Obi Toppin placed a rider (a dunk after passing the ball under one leg) on a counter attack. There you have it, apart from that, nothing of note on the Knicks side. Wednesday, they did not exist on the floor of the Indiana Pacers, sailing at least ten points behind for three quarters. Enough to concede their fourth defeat in five matches (122-102) and get out of potential qualifiers in the play-offs (the first six in each conference) or even for the play-in (places 7 to 10).
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Evan Fournier does not float in this slump, on the contrary. In Indianapolis, the top scorer of the France team completed a second game in a row with 7 points scored (2/6 on shots plus 4 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 against in 22 minutes). And the rest will not be easy since the Manhattan team will notably face Milwaukee on Saturday and Golden State next Tuesday.
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Another Frenchman beaten and without success, Killian Hayes was, of course, holder with Detroit but with a negative impact (4 points to 1/4, 1 rebound, 1 assist and the worst ratio of his team with a deficit of 14 points when he was on the ground) during the defeat at home after extra time against Washington (116-119), on a basket almost to the buzzer of former Laker Kyle Kuzma.
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Killian Tillie also lost with Memphis, at home to the Dallas Mavericks of Luka Doncic (26 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists, 9 stray balls), who did not use Frank Ntilikina for the second night in a row. But the Azure (6 points, 2/3 to 3 points, 1 rebound, 2 steals, 1 against) had the right to his biggest playing time of the season (19 minutes, which remains two times less than his NBA record).
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Nicolas Batum back
In Los Angeles, Boston beat Boston. Translation: rookie back Brandon Boston Jr was the main architect of the Clippers’ victory over the Celtics (114-111) with an exit to 27 points in 25 minutes. Boston Jr made up for, among other things, the understandable little outing from Nicolas batum (0 point to 0/1, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 interception, 1 against in 15 minutes), who was making his return after nearly three weeks of absence due to the Covid and needs to find some rhythm.
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Finally, the last Blue on the field on Wednesday, since Petr Cornelie (Denver), Théo Maledon (Oklahoma City) et Yves Pons (Memphis) were not used, Rudy Gobert scored his usual double-double (13 points at 4/4 and 10 rebounds in 31 minutes) in the overwhelming victory (136-104), the fifth in a row, of Utah in Minneapolis against the Timberwolves of Karl-Anthony Towns, his direct opponent (22 points but only 11 shots taken, against 17 on average this season).
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