NBA: LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers struggle to beat Bulls

The Los Angeles Lakers struggled to beat the Chicago Bulls, thanks in part to a good performance by Dennis Schröder. Meanwhile, LaMelo Ball decides the family duel against Pelicans star Lonzo for itself, the Celtics save a victory and the Rockets shoot down the Magic. At the Jazz and Raptors the records tumble.

The Celtics and Suns gamble away high leadership, but Boston still saves the victory home. Phoenix, on the other hand, has to admit defeat to Jerami Grant. The Knicks have to accept a setback.

Detroit Pistons (2-7) – Phoenix Suns (6-3) 110:105 OT

• In the offseason, Jerami Grant signed with the Pistons to prove to the world he had what it takes to be number one on a team. Against the Suns he backed up this assumption with further arguments, with 31 points (10/15 FG) and 10 rebounds, the 26-year-old Mo-Town led loudly ESPN Stats & Info the franchise’s highest comeback win in 25 years.
• By the middle of the second quarter, the Suns looked almost like the sure winner with a 23-point lead. The guests from Arizona started the game with a hot hand from downtown, especially Langston Galloway (all of his 17 points in the second round, 5/8 threesome) was in a really good mood against his ex-team.
• But after the break, Phoenix had enormous problems with the Pistons’ zone defense. The Suns only put 37 points on the scoreboard in the second half. In the meantime, the guests awarded 16 threes in a row. Devin Booker was still the best scorer of his team with 23 points (5/12 threes), Deandre Ayton came up with 14 points and 12 rebounds, Chris Paul put on 11, 9 assists and 7 boards. Phoenix made life difficult for itself with 20 ball losses.
• So Detroit gradually fought its way back into the game. 9.6 seconds before the end, Mason Plumlee (12) equalized after good preparatory work by Grant, Booker’s final attempt only landed on the ring – overtime! There Detroit took control with a 9-0 run led by Grant and rookie Saddiq Bey (10), a triple from Grant brought the decision. Blake Griffin and Delon Wright each contributed 16 points to the Pistons’ first victory after three bankruptcies.

Boston Celtics (7-3) – Washington Wizards (2-7) 116:107

• In the end, the Celts were likely to be relieved rather than happy about their fourth win in a row. Despite a 28-point lead in the third quarter, the home side was shaking more than they would have liked. In the end, Jayson Tatum (32 points, 14/27 FG) and Jaylen Brown (27, 13 rebounds and 5 assists) brought the game home.
• Brown did almost what he wanted, especially in the second quarter. As a team, Boston hit almost 60 percent out of the field in the first 24 minutes and after a few minutes in the third section, it seemed to be working. Then the home side became increasingly negligent (21 turnover for 36 Wizards points), sometimes the game had more of a listless pickup game.
• Bradley Beal led his colors back into the game with 41 points (16/29, plus 3 rebounds and 3 assists). Rui Hachimura also performed well with 17 points, and it was he who brought Washington down to -4 with seven and a half minutes to go. But the wizards and also Beal ran out of breath afterwards, they couldn’t turn the game any more.
• The Shooting Guard has now scored 101 points in the past two games – but both games were lost. “We can’t even defend a parked car,” said the annoyed Beal. Russell Westbrook provided little support (12, 4/16 FG, 8 assists and 7 turns). Meanwhile, Moritz Wagner made a solid performance (1 point, 3 rebounds, 1 assist in 13 minutes), who stood on the floor for many minutes during the Wizards comeback. Isaac Bonga only had 6 minutes of playing time, in which he could hardly achieve anything apart from solid defense (0 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist).
• The third German on the floor, Daniel Theis, put on 10 points and 6 rebounds. In view of the thinned out Big Men rotation of the Celts, Tacko Fall was used for 19 minutes. The fan favorite convinced with 4 points, 8 rebounds and 3 blocks – Westbrook was also one of his victims in a spectacular way.