Kyrie Irving shone for his return to Brooklyn, largely contributing to the success of the Dallas Mavericks against the Nets (119-107), Tuesday during an NBA evening which also saw the New York Knicks win by grimacing against the Memphis Grizzlies (123-113).
36 points and an uncontested victory (65-47 at the break): one year after his transfer to Dallas, Kyrie Irving worthily celebrated his return to Brooklyn, helped by Luka Doncic (35 pts, 18 rebounds and nine assists). A little heckled by his former crowd, Irving silenced them with an alley-oop at the start of the third quarter.
“We are immediately dangerous as soon as we are aggressive. I think we did a good job,” commented Doncic, wishing “good health” to this duo that he makes up with the eight-time All Star player.
Kyrie Irving returned from a six-match absence the day before in Philadelphia, while the Slovenian wears a nasal protection mask.
Consequence: even if they are still awaiting the return from injury of Dereck Lively and Dante Exum, the Mavericks have just had two victories and are improving in the Western Conference standings (8th, 28-23).
The Nets, on the contrary, are in difficulty in the East (11th, 20-30).
Dallas’ next opponent, the New York Knicks dominated the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday night, but may have lost Jalen Brunson: author of 27 points and eight assists, he then injured his ankle on a foul in the last quarter.
The severity of the injury is not yet known but it is cause for concern for the New Yorkers, already deprived of Julius Randle and OG Anunoby these days.
Against Memphis, the Knicks relied in particular on the performance of Donte DiVincenzo (32 pts), not without giving themselves a scare by letting the Grizzlies come back to four points.
“Our defense wasn’t very good in the second half, they took three-point shots, without being stopped, and they made them. But winning remains the most important,” declared Tom Thibodeau, coach of the Knicks, back level with the Bucks in 3rd place in the East (33-18).
Surprise in Chicago where the Bulls, 9th in the East, got the better of the Wolves, thanks in particular to the performance of the duo DeMar DeRozan and Coby White –33 points each.
Facing them, Anthony Edwards (38 pts, 12 rebounds) and Rudy Gobert (12 pts, 16 rebounds) achieved double-doubles, but Minnesota faltered in the second half, squandering a 20-point lead before lose in overtime (129-124).
With this 16th defeat (35 v.), the Wolves cede the throne of the Western Conference to the LA Clippers (34-15), whom they will face in less than a week, and are now tied with the Oklahoma Thunder City and the Denver Nuggets.