Historically bad Clippers, victorious on-the-wire Warriors and unplayable Knicks

• Dallas 124 – 73 L.A Clippers

Terrible disappointment for Clippers, amputees of Kawhi Leonard, who lost in a very large loss to the Mavericks. Not an ounce of suspense in this meeting which will have been more marked by the complete cracking of Paul George and his teammates only by the good performance of Luka Doncic and his peers. From the start of the match, the Clipps got nowhere and the men of Rick Carlisle impose their rhythm. Los Angeles players do not score anything, have a series of bad passes and will only have made 4 baskets at the end of a first quarter which will end with a score of 36 to 13 in favor of the Mavs. During the second act, the debacle continues for the men of Tyronn Read. Success is always with absent subscribers and frankness of Steve Ballmer continues to be martyred by a Texan orchestra which performs its symphony with accuracy. The second quarter ends with a score of 77 to 27 and on returning to the locker room an NBA record has just fallen, that of the biggest points difference at the end of the first half. At this point, the match is already over for a long time.

The second half will not have changed much in the game. The executives of both teams will be put to rest and will hardly play until the end of the match. Alone Luke Kennard, established following Leonard’s injury, will play a little more than his friends. After a catastrophic half-time, the second unit of Los Angeles will have rectified, somehow, chaotic statistics. At the start of the third quarter, the Californians had scored just one 3-point shot in 19 attempts. On the whole of the meeting they will finish with 34.2% success in shooting and 12.1% success in 3 points, but it is at the level of the coordination of the team that the bat hurts. The angelinos only made 13 assists during the entire match. These figures are revealing and show that teamwork was non-existent. On the other hand, the Mavericks performed well and finished the game with 49.4% shooting success. Josh Richardson starts well with his new franchise. Last night he scored 21 points in 27 minutes and contributed to the success of his team. Luka Doncic and Tim Hardaway Jr also left their mark on the game. The Slovenian also touches the triple double by finishing 24 points, 9 rebounds and 8 assists.

This meeting will certainly remain engraved in the memory of the Californian players and it is to be hoped that they will use it as motivation. As for the Texans, we recorded a first victory in a match controlled from start to finish. What to store a good dose of confidence for the future.

• Milwaukee 110 – 130 New york

This is surely the biggest surprise of the evening and we would not be surprised if December 27 becomes a public holiday in New York. The Knicks defeated the Bucks on the spur of a Elfrid Payton unstoppable and a Julius Randle in the oven and in the mill. This victory is marked by an insolent three-point success for the players of the Big Apple. Men from Tom Thibodeau end the game with 59.3% success behind the arc, just that. Everyone got their hands dirty and on arrival 4 New York players scored 15 points or more. From the start of the meeting Payton showed his best face. He scored 9 points in the first quarter and finished the first half at 23 points. In addition, he already had 6 assists when he returned to the locker room. His good performance will continue in the second half and he will finish the game with a 75% success rate in shooting and 3/3 in long distance shooting. His teammate Julius Randle will also finish with a nice copy. The Knicks’ highest-paid player registered 29 points, swallowed 14 rebounds and provided 7 assists. A good performance for the strong winger who we rarely see distributing the ball in this way. Thibodeau was also able to count on the contribution ofAlec Burks and Frank Ntilikina who contributed to this collective success by scoring 18 and 12 points respectively. The two basketball players were very successful at three points and our national Frankie even finished with a clear behind the arc with 4 award-winning shots on the clock.

On the Bucks side, it’s time to ask questions. Their start to the season is not a clear success with only one victory gleaned from three clashes. Unlike their opponent of the day, the men of Mike Budenholzer showed a lack of skill behind the bow. They end the meeting with only 7 baskets registered for 38 3-point shots attempted. Another disturbing fact, Milwaukee did not know how to block face the attack of the Knicks. Giannis Antetokoùnmpo and his teammates conceded 30 points or more in each quarter time. This statistic works when you know the Bucks had the best defensive rating during the regular season last year. The Greak Freak still ended the meeting by offering a good scoresheet with 27 points, 13 rebounds and 5 assists. Despite this, Giannis will have left far too much room for maneuver to Julius Randle, his direct opponent who enjoyed the scoring. Difficult finding for a player titled Defender of the Year last season. After this new disappointment, we can imagine that the Freak will reiterate his comments about his playing time too limited for his taste. Concerning his companions, Khris Middleton was much less incisive than in the first two games of the season and will finish at 22 points and 44.4% shooting success. The lieutenant of Giannis will have registered only one and only one winning shot for 6 attempts. For his part, the new luxury recruit of the Bucks, Jrue Holiday, missed out on his match. He ends the game at 8 points with a naughty 0/4 at 3 points. Beyond a ghostly offensive impact, the former Pelican did not shine with its defense either.

An awakening is expected in Wisconsin so that it can actually look like contenders for the NBA title.

• Golden State 129 – 128 Chicago

We’re blowing a little on the Warriors’ side. Their start to the season, punctuated by bad news due to the lack of Draymond Green and the end of the season Marquese Chriss, turned out to be much more difficult than hoped. The poor performance ofAndrew Wiggins and Kelly Oubre Jr are not unrelated to these difficulties. Although she was acquired in pain, Stephen Curry and his teammates secured their first victory of the season thanks to a game-winner of Damion Lee. This victory, however, is not reassuring. It was obtained on the wire despite a burst of pride from Stephen Curry in the second half. The Splash Brother, who had scored only 11 points in the first period, finished the match with 36 pawns on the clock despite an address far from what he could offer a few years ago. Baby Face made 11 shots in 25 attempts and only 5 3-pointers in 15 tries. His teammates, Andrew Wiggins and Kelly Oubre, expected as lieutenants in the absence of Klay Thompson, have not shone this evening yet. The Canadian ended the game with 19 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists with 40% shooting success despite a nice 2/3 at 3 points. For his part, the former Suns left his mark on the match with a chaotic performance. He scored only 8 points in 16 shots and finished with 18.8% shooting success. His matches are starting to get worrying. He was recruited to compensate for the absence of Thompson but contributes greatly to the poor form of the Warriors. The Dubs can thank their second knives for this victory, in particular Diamon Lee and Eric Paschall. They respectively scored 12 and 15 points with more than 50% of success and the brother-in-law of Stephen Curry even finished the meeting at 4/5 behind the arc. This success by far is surely at the origin of the winning bet of Steve Kerr to give him the shot of victory.

For its part, Chicago continues to show that the playoff will probably not be for this year. The Bulls clinch a third straight loss despite 4 players scoring 20 or more points and a Wendell Carter Jr great days. While they finish with a nice shooting success percentage, the men of Billy Donovan seem to have slippery hands. They recorded 24 ball losses during the match and were intercepted 17 times by their opponents in the evening. The kind of numbers that hurt when you have trouble starting your season and given your shooting success, you could have won the match. The good performance of the day in Illinois went to Wendell Carter Jr who finished the game with 22 points and 13 rebounds in 31 minutes of play. The pivot registered 8 of his 9 shots and represented a real danger under the circle. One can wonder if it should not have been served a little more. The Bulls franchise player, Zach Lavine, finished top scorer of his team with 33 points, close to 50% success. He also gathers 7 rebounds but was especially noticed by his 7 losses of balls. Lauri Markkanen had a good offensive performance scoring 23 points at 53.8% success and scoring 4 award-winning shots in 7 attempts. The sophomore Coby White meanwhile, 20 points at 8/19 shooting. Finally, Otto Porter Jr showed great skill behind the bow coming off the bench.

The victory is not beautiful, but it is a victory nonetheless and we have no doubt that the Warriors will know how to savor it. As for the Bulls, we will have to spend time in the video room to understand the reasons for a defeat resulting from too many lost balls.

Dallas 124 – 73 L.A Clippers

Brooklyn 104 – 106 Charlotte

Orlando 120 – 113 Washington

San Antonio 95 – 98 New Orleans

Philadelphie 94 – 118 Cleveland

Milwaukee 110 – 130 New York

Boston 107 – 108 Indiana

Golden State 129 – 128 Chicago

Phoenix 116 – 100 Sacramento

Minnesota 91 – 127 L.A Lakers

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