NBA Highlights: Schröder Wins, Doncic Shines, Wemby Impresses

Dennis Schröder can finally celebrate his first win in a Kings jersey: Sacramento narrowly beat the Jazz in front of their home crowd. The German played a decent game with 17 points (8/16 FG), five rebounds and three assists; his six points in the final quarter were particularly important.

There the two teams had a close exchange of blows, which was only decided in the final seconds of the game. After a foul by Russell Westbrook, Lauri Markkanen went to the free throw line with 28 seconds on the clock and scored two goals to give the Jazz the lead. Malik Monk then took responsibility, but missed from the middle distance. However, Domantas Sabonis was there, cleaned up the board and put the ball in the basket with a foul. Keyonte George then still had the chance to win, but Schröder’s strong defense meant that he couldn’t get rid of the throw properly.

The Kings’ best thrower was Zach LaVine with 31 points, followed by Monk (20). Sabonis also posted a double-double (12 & 12). At Utah, Markkanen was the leading scorer with 33 points. Rookie Ace Bailey didn’t hit any of his five shots in 13 minutes of play and ended up with zero points.

What a performance from Luka Doncic! In the playoff rematch from last year, the Slovenian led his team to a surprisingly clear victory with an outstanding 49 points (a new Lakers career high) and also made history: He is only the fourth player in NBA history to start the season with two 40-point games.

Against Minny he hit 14/23 of his shots, 5/12 three-pointers and 16/19 at the free throw line. He also narrowly missed a triple-double (11 rebounds, 8 assists). He also wrote Lakers history with his 23 points in the first quarter; only Kobe Bryant and Kyle Kuzma had previously achieved this.

However, the game was far from being as clear as the result suggests. The Wolves led for almost the entire first half, but after the break they couldn’t find their rhythm and LA pulled away little by little. In addition to Doncic, Austin Reaves (25) and Rui Hachimura (23) provided important scoring, and Deandre Ayton (15 & 8) also played a good game.

Among the guests, only Anthony Edwards (31) and Julius Randle (26) were in normal form, the rest were disappointing across the board.

Second game, second Spurs win, second Wemby gala. Even though it was significantly more work for San Antonio against the Pelicans than against the Mavs at the start of the season. San Antonio only needed overtime to defeat the hard-fighting Pels around their superstar Zion Williamson (27, 10 & 7). Zion even had a chance to win in the final seconds, but missed one of their two free throws.

This meant that the Spurs went into overtime, which the Spurs had to complete largely without Victor Wembanyama, who fouled out early in extra time. The Frenchman had previously left his mark on the game with 29 points, eleven rebounds and nine blocks. In overtime it was Devin Vassell and Julian Champagnie who secured the victory with two important three-pointers.

Big man Luke Kornet also played a great game, collecting an outstanding nine offensive rebounds and posting a strong double-double (14 & 12). In addition to Williamson, Trey Murphy III also shone for New Orleans with 25 points and ten rebounds. Rookie Derik Queen also had a good game off the bench (15 & 6).

The KD Rockets still have to wait for their first win of the new season. As against OKC, they also fought a battle with the Pistons until the final seconds – again with the better end for the opponent. In the person of Jabari Smith Jr. and Alperen Sengün, Houston missed the chance to equalize before Cade Cunningham made everything clear at the line.

Kevin Durant once again delivered an outstanding performance and was the top scorer with 37 points, Amen Thompson got 19 points in a duel with his twin brother Ausar, Ausar got ten. Cunningham was Detroit’s best player with 21 points, seven rebounds and nine assists.

Things aren’t going well for Cooper Flagg and the Dallas Mavericks either. Although the No. 1 pick can now record his first NBA dunk and three-pointer on his statistics sheet, he is still missing his first win. In the fourth quarter, Flagg turned things up and scored nine points in a row, but turnovers cost the Mavs the game again in the end (21 in total).

For the Wizards, Kyshawn George had the best game of his young career with 34 points, eleven rebounds, four assists, two steals and three blocks. For the Mavs, Anthony Davis was again the top scorer (27 & 13), but like against the Spurs, he lacked his usual dominance near the ring.