Installed on the Milwaukee bench since January 29, Doc Rivers had a very complicated first week. Still beaten in Phoenix on Tuesday evening (114-106), the former coach of Boston and Philadelphia now has four defeats in five matches with his Bucks. In Arizona, he was unable to count on Damian Lillard (ankle) or Brook Lopez (personal reasons).
Still in the game at the start of the fourth quarter (95-84, 40th), Milwaukee had to preserve Giannis Antetokounmpo (34 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists) who had just committed his fifth foul. Kevin Durant (28 points) took the opportunity to fold the match with a basket plus the foul and a winning arrow (107-94, 46th). The winger also signed the action of the evening with a huge dunk despite the defense of the “Greek Freak”. The Bucks are now third in the East, behind Cleveland. Théo Maledon did not come into play for Phoenix.
A few days after Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving returned, in turn, to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, a year after obtaining his departure for Dallas. The champion leader in 2016 with Cleveland remembered the good memories of his former fans with 35 points to carry the Mavericks to victory (119-107) alongside Luka Doncic (35 points, 18 rebounds, 9 assists). Booed by the Brooklyn fans, Irving immediately got to work with 21 points in the first half before slamming a superb alley-oop dunk in the circle after returning from the locker room.
“Why didn’t you play like that with the Nets? “, asked a fan in the front row. “You can thank the mayor (Eric Adams),” replied Irving, in an allusion to his 2021-2022 season when a decision by local authorities deprived him of Brooklyn home matches for five months because he did not want to be vaccinated against Covid. Arriving in the summer of 2019, “Uncle Drew” had first experienced two first seasons rotten by injuries before a final 2022-2023 campaign marked by his suspension after having promoted an anti-Semitic film.
The image: the XXL infirmary of Memphis
As before each match, Memphis published the state of his infirmary in a post on the social network Ravaged by injuries, those of their stars Ja Morant (ankle) and Desmond Bane (shoulder) in the lead, the Grizzlies also had to do without pivot Jaren Jackson Jr (hip), crowned defender of the year last season.
Authorized to sign several players to compensate for these unavailability, Memphis presented itself in New York with 10 players, led by Vince Williams Jr (19 points) for a narrow defeat (123-113). The exit of Jalen Brunson (27 points), the All-Star leader of the Knicks, after a sprained ankle in the fourth quarter, almost opened the road to an exploit for the Grizzlies (113-109, 45th) but Donte DiVincenzo (32 points) blew away Madison Square Garden where Evan Fournier did not set foot on the floor.
The performance: Utah brings down OKC
For its last game before the trade deadline, Thursday evening, Utah continues to give headaches to its general manager Danny Ainge. Should we exchange several market values of the group led by Will Hardy (Jordan Clarkson, Collin Sexton…) or let the young Jazz coach try to reach the play-offs? Tuesday evening, Lauri Markkanen (33 points) guided the Salt Lake City franchise to a prestigious victory against Oklahoma City (124-117).
After two award-winning baskets from Keyonte George, the Finnish interior planted his last basket to give the Jazz some breathing space (119-113, 47th). After 52 matches, Utah maintains a balanced record (26 wins – 26 losses) in 10th place in the Western Conference, the last qualifier for the “play-in” (play-offs). OKC is second. French winger Ousmane Dieng played 13 minutes for 8 points (3 of 3 shooting), 2 rebounds and 1 assist with the best differential (+9 for the Thunder with him on the floor) of his team.
