What an evening for Stephen Curry! With 53 points against the Denver Nuggets, the head chef became the best Warriors scorer of all time and incidentally also fired the nuggets out of the hall. Denver is worried about Jamal Murray, the Los Angeles Lakers lose in New York and the Utah Jazz stumble against the Washington Wizards despite their late comeback.
Despite a good performance by Dennis Schröder, the Lakers have to admit defeat to the Knicks. The Spurs make short work of the Magic.
New York Knicks (28-27) – Los Angeles Lakers (33-21) 111:96 (BOXSCORE)
- A few days after the “best win of the year” according to Dennis Schröder against the Nets, the Los Angeles Lakers in Manhattan couldn’t win anything. Julius Randle dominated with 34 points (13/23 FG), 10 rebounds, but also 7 turnover and led the Knicks to their third win in a row – and thus again to a positive balance.
- The Lakers’ number 7 pick from 2014 got off to a good start against his ex-team and was responsible for 13 of the first 19 Knicks counters. DS17 had a good answer with 8 points in a row, however, until the half-time break the guests balanced the game. In the third section, the Lakers offense had huge problems, in over five minutes without a field goal you had to let go of the curtsey.
- The round went to the home side with 26:16, who separated by 15 points. LA started another 10-0 run in the fourth quarter, with which Schröder and Co. brought themselves within striking distance, but again Randle was too much. The Big also got good support from Elfrid Payton (20) and Derrick Rose (14), while RJ Barrett had a poor evening after recent good performances (7, 2/11 FG).
- Against the significantly larger and defensively stronger Knicks compared to the Nets, the still decimated Lakers had problems on the boards (33:47) and made 25 ball losses. Schröder was still the best man with 21 points (7/13 FG) and 6 assists in 5 turnovers, Markieff Morris scored 17 points. Kyle Kuzma had 14 points on his comeback after a two game break (5/13 FG, 2/9 threesome).
Dallas Mavericks (29-24) – Philadelphia 76ers (37-17) 95:113 (BOXSCORE)
You can find the detailed match report here.
Orlando Magic (17-37) – San Antonio Spurs (26-26) 97:120 (BOXSCORE)
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A good 24 hours after his game winner against the Mavs, DeMar DeRozan fired the Spurs to victory again, but with significantly less effort and much less drama. On the way to the second victory in a row, the guests surprised the overwhelmed Magic early in the game and left nothing to burn.
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Before the tip-off, both teams made a strong statement by playing the national anthem Arm in arm, forming a circle at the center lineto commemorate Daunte Wright, who was shot dead during a police check over the weekend. After that, however, almost only the Spurs played, who pulled away for the first time towards the end of the first quarter and were already in the front with up to 23 points in the second section.
- Thanks in part to DeRozan (19 points and 6 assists, 7/11 FG), the lead increased to 30 points after the break and coach Gregg Popovich was able to spare his stars. DeRozan only stood on the floor for 26 minutes. Otherwise, Dejounte Murray (17, 5 rebounds and 6 assists in 28 minutes) or Derrick White (15) performed well. Jakob Pöltl got 6 points and 6 rebounds.
- The Magic, which suffered the sixth bankruptcy in a row, were led by RJ Hampton with 16 points and 8 rebounds. Wendell Carter Jr. put on 15 and 8 rebounds, but Orlando only hit 5/20 as a team from downtown and made 15 turns with 15 assists. “You are in a difficult situation, but you are trying hard,” said Coach Pop, almost sympathetically.
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