BASKETBALL NBA
Houston (USA), Jan 25 (EFE) .- The triumphant march of the Los Angeles Clippers was expanded by winning the seventh consecutive game that allows them to share the best record in the league with their Lakers neighbors at the end of the day Sunday of the NBA, which also left the victories of the Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks.
Forward Kawhi Leonard approached the triple-double and the Clippers defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder 108-100, allowing them to go 13-4, the best in the Western Conference and the league, which they share with the Lakers, who rested.
Leonard had 34 points, nine rebounds and eight assists as the Clippers’ leading scorer and the key player throughout the game at Staples Center.
With star forward Paul George without his best scoring inspiration and physical problems, Spanish Congolese center Serge Ibaka emerged as another key player in the Clippers’ triumph by contributing 17 points against his former team.
The guard Jaylen Brown vindicated himself along with his Celtics team as winners by giving an entire scoring display against the Cleveland Cavaliers whom they defeated by beating 141-103.
Brown scored 33 points, including 20 in the third quarter, leading the Celtics (9-6), ending a three-game losing streak.
Boston, which remained without power forward Jayson Tatum, under the NBA’s covid-19 health and safety protocols, set the season’s best mark in points by going into halftime 73-51, including Brown’s 19.
The Cavaliers had guard Collin Sexton as their best scorer, with 13 points, but well below his average of 20 or more points that he had achieved in the last 15 consecutive games.
Cleveland ended the streak of three consecutive victories, after two consecutive victories over the Brooklyn Nets in which they scored 147 and 125 points, respectively.
Greek power forward Giannis Antetokounmpo finished with a double-double of 27 points and 14 rebounds that made the difference in the game that the Bucks won 129-115 against the Atlanta Hawks.
Antetokounmpo, who missed both of his 3-point attempts, fell short of a triple-double after dishing out eight assists, and the Bucks (10-6) rose to second in the Eastern Conference, led by the Philadelphia Sixers. .
The reserve point guard, Australian Patty Mills, had 21 points as the best scorer for the San Antonio Spurs, who beat the Washington Wizards 121-101, who returned to play for the first time since January 11 when under the protocols Covid-19 health and safety report from the NBA.
The Wizards still have six ineligible players and their involvement in the league has begun to be questioned by the Washington team’s own professionals, including their stars, Brandley Beal and point guard Russell Westbrook.
Point guard Damian Lillard maintained his scoring inspiration with the contribution of 39 points that allowed the Portland Trail Blazers to beat the New York Knicks 116-113.
The Trail Blazers, who had up to 25 points ahead, saw how in the fourth period they let it snatch it and needed to fight to the fullest before they could secure the victory that left them with a 9-6 aggregate mark.
Rookie point guard Immanuel Quickley, who came out as reserve, had 31 points, including five 3-pointers from eight attempts, which left him with the best professional record, as well as four assists, but did not prevent the Knicks’ second consecutive loss.
Forward Gordon Hayward had 39 points and added nine rebounds as the leader of the Charlotte Hornets, which beat the Orlando Magic 104-107 at home, in a duel of losing teams in the Eastern Conference, and broke a four-game losing streak, overcoming a disadvantage 14 points to improve your overall mark to 7-9.
The Swiss Montenegrin center Nikola Vucevic led the Orlando team’s attack with a double-double of 22 points and 13 rebounds, but that was not enough to avoid defeat, the second in a row and the eighth in the last nine games played .
The consolation for Vucevic was having reached the personal mark of 10,000 points as an NBA professional.
English forward Og Anunoby scored 30 points, his best mark of the season, and made three free throws in the last minute that broke the tie and the Toronto Raptors won 102-107 at home against the Indiana Pacers.
The Raptors (7-9), who played without the starters, guard Kyle Lowry and Cameroonian power forward Pascal Siakam, both injured, won the second consecutive game and the fifth in the last six disputed. EFE
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