Miami dominates the Bucks; The Clippers on the wire against Boston; Jokic too strong for NOLA; Joel Embiid still dominates against Charlotte

Back on the last games of the night in the NBA

Deprived of Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo, the Miami Heat dominated the champions and took their revenge a few days ago with a score of 113-104. The Floridians relied on a duo Caleb Martin (28 points at 6/8 at 3-pts) – Kykle Lowry (22 points and 13 assists), a great outside address (22/47) and a solid defense that limited Milwaukee at 42.4%. Giannis Antetokounmpo had a bad evening with 15 points at 4/13. Leading at the start of the last act after a 3rd quarter won 39-26, Miami held on until the end.

The Clippers defeat the Celtics on the 114-111 line by resisting the return of the visitors, who were 21 points behind in the second half, including 12 5 minutes from time, but Jayson Tatum (29 points to 9 / 20) brought his own to 1 point in the last seconds, too late. Brandon Boston Jr. had a superb game with 27 points at 5/8 at 3-pts while Marcus Morris added 20 and Reggie Jackson 17 (but at 6/22).

After 2 defeats against Utah and Milwaukee, Cleveland recovered with a 23 point victory against Chicago, carried by the excellent Darius Garland (24 points at 9/16, 6 assists) and Evan Mobley (16 points at 8/11, 9 rebounds, 5 blocks). This is a 5th victory in 7 games for the team (55% on shots) which took control over three 3-points from Kevin Love in 1’57 in the 3rd quarter to take 22 points in advance, 78- 56. Zach LaVine finished 23 points at 9/21, 4 rebounds and 9 assists for Chicago, Lonzo Ball 19 points at 6/12, 4 rebounds and 7 assists and Nikola Vucevic 18 points at 8/23 and 12 rebounds. The Bulls (41.7%) remained on 4 wins.

Philly completed its 4-game road trip with a 3rd victory in Charlotte, once again with a big Joel Embiid (32 points at 8/17, 15/19 on throws, 8 rebounds, 4 assists), but also 23 points ( 8/14, 8 assists) from Seth Curry and 18 from Tobias Harris. The Sixers had already beaten the Hornets in overtime on Monday. Gordon Hayward broke his season record (31 points at 10/18, 5 rebounds and 7 assists) to no avail and Kelly Oubre Jr. finished at 22 points and 10 rebounds but only 3/12 away – and missed a shot to return to possession 7 seconds from the end – in the absence of 5 players from the rotation. The match included 16 advantage changes and 12 ties. After 2 Harris’ throws for the +5, Charlotte never came back to less than 3 points.

Denver beats NOLA in overtime with 39 points to 17/23, 11 rebounds and 11 assists from Nikola Jokic, helped by 20 points from Will Barton. Jokic scored 11 points in overtime, 2 more than the Pelicans, who were led by Jonas Valanciunas’ 27 pints.

Cleveland Cavaliers – Chicago Bulls 115-92