In the opening three matches of the day in the NBA, guests had more success. The Raptors and the 76ers snatched wins on the road, while Washington defended the honor of the home teams.
Raging Simmons
The Philadelphia 76ers defeated Brooklyn Nets on the road, 117-111, mostly due to fantastic Ben Simmons, who had a triple-double. The former rookie of the year scored 34 points along with 12 boards and assists and also five steals. But that wasn’t all.
Simmons had only two misses from the field in 14 shots, and was also 11-for-14 from the free-throw line. The Aussie played for 42 minutes, game-high tonight at the Barclays Center.
Brooklyn had the lead throughout most of the game, and it stood between five and ten points, at certain moments, even 12. However, the guests shifted into a higher hear during the last 12 minutes, taking over the command of the floor and putting an end to the match, following an interesting finish.
Spencer Dinwiddie had 22 buckets for the hosts, Caris LeVert 16 off the bench, Jarrett Allen 13 boards and points, while Taurean Prince had 12 each.
On the other side, Al Horford had 19, and Tobias Harris 15, same as Josh Richardson.
Toronto Beats Atlanta
Trae Young poured 42 points for the home team, and that wasn’t enough for them to win. It seems that the champs were too much for the young Hawks, who lost this event with 122-117.
Meanwhile, on the other hand, Norman Powell and Fred VanVleet showed up in the decisive moments to get the win for their team. Powell scored 29 points and was 6-for-9 from downtown, VanVleet added 20, but five of his last points came from the free-throw line to close this match.
VanVleed successfully recovered from his injury and immediately went off where he stopped before the process of rehabilitation.
The first part of the game went to Toronto’s side, but the middle was entirely Atlanta’s. However, and strong 20-2 push of the guests changed everything, as they led 21 points. Atlanta tried to come back, but there wasn’t a way of stopping VanVleet, in those decisive moments.
John Collins had 17 points, and 11 boards, DeAndre Hunter and Cam Reddish had 13 each.
Detroit had a lead during the first half against the Washington Wizards and was seemingly in control of the match. However, they lost the game 106-100, posting their 28th defeat of the season.
In an interesting ending, the hosts had more composure and were making fewer mistakes.
Bradley Beal scored 29 points and added 6 assists. Ian Mahinmi had maybe the best performance of the season, with 21 points, and only one miss in his 10 shots. The French center grabbed 7 boards and had three blocks on top of that.
Among the Pistons, Derrick Rose scored 21 points, while Andre Drummond delivered 18 with 16 boards. The rumors about these two guys getting traded pretty soon are getting louder and louder, and the Pistons’ fans are entering this trade deadline very nervous, not knowing what to expect.
The management is looking for a way to start a rebuild, and trading Drummond is the best way to collect picks and possible assets for the future moves.
