Los Angeles (United States), 20 January 2026 – Ready redemption for the Oklahoma City Thunder who, after the unexpected misstep against the Miami Heat, they raised their heads by sweeping the Cleveland Cavaliers with an overwhelming 136-104: the reigning NBA champions immediately took control of the match by returning to the locker room at +15 and then definitively spread with a 23-5 run in a fourth quarter with 45 points scored and only 25 conceded. On yet another OKC victory there are the usual marks Shai Gilgeous-Alexanderwho extended to 113 the number of games in a row in which he scored at least 20 points, scoring 30 (this is the thirtieth time this season that he has reached 30), and Chet Holmgren (28 points and 8 rebounds). Victory on velvet also for the Golden State Warriors, who prevailed 135-112 over the Miami Heatbeing led by seven men in double figures (Brandin Podziermski best scorer with 24 points coming off the bench). The joy of the Californians’ victory, however, was decidedly dampened by the bad injury to the right knee suffered during the third quarter by Jimmy Butler after a game clash with Davion Mitchell (there is talk of a cruciate ligament injury and the season ended prematurely. At the Heat, the last to raise the white flag were Norman Powell (21 points) and Andrew Wiggins (18), while the Italian Simone Fontecchio continued the excellent performance recorded against the Thunder and closed the match with 13 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists in 18 minutes of play. Restando in Western Conference, the San Antonio Spurs consolidate their second place after defeating the Utah Jazz 123-110 at home: a victory achieved at the end of a match and on which there is the unmistakable stamp of Victor Wembanyama: starting in the quintet, the French champion took home a personal score of 33 points with 10/18 shooting (7/12 from three, personal record of triples scored in a match) and 10 rebounds. Definitely a bad evening for the Jazz, who – orphaned by Lauri Markkanen – finished with 40% shooting (35% from three) and always chased their opponents despite the excellent performances of Keyonte George (30 points and 6 assists) and Jusuf Nurkic (20 points). The Detroit Pistons, top of the class in the East, took the big Conference match by narrowly beating the Boston Celtics 104-103: one was decisive in extinguishing the last hopes of the green and whites triple by Tobias Harris with 1’37” left (top scorer of his team with 25 points), while on the other side the last to give up was Jaylen Brown, who scored 32 points – including the Celtics’ last four – but also missed the shot of the possible victory at the end. Finally, there are also the successes of Milwaukee Bucks (112-110 against the Atlanta Hawks thanks to Giannis Antetokounmpo with 21 points and 10 rebounds), Los Angeles Clippers (who defeated the Washington Wizards 110-106, supported by James Harden’s 36 points and 9 assists), Dallas Mavericks (114-97 contro i New York Knicks) e Philadelphia 76ers (113-104 against the Indiana Pacers).
