PELICANS 114 – WARRIORS 105
Without Stephen Curry, Draymond Green or Klay Thompson, the three of the old guard, the Warriors were planted in the home of the Pelicans. And they pretended to do battle, but nothing to see. The Pels handled the compromise well. 26 for Ingram, 20 for Nance and McCollum, 17 for Wiliamson and, instead, not even a few minutes of play for Willy Hernangómez. The accuracy of the shot, the domination of the area, the control of the ball, all of these belonged to Willie Green. The Warriors leave Louisiana with a 3-7 draw and have not yet won out of their pavilion.
SOLE 106 – BLAZERS 108
A Jerami Grant basket gave the Blazers victory at the Suns’ home. The winger dangled the ball across the field, picked it up on the low post, stepped back and scored with just a second left to make all that paraphernalia good. He was the best with 30 points. Booker (25) and Ayton (24) excelled on the premises. The two teams have the same balance: six wins and two losses.
SPURS 106 – CLIPPER 113
He played the last few minutes again and Paul George (32) appeared again to make them more intense. And that they were worth the victory of the Clippers, who finally put their qualifying record in the positive. The Spurs remained punctured despite the return of Devin Vassell (29). The fourth quarter was too much for the Texans.
GRIZZLIE 130 – HORSES 99
There was no surprise in Memphis. The Grizzlies ran over the Hornets. Brooks (23) and Bane (19) have joined the double double signed by Adams and Morant, with Aldama (12) as another owner for Jenkins, not to miss the opportunity. Sixth win of the season for them. Sixth defeat for the rival.
TIMBERWOLVES 102 – BUCKS 115
The Bucks are the NBA’s gold standard right now, the team to beat. They set a pace that very few will be able to follow, certainly not these contradictory and unstitched Timberwolves. Read the chronicle.
Celtic 123 – Bulls 119
Behind Bucks and Cavaliers, the Celtics stabilize. Their defense is not quite as good as last season, but against the Bulls they have almost always been better and have avoided the collapse of other nights in the final moments. The Bulls were able to make the ending interesting and had options, even if they fell behind for the entire second half. Read the chronicle.
SIXERS 104 – KNICK 106
Joel Embiid is still on sick leave and James Harden begins a long absence of at least a month in a Sixers who, as things currently stand, has an excuse for not getting along well but who, by the same rule of thumb, they should tie matches that are close at hand despite the precariousness of the situation. Against the Knicks it looked like that. Read the chronicle.
PISTONS 88 – RIDERS 112
Right now the Cavaliers are the only ones really keeping up with the Bucks in the Eastern Conference. After the initial defeat against the Raptors, total: seven out of seven, 7-1 and an excellent image, even without Garland and Mitchell, his two great champions. Read the chronicle.
PACERS 101 – HEAT 99
The Heat are another Eastern heavyweight starting badly, especially when their pace is again compared to that of the intractable Bucks. In Indiana, Spoelstra’s men lost because Tyler Herro missed the shot he made in the previous game, at the last second. Read the chronicle.
MAVERICKS 111 – RAPTOR 110
Luka Doncic plays another great game and the Mavs beat the Toronto Raptors with final difficulty. He has over thirty points in his eight games. Read the chronicle.
LAKERS 116 – JAZZ 130
Darvin Ham forgoes the pace the Lakers had acquired in defense after a home defeat to the surprising Jazz. Read the chronicle.
MAghi 86 – NETWORKS 128
Kevin Durant runs a crush in Washington. Without Kyrie and without Ben Simmons, the Nets seemed to be enjoying themselves. And this is already a lot for them. Read the chronicle.