The match of the week: Atlanta – Philadelphia (142-134 AD)
What to expect from the Hawks and Sixers this season? Many fans and observers were wondering. The two teams alternate between good and bad at the start of the season but are in any case positioning themselves for the play-ins. Their confrontation in any case kept its promises with a victory for Atlanta, deprived of Trae Young, after two overtimes thanks to two 3-point shots from Jalen Johnson (41 points, career record). However, we were in good shape on the Sixers side: 44 points for Tyrese Maxey, 28 for Quentin Grimes and 18 in 30 minutes for Joel Embiid, back from injury.
Performance of the week: Payton Pritchard’s 42 points
There are players like that, quite discreet but who remain safe values for their team. Capable of scoring a good ten or fifteen points per match. And sometimes, this “lambda” player, relatively speaking, explodes. This was the case for Payton Pritchard last week with 42 points scored in Boston’s victory in Cleveland (117-115). The green elf of the Celtics was phenomenal: 42 points at 15/22, including 6/11 at 3pts, 6/6 at LF, combined with 3 rebounds and 3 assists. Despite the absence of Jason Tatum for the season, the Celtics are in 5e Place in the East!
The Belgians: OKC unfolds, Portland tries to hang on
Will the Thunder break Golden State’s record of 73 wins in 82 games? OKC is keeping the pace in any case with 21 victories in 22 games, with Ajay Mitchell still important on both sides of the court: 15 points, 3.5 rebounds and 3.7 assists on average! Who will be able to stop them? On the Portland side, we are still struggling to string together victories (only 1 in the last 4 games), despite the good form of Toumani Camara: 19 points, 7.3 rebounds, 3.3 rebounds and 1 block on average!
