The NBA continues to try to recover from the wave of contagions and cancellations, and tonight (Thursday through Friday) four games were played. At the center, the Los Angeles Lakers suffered a second straight loss with 107: 92 against Detroit. Houston also defeated Portland while the Clippers won in Miami.
Detroit (14: 5) – Los Angeles Lakers (6:14) 92: 107
Both teams have almost completely inverted scales, but the Pistons are somehow the ones who came out with the hand on the top, making the team from LA look on the verge of losing first place in the Western Conference table (same amount of wins as the Clippers and Utah, they have missing games).
The game for the most part was close and fickle, with no opponent rising to a double-digit lead until the final quarter. A 0:16 (!) Run by the locals led to the surprising victory. Blake Griffin stood out with 23 points, Mason Plumley helped him with a double-double of 17 and 10 rebounds. LeBron James was 3 rebounds from a triple-double as he provided 22 points and 10 assists, while Kyle Kozma also scored 22 and contributed 10 rebounds. Most of the champion’s players suffered from a very weak day, such as Mark Gasol who finished with 0 points in 25 minutes.
We’re smiling tonight!@ blakegriffin23 23 points@WayneEllington 20 points@masonplumlee 17 points / 10 rebounds
Bench combined for 27 points pic.twitter.com/hwrcuSVYqD
– Detroit Pistons (@DetroitPistons) January 29, 2021
Phoenix (8: 9) – Golden State (9:10) 93: 114
The Suns halted their three-game losing streak with an impressive and important win over whoever is expected to be one of the rivals for a playoff ticket. Except for a less good second quarter and a brief flicker of the Warriors, the host led throughout almost the entire tackle and in the third quarter managed to escape and produce for itself a sufficiently stable advantage, which only grew more and more until the end.
Even without Devin Booker, the Suns got along. Mikael Bridges (20 points) was joined in the second half by Frank Tank Kaminski (12, 14 rebounds and 8 assists) and Egyptian Abdel Nader (season record of 16). On the other side we saw an awful shooting day of ex Kelly Ubera Jr. (1 of 11 from the field) and of Drymond Green and James Weissman (3 of 16 together), while Steph Kerry led the loser with 27.
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Houston (9: 8) – Portland (8: 9) 101: 104
The Rockets are starting to look a lot better and getting closer to where it leads to the playoffs. This is their fourth win in a row, against a talented bunch that has probably been led by Damien Lillard, who scored 30 points.
Amazingly, the Trailblazers lost a 20-point advantage in this game. They started with 10:30 towards the end of the first quarter, and the host slowly bit the difference and in the second quarter created a makeover. Houston then also climbed to a small double-digit lead, but the tackle remained close until the end and points from Eric Gordon’s line 2.2 seconds to the buzzer closed out interest. Victor Oladipo stood out with 25 for the winner, Christian Wood with 22 and 12 rebounds.
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Miami (12: 6) – Los Angeles Clippers (5:14) 109: 105
The team from LA has recovered from the loss to Atlanta and can overtake its urban rival at the top of the West. The Heat, on the other hand, record a dismal streak with a fifth loss from the last five games, and the collapse continues, but can not be blamed so much for the absences (players like Jimmy Butler, Goran Dragic, Andre Iguodala and more could not take part). On the other hand, the Clippers played without Kwai Leonard and Paul George.
The hosts were actually much better in the opening with an 18-point lead towards the end of the first quarter. The guest reduced with time and managed to equalize before the break to 45:45. In the third quarter the story was completely different, the Clippers beat him 19:40. is over? Definately not. The Heat erased a 19-point deficit to just 3 towards the end, but it was too late. Nicola Batum (18) and Lou Williams (17) were prominent for the winner, Tyler Hiro (19 and 10 rebounds) for the loser.
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