Surprising results this week as Cavaliers are defeated at home by Houston (100-106), and Thunder in Detroit (88-82). In addition, the Bulls recovered some encouragement winning in Indiana and bouncing the Hawks in the playoffs in the process, the Warriors did not fail at home and Charlotte and Orlando got comfortable victories before the two worst teams in the East.
The Cavs were without LeBron James, who got some rest this week, and his absence weighed down a team that inexplicably fell in the fourth quarter (16-35) after reaching a 20 point lead at the beginning of the third. James Harden had 27 points and 8 assists for Houston, Michael Beasley, 17 points and Trevor Ariza, 15, and the decisive triple with 17 seconds left. Kyrie Irving, 31 points with a loose shot series, was the top scorer for the Cavs.
The Thunder were also present in Detroit without one of their top stars, Kevin Durant, and the team felt the missing player, added Serge Ibaka, who was also on rest. The Pistons almost sentenced the game in the third quarter in which Oklahoma scored only 9 points, but the Thunder rallied to stand to 1 point difference with 5 minutes to play. But they did not take the opportunity.
Russell Westbrook, who received a spectacular block from Andre Drummond shortly after the start of the meeting, with 24 points was the highest visitor scorer, but missed too many shots and was very alone in the offensive. The same points from Marcus Morris to lead the local scorers table.
Chicago gets options and Warriors does not miss
In Indiana, the Bulls won an important victory (96-98) to break their losing streak and brings them closer to the 8th position in the East conference, which now is occupied by the Pacers, and by rebound the Hawks was slot in the playoffs mathematically.
A Jimmy Butler -less than 4 seconds left- score established the favorable final score to the Bulls in which Nikola Mirotic was the top scorer with 28 points and Pau Gasol did not succeed in the individual shot, but made a very complete game.
From the Bulls options and the Warriors unshaken stance. Those who failed to be added this week in their playoff contention from the East were the Wizards. The Washington Wizards lost (102-94), as expected, during their visit to a Warriors team that remains unbeaten at home this season and never mind being practically unstoppable force so far.
Stephen Curry led the champions with 26 points and Draymond Green went to a triple-double assistance after adding 15 points and 16 rebounds. tough night for John Wall, who had only 11 assists but scored only 8 points.
Clear victories for Charlotte and Orlando
In the remaining 2 games, Charlotte and Orlando had no problem to meet their commitments to the two worst teams in their respective conference. The Hornets won in Philadelphia (85-100) with Nicolas Batum adding his second triple-double of the season, 19 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists and Jorge Gutierrez playing more minutes than ever, 12, who contributed 2 points and 3 assists.
Meanwhile, Magic destroyed a Nets team with 139 points (139-105). Andrew Nicholson and Aaron Gordon, 24 and 20 points, led the sweeping offensive last night in Orlando and Thomas Robinson ended with 18 points and 12 rebounds for the Nets. Orlando surfeit of attack and was happy. The Magic were more magical than ever and savaged the Brooklyn Nets by 34 points difference. The Florida team offense was unstoppable. A delight.
The match was a monologue. Orlando finished with 139 points. The team has not scored this much since 2009. They finished with 40 assists and 10 turnovers. Reaching 61.5% of their shots out of 91. Some 8 years without throwing this well scoring 14 triples with 52% accuracy.
In the scoring feast, 8 local players getting 10 or more points. Perfection was in the hands of Andrew Nicholson. He had 24 points in 21 minutes. He achieved a 9 of 9 in field goal with 3 triples. Aaron Gordon finished with 20 points scored. And 9 of 11 in the shot. Everyone had fun. On the Brooklyn side a completely different story.
