threatened to hit the board.
However, the real protagonism belonged to De’Aaron Fox -43 points, 14 of them in the last period-, Domantas Sabonis –27 points, 14 rebounds- and Malik Monkauthor of 20 points coming off the bench.
“A relief”
After losing his first five games with the Clippers, Harden made up for it by nailing the winning triple against the Rockets, the franchise he led between 2012 and 2021. A small revenge for the shooting guard, whose success, with a spectacular step-back triple, was rounded off with a foul by his defender, Jae’Sean Tate.
Harden, after scoring the decisive triple and receiving a foul from Tate. AP
La Barba, author of 24 points and nine rebounds, also converted the free throw that ensured the final victory for the locals (106-100). “It’s a relief. We’ve had a bad time in the last few games, but we have to take it with perspective,” admitted Harden, who landed in Los Angeles at the end of October after forcing his departure from the Sixers. The worrying streak since the arrival of the veteran shooting guard caused Tyronn Lue sent to the bench Russell Westbrookrelegated to only 17 minutes.
Another superstar to seal his team’s victory was Kevin Durant (38 points), author of a triple with 18 seconds left that gave the Suns the victory against Utah (128-131). Not to mention the aforementioned exhibition by Jokic, powerless however, in the face of the Pelicans’ crossfire, where they stood out Zion Williamson (26 points), Jonas Valančiūnas (22) y Brandon Ingram (21).
Bridges’ return
Friday night also saw the return of Miles Bridges for the first time since April 2022 in the huge defeat of his Hornets against Milwaukee (99-130). The forward did not play at all last season after being accused of attacking his ex-partner in front of his two children. After accepting a sentence of three years of probation, the NBA applied a sanction that would end up extending to the first 10 games of this course.
The figure of the Hornets entered the court in the middle of the first quarter and was received with applause from the majority of their fans, some of them standing, and with whistles from others. Bridges showed no signs of his long inactivity and was one of the best on his team with 17 points, five rebounds and four assists while Giannis Antetokounmpo y Damian Lillard They scored 16 and 27 points for the Bucks.
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2023-11-18 11:28:16
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