Only four NBA game took place last night, and without a doubt, the most interesting was the one between the New Orleans Pelicans and the Phoenix Suns.
Suns Take the Win After OT
Monty Williams’ boys went up and down against the Pelicans, but eventually, they managed to defeat the hosts at the Smoothie King Center. They had to go through overtime, but in the end, they got a 139-132 victory.
With 2:12 left to go until the third, Phoenix was up 105-85. Devin Booker was superb in that period scoring 21 of his 44 points. Overall, the entire Suns team played well. But they couldn’t keep the advantage, allowing the hosts to close the regulations with a 12-2 run, even handing them a chance to win.
Fortunately, Brandon Ingram’s buzzer-beating was no good. The MVP from the last FIBA World Cup Ricky Rubio seized the control in the overtime and with a couple of great moves, helped his team seal this match.
Rubio would end the night with 13 points and 15 assists. Booker had 44 points, Frank Kaminsky posted 20, while Kelly Oubre scored 14 but with 15 rebounds.
Among the Pelicans, JJ Redick had 26, Jrue Holiday 23, Brandon Ingram 21, and Lonzo Ball 20 with 11 dimes.
Rockets Beat Raptors on the Road
Nick Nurse wanted to experiment and double-team James Harden each time he had the ball. It brought results in decreasing Beard’s numbers, but his Raptors lost the contest, 119-109. Harden scored 23 points, but his teammates used the free space and were hurting the hosts. Ben McLemore scored 28 points hitting 8 threes. Russell Westbrook added another triple-double with 19 points, 13 rebounds, and 11 assists. PJ Tucker had 18 and 11 rebounds.
For the hosts, Siakam had a team-high with 24 buckets, Fred VanVleet 20, and Kyle Lowry 19.
This was the second loss in a row at home for Toronto, who is now 15-6. Houston has 14 wins and 7 losses.
Wizards Take Down Philly
The surprise of the night happened in Washington DC. Wizards defeated 76ers, 119-113, posting their 7th win of the season. The main reason for that were guests’ 21 turnovers, 15 combined by Embiid and Ben Simmons. This is the 10th loss in a row for Philly in Washington. For some reason, they can’t compere here well, and the last time they won was in 2013.
Tobias Harris was doing everything he can on the floor, the 76ers’ forward ended the night with 33 points, 7 rebounds, and five assists. Embiid had 26 points, and 21 rebounds, and Simmons also added a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds.
Rui Hachimura, the rookie from Gonzaga, continued his streak of excellent games, scoring 27 points, team-high for the Wizards. Bradley Beal had 26 and 10 boards, while Davis Bertans dropped 25 off the bench, 7 threes included.
Jokic Slow, But Denver Wins
Nikola Jokic is far away from his All-NBA performances from the previous season. The Serb scored just 6 points in 25 minutes on the floor of the Madison Square Garden, but his Nuggets crushed Knicks with 129-92.
The guests from Colorado had no problems against the poor hosts, who were crushed in the second period, 34-18. After that, it was all routine for the visitors, who had five players off the bench with 10 or more points. Will Barton’s 17 points were the team-high. Jerami Grant had 16, and Jamal Murray added 17.
Mitchell Robinson scored 17 for the Knicks, who now have 4 wins and 18 losses.
