Sacramento (United States), 21 January 2026 – The double away match in California Miami Heat – who are now awaited by the home match of the Portland Trail Blazers – ends with a success: after the misstep against the Golden State Warriors, in fact, the Florida franchise immediately raised its head by beating Sacramento. At the Golden 1 Center it ended with a 130-117 in favor of the Heat, who led for the entire 48 minutes, led by the tandem of Bam Adebayo (25 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists) and Norman Powell (22 points). Also in great shape, however, were Andrew Wiggins (19 points), Pelle Larsson (16 points, 9 assists and 6 rebounds starting in the starting five) and the Italian Simone Fontecchio, who brought home 15 points and 7 rebounds in the 19 minutes played off the bench. In the West, however, San Antonio Spurs and Denver Nuggets miss the opportunity to shorten – even minimally – the gap that separates them from the Oklahoma City Thunder: the Texans paid for the efforts of a close double match and, after the success obtained yesterday against the Utah Jazz (it was the third in a row) they lost the derby against the Houston Rocketswho have established themselves for 111-106: after finishing -16 and entering the fourth quarter down 92-82, Houston mounted a great comeback culminating in Reed Sheppard’s overtaking baskets less than 5′ from the final siren. Jabari Smith (17 points) and Alperen Sengun – the great star of the match with 20 points and 13 rebounds – then put the icing on the cake by scoring the winning points. Well, again at the Rockets, also Kevin Durant (18 points and 7 assists), while on the Spurs front, Julian Champagnie’s 27 points and Victor Wembanyama’s double double (14 points and 10 rebounds) were not enough. Badly, as already underlined, also i Nuggets, battuti 115-107 dy Los Angeles Lakers. The yellow and purple, 14 points down at half time (57-71), were the protagonists of a sensational turnaround in the second half: after having shortened the gap thanks to the 29-17 score in the third quarter, the Californians completed the work with a 16-0 score enhanced by the overtaking points scored by Luka Doncic. The Slovenian then put the exclamation point on his memorable performance (38 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists), leading the yellow-purple attack into the final sprint. On the opposite side of the Los Angeles of baskets has arrived thunderous fall of the Clippersoverwhelmed 138-110 on the Chicago Bulls field, protagonists of a great ballistic performance (25/47 in three-point shooting, franchise record) and driven by Coby White’s 27 points. Remaining among the big Californian teams, the shock of the knee injury suffered yesterday to Jimmy Butler (out for the rest of the season) perhaps had a significant impact on the team’s morale. Golden State Warriors who, in the second close match, suffered a very heavy 145-127 against the Toronto Raptors of a wild Immanuel Quickley (40 points and a new career high for him). Finally, victories also for the Phoenix Suns (116-110 against the Philadelphia 76ers) and Utah Jazz (127-122 against the Minnesota Timberwolves).
