A Thursday night in the NBA, in the best tradition, provided a modest dose of games – five in number in this case. Most, however, were attended by high-profile groups, or those with high ambitions – so there was no shortage of interest. Golden State humiliated Dallas away with 116: 147, Portland overcame a missing roster and won 105: 121 in Philadelphia, Houston scored 103: 115 in Memphis, and Utah remained ripe and traveled to 91: 112 over Atlanta.
Dallas (14: 9) – Golden State (10:12) 147: 116
24 hours after halting a six-game losing streak with a win in Atlanta, Luka Doncic and his teammates returned home – and were heavily humiliated, in a game in which they conceded the highest amount of points for them this season. The Mavericks’ roster is far from balanced, but with a player like Doncic leading the franchise – expectations are naturally very high. Now, however, Dallas is ranked penultimate in the West – and the gap from the place leading to the playoffs is starting to be significant.
On the other hand, with no natural chin available for a meeting in Texas, Steve Kerr was forced to go with “Small-Ball” from the first moment – and it paid off big time. The visitors sniped 22 threes at over 50 percent, 7 of which were from Kelly Ubera Jr., who finished with a career-high 40 points. Steph Kerry assisted him with 28 and 4 lashes across the arc. Doncic’s 27 and Christophe Forzingis’ 25 were too few for the host.
Kelly Oubre Jr. is the 5th Warriors player under Steve Kerr to score 40 points in a game, joining Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant and D’Angelo Russell.
The Warriors scored 35+ points in all 4 quarters of a game for the first time since Jan 8, 1991 against the Nuggets. pic.twitter.com/FXSj0cBEcS
– ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) February 5, 2021
Philadelphia (7:16) – Portland (9:12) 121: 105
There is a tendency to underestimate the importance of the regular season in the NBA, but in such a tight fight for a place in the playoffs through the West – every win is valuable. And when the victory is achieved outside, against the leader of the East, when your staff lacks the most senior players – then it is already like a bonus victory. This is exactly what the Trail-Blazers achieved tonight.
CJ McCollum has been absent from the Portland squad for quite some time due to injury, and tonight he was joined by Damian Lillard – the guest’s player. Without those two, not many believed Portland had anything to sell against Philadelphia, a team that has lost at home only once this season. After a close first half, a tremendous third quarter of 19:40 to the credit of the Blazers closed out interest, with Gary Trent Jr. (24 points), Carmelo Anthony (22) and mostly no less than 19 rebounds on offense covering the shortcomings. Joel Ambide excelled as usual for Philly with 37 points.
Never, ever count us out.#RipCity pic.twitter.com/5sVsnQ3sRf
– Portland Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) February 5, 2021
Atlanta (12:10) – Utah (5:17) 112: 91
A 11-game winning streak by the Jazz was halted earlier this week in a loss in Denver, but the recovery came quickly with a comfortable win over Detroit – and now Kevin Snyder’s guys have a new winning streak. The visitors took advantage of Trey Young’s disadvantage to secure an easy away win and opened a half-game gap at the Western Summit.
Jordan Clarkson, one of the top candidates according to the season opener to win the sixth player title, led five players in double digits with 23 points (5 of 8 for three). Boyan Bogdanovich added 21 and Donovan Mitchell settled for 18. In Young’s absence, the Hawks did not hit outside the arc all evening – 9 of just 31 – and suffered a third straight loss. John Collins “ballet” with 17.