The duel: the Bucks explode the Thunder
The clash of the night between the two second teams in their conference lasted only two quarters. On the Bucks floor, the Thunder initially resisted well to return to the locker room one point behind their hosts (48-47). But Milwaukee changed gear after the locker room and completely scattered Oklahoma City in a third quarter won 34-17. Failing in rebounding this season, the Thunder racket was devoured by a gluttonous Giannis Antetokounmpo (30 points, 19 rebounds including 8 offensive), like a Chet Holmgren dominated as rarely (6 points and 4 rebounds) . Too far from the head of the Eastern Conference, the Bucks are nevertheless consolidating their place as runner-up to Boston. To the West, OKC sees Minnesota getting closer.
Lakers-Pacers very close to the 300 point mark
Opposed to the very permissive defense of Indiana, the Lakers offered themselves an orgy of points scored last night at home. Los Angeles emerged victorious from a match which came close to 300 cumulative points in regulation time (150-145). The Lakers haven’t scored this many points since 1987 and their Showtime era.
Four players from the same team reached the 25-unit mark for the first time since 2021 in the NBA: Anthony Davis (36 points, 16 rebounds), Lebron James (26 points, 10 assists), Spencer Dinwiddie (26 points) and Austin Reaves (25 points, 8 assists). Beyond this symbolic mark, this victory combined with the setback for Golden State allows the Lakers to consolidate their ninth place, synonymous with play-in.
The rebound: Miami takes revenge on Cleveland
Completely extinguished by New Orleans last Friday (88-111), Miami took out its nerves on a Cleveland still deprived of Donovan Mitchell last night (121-84). The Florida collective (seven players with at least 10 points scored) killed the match in the first period with already a 21-point gap at the break. The 2023 finalists can still believe in a top 6 synonymous with direct qualification for the play-offs in the Eastern Conference.
