Mitchell scored 36 points to end the Pacers' losing streak; Lowry had the upper hand in the old gun showdown; "Alphabet Brother" court bully hammer, The Hornets won two straight.
Samson Scored 42 points as Indiana ended a long losing streak
Since December 27, Beijing time, the Indiana Pacers have not won a goal. The long six-game losing streak seems to be naïve enough to push the Pacers into a rotten program. The only thing the Pacers want to do now is to take a win and put an end to all this bad as soon as possible.
The Pacers had a chance to win the last game against the Brooklyn Nets, and they were 19 points ahead of their opponents in the third quarter. Stephenson, who returned to play at home, was one of the best performers on the team, and in the end he did not block the Nets Big Three, who were also eager to win. In this game against the Utah Jazz, Stephenson continued his excellent competitive form, with 16 points, 6 rebounds and 14 assists in 12 shots, and he did not score a single point in the fourth quarter, but gave seven assists to his teammates, leading the Pacers to lock in the game.
Without Rudy Gobert, the team has a lot less tactical options, and a lot of the ball needs to be digested by the Jazz's guard line. The brave Mitchell took on the heavy responsibility, he shot 27 times alone, accounting for a third of the team's total shots, with 36 points and 9 assists, shooting nearly 50%. The proportion of shots is as "magic ball" as always, and the outside three points are also exploding as always. He and Clarkson combined to score 18 points in the final quarter, but in the end it did not change the direction of the game.
The Pacers shot 50 percent from three-point range, which is incredible. Sam scored 12 points in the final quarter and scored 42 points in the game to help the team beat third in the West 125-113 to end a six-game losing streak.
With a 20-point win over the Phoenix Suns, the Heat are gradually on track
Jimmy Butler is still holding up the free card, and the Miami Heat are continuing their ligature, with Phoenix being their penultimate stop. The Western Conference champions, who played at home, welcomed back a number of main rotations before the start of this game, becoming the party that theoretically had the absolute upper hand.
The turning point of the game occurred in the second quarter, Hiro and Dunro's bench against the Suns was a complete reduction blow, and in the second quarter, he led the team to a 38-21 offensive, and the two men scored a total of 60 points in the whole game, and the shooting rate was more than 50%. In this quarter, the Heat's small lineup played to an advantage, playing a lot of exquisite coordination, and the Suns fell into passivity on both offensive and defensive ends.
Even without Adebayor and Butler, the Heat are still highly disciplined. The Suns wanted to turn the game around with a wave of attack, and it was really difficult to ascend to the sky. More importantly, the Suns are originally an outside play, a large number of shots are concentrated in the middle and long distance, Ayton obviously occupies a body advantage on the inside line, but can not play the aggressiveness that should be there, the whole game a total of 5 shots, get 12 points, completely unable to quench the Sun's thirst.
In the duel between the two old guns, Lowry clearly has the upper hand, he and Paul are almost the same in terms of playing time and number of shots, but the results of the play are very different. In my impression, the Suns have been in turmoil this season, at the beginning of the boss scandal, Ayton is unhappy, and then there are more than a dozen main rotations due to injuries repeatedly absent, Paul as the most stable place, to the team to provide great help, now the team is stable, the Suns should also let Paul rest and adjust the state.
Alphabet Brother slashed 43 points, and Rozier scored a clean shot
The front foot had just won the Nets, and the back foot came to Charlotte to challenge the Hornets. "Alphabet Brother" Antetokounmpo continued to play steadily, playing 36 minutes, scoring a large double-double with 43 points and 12 rebounds. His brilliant performance did not win him applause, and two highly controversial acts brought him to the cusp of public opinion again.
First, in the second quarter, "Alphabet Brother" tripped Rozier, and by the end of the game, he elbowed Plumlee in the process of scrambling for rebounds. Antetokounmpo seems to have lost the opportunity to return his innocence, no matter how many points he scores and wins the best results, Chinese fans cannot forgive him for his "bad behavior" on the court.
In the middle of the game, the Bucks' decline was unmistakable. In the second quarter, they had a 7-minute scoring drought, with only 12 points in the entire quarter. In the third quarter they regained their touch, but let the home team cut 42 points in a single quarter, and Rozier made a big splash in the third quarter, making a total of 8 shots, conceding only 2 goals, and scoring 15 points.
The Bucks played normally in the whole game, only Antetokounmpo, Portis and Middleton played normally, and the three men combined to score 89 points, accounting for 85% of the team's total score, and in the final moment, Middleton hit a key ball to regain the suspense of the game. In the end, however, it was Rozier who stepped forward and scored a one-shot victory over the Bucks to two consecutive wins.