The Los Angeles Lakers, defending champions, won (113-106) on the floor of Milwaukee, one of their most serious rivals, LeBron James showing himself imperial to win his duel of superstars with Giannis Antetokounmpo, Thursday in the NBA. The “Greek Freak” may be the reigning double MVP, but the “King” has yet shown that he remains the boss when it counts.
An image symbolized this balance of power fifteen seconds from the end, when the first, excluded for six faults a few moments before, watched, annoyed and helpless on the bench, “LBJ” hit a final dunk to establish the success of his family. Decisive, the latter thus managed 12 of his 34 points in the last quarter (more than 50% success in shots, 6/10 behind the arc), to which were added 8 assists and 6 rebounds.
In the wake of James, Anthony Davis (18 pts, 9 rebounds, 6 assists) and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, real X factor with his seven long distance baskets (23 points), LA (12-4) n ‘ did not let the doubt settle after his surprise loss at home against Golden State (115-113) and recovers his chair of leader in the West.
“We do everything not to lose two games in a row, that’s kind of our mantra. Against the Warriors, we were not happy to have let the victory slip away, so tonight we entered the field combative with the will to rectify the situation and show that we remain the best defense in the League ”Davis commented.
The Bucks fought well, like Antetokounmpo who scored an impressive counter on James. But the winger, author of 25 points (11 rebounds, 3 assists) but 9 stray balls, was finally penalized by too many mistakes made. And if Khris Middleton (20 points, 7 assists) and Jrue Holiday (22 points, 7 assists) were also active, the players from the bench had a minimal contribution with 16 points, half less than those opposite. After this second loss in a row, three days after that conceded to Brooklyn (125-123) against James Harden and Kevin Durant, the Bucks (9-6) slipped to third place in the East.
Best Current Series for Utah
In Salt Lake City, the Utah Jazz again beat New Orleans (129-118) and their duo Williamson (27 points) and Ingram (23 points), two days after their previous confrontation, this time putting a period to take the measure of their opponent who led 43-31 after the first quarter.
Rudy Gobert, precious in defense, compiled 12 points, 11 rebounds and 4 blocks but it was Donovan Mitchell who led the assault (36 points, 6/8 to 3 pts, 7 rebounds, 5 assists) and secured a seventh victory in a row – best current series in the NBA – which allows his team to share second place in the West with the Clippers (11-4). “The key to our current success is chemistry. We made sure to quickly find it and perfect it at the start of the season ”, wanted to underline the young star of Jazz.
A little further west, in San Francisco, it was the Knicks, still without Frank Ntilikina (knee), who won at the expense of Golden State (119-104). A third consecutive success which allows them to balance their balance sheet (8-8). RJ Barrett (28 points) was the offensive engine of the New Yorkers, solidly relayed by Julius Randle, domineering inside and close to the triple-double (16 points, 17 rebounds, 9 assists).
Stephen Curry, author of 30 points, was too lonely to carry the Warriors (8-7), quickly deprived of their other leader, Draymond Green, excluded at the end of the first quarter, after a second technical fault collected for having been too vindictive to his young teammate James Wiseman, with the referees thinking he was speaking to them.
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