Betrayed by a porous defense and a failing address at three points for too long (34.9% against 44.1%), before the vain awakening of Stephen Curry (34 pts), Golden State conceded its first defeat of the season (128 -123), against Denver who could count on his double MVP in title, Nikola Jokic.
The Serb split a triple-double (26 pts, 12 rbds, 10 assists), his last offering having been crucial to restore air to his team, which had just let the Warriors return to a point in the last seconds, after counting twenty of them behind.
In Portland, Damian Lillard showed that he was on the right track to reconnect with his best level, after an abdominal tear that caused him to miss half of last season. “Dame Time” scored 41 points in the Blazers’ overtime victory over the Suns (113-111).
Earlier, the Celtics won a second row success (111-104) on the floor of the Heat, where they had eliminated Miami in the Eastern Conference finals in the spring.
Jayson Tatum had 29 points and Jaylen Brown added 28. “I like playing against the Heat, we’ve created a rivalry over the last few years. This team makes you better, they have a lot of aggressiveness, great players, great coach”, commented the first.
On the Florida side, Tyler Herro was the most prolific (25 pts), Bam Adebayo (19 pts) and Jimmy Butler (18 pts) not being outdone. “We didn’t manage to finish the job, but we have to stay the course. There has been a marked improvement between the first game and this one,” commented coach Erik Spoelstra.
In Brooklyn, after an inaugural defeat against the Pelicans, the Nets relied on Kyrie Irving (30 pts) and Kevin Durant, (27 pts) author of a shoot behind the decisive arc 56 seconds from the end, to open their victory counter (109-105) against the Raptors, despite Pascal Siakam’s triple-double (37 pts, 13 rebounds, 11 assists).
“I like how we stayed in the game,” KD said. “We had a lead of more than 10 points and we let them back twice. It was a game with ups and downs, but we kept fighting.”
– Gobert loses against Jazz –
In Washington, it was Bradley Beal (19 pts, 8 assists), with a shot 7.4 seconds from the buzzer, who gave the victory (102-100) to the Wizards at the expense of the Bulls of DeMar DeRozan (32 pts). ).
And what about Ja Morant? The phenomenon of Memphis, untenable with dunks and counters in the stratosphere, changed the course of the match on its own (49 pts at 17/26 including 5/6 at long distance, 8 assists) to allow Memphis to s impose (129-122) in Houston, which nevertheless counted up to 16 lengths in advance in the first period.
“What a phenomenal game from Ja. He was in attack mode the whole game,” his coach Taylor Jenkins said.
In Minnesota, Rudy Gobert lived up to his reunion with Utah, where he played nine seasons. But his 23 rebounds, 9 points and 2 blocks were not enough for the Timberwolves, beaten after overtime by the Jazz (132-126). No more than Anthony Edwards’ 30 points.
In New York, finally, the Knicks defeated the Pistons (130-106), Evan Fournier (8 pts) winning his duel of “Frenchies” at a distance with Killian Hayes (1 pt, 5 assists).
