The Milwaukee Bucks set off a three-way fireworks display against the Philadelphia 76ers in the top game of the Eastern Conference – but make it unnecessarily exciting in the end (here are the highlights in the video). Kemba Walker turns it up in the Boston Celtics win against the Phoenix Suns, and Zion Williamson and the Pelicans make short work of the Magic.
Jayson Tatum weakens again, but Boston wins against Phoenix. The Pelicans have no problems whatsoever in Orlando and the Bulls are showing a strong reaction.
Boston Celtics (32-27) – Phoenix Suns (42-17) 99:86 (BOXSCORE)
- After going bust on Monday with the Bulls, Boston had two days to recharge. This was particularly noticeable with Kemba Walker, who was absent due to illness, but now set his season best with 32 points and led the Celts to victory against the Suns despite the again weak Jayson Tatum.
- At the Suns hardly anything came together from downtown, Phoenix only hit 6 of its 35 attempts from a distance (17.1 percent). Mikal Bridges, who only hit 1/9 threesome (15 points), was emblematic of the throwing problems, but Devin Booker also had a used evening. With only 15 points (6/13 FG) he fouled early – four of his six offenses were offensive fouls.
- Boston mercilessly exploited the offensive weaknesses of the guests in the second quarter to break away a little for the first time shortly before half-time. In the third round, the lead grew to up to 21 points. Although Chris Paul defended himself with 22 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists, when Phoenix wanted to make it exciting, Tatum sank his first three of the evening (1/8). All of a sudden, Boston’s lead was again 14 points with two and a half minutes to go, which was too much for the Suns.
- Tatum put on a double-double (15 and 11 rebounds, plus 6 assists), but sank only 3/17 of his field throw attempts. Kemba, on the other hand, made 11/17 out of the field and 5 threesomes positive attention, Marcus Smart contributed 11 points and partly good defense – only with the 23 turnover did Boston shoot himself in the leg far too often. In the end, however, was the seventh win out of eight games.
- Celtics coach Brad Stevens didn’t want to talk about the sport after the game. Instead, he expressed his condolences to the Terrence Clarke family, as did many other Celtics and NBA players. The 19-year-old Guard from the University of Kentucky was killed in a car accident on Thursday. Clarke was from Boston and was a frequent guest at Celtics games. In the upcoming draft, he was traded as a potential second-round pick.
Orlando Magic (18-41) – New Orleans Pelicans (26-33) 100:135 (BOXSCORE)
- The Magic was just right for the stumbling Pelicans. After the last four bankruptcies in a row, New Orleans made kind of wood from the weakened hosts. Brandon Ingram (29 and 6 assists, 11/17 FG) and Zion Williamson (23 and 7 rebounds in 23 minutes, 9/12 FG) could hardly be stopped and were already after three quarters of work.
- Only in the first round was the game exciting, the second and third sections together went to the guests at 79:43. Zion sank all his nine field goals close to the ring, the Magic had nothing to oppose without Wendell Carter Jr. (ankle). So New Orleans decided the duel in the zone with 66:34 points clearly for themselves.
- “He has this incredible ability to get to the ring. When he and Brandon are on the court together, we’re pretty good offensively,” said Head Coach Stan Van Gundy, “we just have to deliver defensively.” That wasn’t a problem against Orlando either, the Pels lead grew to 42 points – the third-highest lead ever in franchise history!
- In the end, there was still the highest win of the season with a difference of 35 points. New Orleans sank 55.6 percent from the field, Orlando had a rate of just 36.7 percent. The best man in the Magic was Mo Bamba with 17 points and 12 rebounds, and rookie Devin Cannady also scored 17 points from the bench. In addition to the dominant Pels duo Ingram and Zion, Willy Hernangomez (18 and 12 rebounds) and Eric Bledsoe (15, 5/7 threesomes) also made a good match.
Chicago Bulls (25-34) – Charlotte Hornets (28-30) 108:91 (BOXSCORE)
- After the clear bankruptcy against the Cavs the day before, Chicago showed a good reaction and made short work of the Hornets, which were still weakened. The reaction came from Nikola Vucevic, who after 9 counters against the Cavs doubled his yield (18, 8/13 FG) and also put on 16 rebounds (season high) and 6 assists.
- The home side got off to a good start and were two-digit ahead early on. With the last 6 points in the first half, Vucevic finally gave his team a 14-point lead at halftime. With a 13-0 run in the third section, Chicago then nailed it, the lead grew to 25 points and the game was over.
- Daniel Theis also scored 7 of his 9 points in this section, plus the German on 7 boards and 2 blocks. Coby White, like Vucevic, scored 18 points with good odds (7/10 FG and 4/6 threesomes) and did not make a turnover. Thad Young also joined the good Bulls collective with 18 points (8/10 FG) coming from the bench.
- The best man on the other side was Devonte ‘Graham with 16 points, but just like his teammates he had huge problems with the throw from distance (3/11 threesome, Hornets: 8/31). Miles Bridges (13) took part his next poster dunk after all, earned for the highlight tape of the guests, but Tomas Satoransky also knew the opposite side to please with an impressive slam.
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