Joakim Noah was in the spotlight Thursday night at the United Center in Chicago during the game between the Bulls and New York. Retired since last March, the French pivot was entitled to a special evening on the sidelines of the clash between the two franchises where he has spent almost his entire career. And it is his ex-teammates Taj Gibson and Derrick Rose, under the leadership of his ex-coach Tom Thibodeau, who left with the victory for New York (104-103).
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Faced with previously unbeaten Bulls, the Knicks took control of the match in the first quarter, led by Kemba Walker (21 points) and RJ Barrett (20). Clumsy, Chicago let the New Yorkers slip away until they ended up behind by 13 points, two minutes from the buzzer (104-91).
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The moment chosen by the Bulls to ignite the United Center with an improbable comeback. A 12-point streak completed on an award-winning shot from Nikola Vucevic and a dunk from Zach LaVine to close the gap to one point. Chicago even had a match point in stride but DeMar DeRozan (largely) missed the mark on his signature shot at halfway.
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Evan Fournier’s Knicks (10 points) therefore join the Bulls at the top of the Eastern Conference with four wins in five games, just like Charlotte and Washington.
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Memphis s’impose à Golden State
Bis repetita for the Grizzlies. As in June during the play-in, Memphis won at the Chase Center, on the floor of Golden State after an extension (104-101). Against Stephen Curry and his teammates, still undefeated, the Tennessee players found themselves behind by 19 points early in the game (20-39, 13th).
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But the Grizzlies tightened their defense and made the Warriors pay for their 22 losses. And as Curry (36 points) went mute, Ja Morant woke up. The young leader from Memphis scored 18 of his 30 points in the third quarter to pick up.
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Then, in overtime, Morant closed the scoring with a layup (104-101) while his teammates muzzled Curry to prevent him from firing any shot. Golden State is no longer undefeated and cedes the lead of the Western Conference to Utah.
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