Houston (USA), Apr 14 (EFE) .- Neither a surprise defeat, nor suffer the loss of key starting players or that the stars are also human and do not perform at their best with the winning march of the Utah Jazz, Phoenix Suns and Los Angeles Clippers, who are relentless in the fight to lead the Western Conference.
While in the East, the Boston Celtics have improved considerably and the Brooklyn Nets already have forward Kevin Durant to face the losses of their other two stars of the “Big Three”, who did the same when he was the absent.
The combination of Croatian forward Bojan Bogdanovic and guard Donovan Mitchell was the winning formula in the Jazz attack that beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 106-96.
Just 24 hours after suffering a surprise 121-125 loss to the Washington Wizards, which broke their historic 24-game winning streak at home, the Jazz began a new winner with 23 points from Bogdanovic and 22 from Mitchell.
The victory left the Jazz 41-14, the best in the Northwest Division, the Western Conference and the league.
The Bahamian center Deandre Ayton emerged with a great interior game that allowed him to get a double-double of 19 points and 13 rebounds with which he helped the Suns take the 106-86 victory against the Miami Heat.
But above all, the Suns had the brilliant contribution of their reserve players who finished the game with 65 points, which also allowed the Phoenix team (39-15) to achieve the third consecutive victory and the ninth in the last 10 games played, which the leaves seconds in the West, barely a game and a half behind the Jazz.
Four reserve players contributed double-digit numbers, including forward Cameron Johnson (15), Payne (14), forward Torrey Craig (14) and Croatian power forward Dario Seric (13).
The stellar contribution of the reserves made up for a rather low-key night from the starters, the Hispanic guard Devin Booker (12 points) and the point guard Chris Paul (five points).
Forward Paul George once again showed special scoring inspiration against his former Indiana Pacers team, who lost 115-126 at home after he scored 36 points, including four triples, as the Clippers’ leader.
George also had seven rebounds and eight assists to improve to a 4-0 mark at Bankers Life Fieldhouse since the Pacers traded him to the Oklahoma City Thunder in July 2017 and has surpassed 30 points in all of them.
The Clippers (38-18), who are still without Spanish center Serge Ibaka, injured, have won six straight games and 12 of the last 14 played, which consolidates them third in the West.
Durant and the Nets had to wait one day longer than scheduled before facing the Minnesota Timberwolves, but nothing changed when it came to taking a comfortable 97-127 away win, after overcoming the postponement by another police incident that left the death of the young black Daunte Wright, 20 years old.
But sporting action returned again to the Target Center and Durant finished with 31 points, after scoring 11 of 15 shots from the field, including four 3-pointers from six attempts, four rebounds and four assists, which left him with the most productive contribution in two months. and a half.
The victory of the Nets (37-17), who played without their stars guard James Harden (injured) and point guard Kyrie Irving, who was again out for personal reasons, allowed them to return to first place in the Atlantic Division and the Eastern Conference they share with the Philadelphia Sixers, who rested.
What the Celtics did not do, who with power forward Jayson Tatum, who scored 32 points, including a triple at the last minute, stopped the Portland Trail Blazers by winning 115-116 on the road for the fourth consecutive win.
Tatum, who scored a career-high 53 points last Friday in his win over Minnesota and earned Player of the Week recognition, scored 17 in the third quarter.
Guard Jaylen Brown also shone with 24 points and point guard Kemba Walker reached 21 as key players in the offense of the Celtics (29-26), who have won six of their last seven games and rose to fifth place in the Conference. East.
The same one that the Los Angeles Lakers (34-21) now occupy in the West after they beat a reserve team of the Charlotte Hornets 93-101 at home – they had all five starters out – and finished 4-out of seven games without LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
Power forward Kyle Kuzma scored 24 points and center Andre Drummond grabbed 12 rebounds as leaders of the attack and the inside game.
Those who remain leaders of the Southeast Division and are consolidated are the Atlanta Hawks (30-25) after beating the Toronto Raptors 103-108 at home with the 23 points scored by the Serbian guard Bogdan Bogdanovic and the double-double of the Swiss center. Clint Capela (19 points and 21 rebounds) .EFE
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