The NBA regular season has passed for more than half a season, and the last 20 or so games will determine their playoff rankings, and at this juncture, all teams have used all their strength to win every game, and 3 of the 9 games this time are gimmicky.
These include James Harden's debut; Lakers James' playoff spot battle with the Clippers in the same city; lone rangers and Jazz's fourth-place card battle in the West.
The 76ers 133-100 Timberwolves, Harden 27 points, 8 boards and 12 assists, Downs 25 points, 7 boards and 3 assists.
The 76ers' James Harden debut slashed 27+8+12, his cooperation with Embiid can be called a "modern version" of the OK combination, one inside and one outside the dominance of the Timberwolves, although Towns cut 25 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists data to try to struggle, but it did not make a splash at all.
In fact, JornBid, who sits on the inside, was also assisted by Harden, easily slashing 34+10 to blow up the Timberwolves' penalty area, and even the "old opponent" Towns said helplessly after the game: "Wow, this statistic looks really bad." ”
James Harden is worthy of the league's "MVP" level star, his all-round performance has always been impressive, in the 3 debuts for the Rockets, Nets and 76ers, Harden has all scored at least 25 points and 12 assists, while no other player in the history of the league has ever had a 25 points and 12 assists in one debut.
In the first half, Embiid took the lead in attacking the city, followed by Harden's tough 2+1 and assist teammates, and the Timberwolves although they also have a good offensive state but the defensive end has lost consecutively, it is difficult to stop the opponent's attack, with the passage of time, James Harden once again exerted his strength, scoring 12 points and 4 assists in the single quarter, and the Timberwolves fell behind by a large score.
James Harden's ability to play seriously is eye-catching, and he helped the team win another 7 points without a single mistake in the first half, perfectly showing the outside world the way a defensive defender can attack.
There's no doubt that if Harden had maintained the intensity of this game, Philadelphia fans would never have missed Ben Simmons again.
In the second half, the 76ers were strong, the point difference widened to more than 20 points, the Timberwolves did not give up, Edwards staged consecutive counterattacks, dunks, free throws, three-pointers and other means to score 9 points, the Timberwolves chased the point difference to 18 points, but in the final quarter, harden and Embiid's combination of inside and outside lines once again showed great threat, and the 76ers locked up the victory.
Objectively speaking, the 76ers' victory in this game also has a credit to Maxie, who cut 28 points and 4 steals, and it is no wonder that they are not willing to give up Maxie no matter how they trade, he is indeed a very practical player.
It can be said that the 76ers have been "successfully inspected", and the combination of Harden and Embiid has shown great power, but the only thing that is deficient is that the game is a "two-man turn", Harris failed to participate, only got 6 points, 3 rebounds and 4 assists in this game, and the team needs to continue to run.
As for the Timberwolves, it can only be said that they have almost no ability to fight back when they encounter a fully formed 76er team, although Towns and Russell have all got 20+ statistics, and Edwards has also staged a wave of personal shows, but in fact, the three-quarter game has been declared over.
Clippers 105-102 Lakers, Terrance Mann 19 points, 10 boards and 4 assists, Howard 14 points, 16 boards and 3 shots.
This game should be the most high-profile game in the league in recent times, not only the Los Angeles derby, but also the Lakers and Clippers' battle for playoff places, objectively speaking, this game is particularly important for the Lakers, and the result of the game is related to their final record.
However, although the Lakers have shown their desire to win, but the strength is not good, after this game, the regular season so far this season Clippers against the Lakers record of 3 wins and 0 losses.
In fact, although the Clippers won all three games, none of those three games were a crushing situation for the Clippers, and in those three games, the game point difference was within 5 points, which was the first time since the 2003-04 season.
I have to say that the strength of the Lakers is really a bit weak, this season they played several card battles almost all lost, once they can not enter the top eight in the next schedule, they must start the playoff fight, from their key battle frequent losses, playing the playoffs is equivalent to missing the playoffs.
In this game, Luke Kennad played 34 minutes, 9 shots 6, got 18 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal, three points, 8 shots, 5 of 8, completely played the value of his own annual salary of 10 million, it is worth mentioning that if the double core returns, Kennard will definitely become the best helper around them.
In the first half, the two sides played extremely anxiously, however, the Clippers slightly gained the upper hand to take a 2-point lead, and as time passed, the Clippers' feel gradually opened, Kennard's two three-point shots changed the game, Covington scored 5 points in a row, fortunately, James and Anthony stepped forward to work together to contribute 12 points to stop the decline, and the Clippers led by double digits.
In the second half, the Lakers found a way to limit the opponent, the Clippers only scored 15 points in a single quarter, the Lakers played a counterattack continuously, Kai Tucker became a Surprise soldier to play two consecutive 2+1 and three-point goals, the Lakers achieved a counterattack, the final quarter of the battle, clippers Covington and Kofi three consecutive points, but the Lakers strengthened the attack, Westbrook, Anthony, Tucker and other consecutive goals.
In the final moments, Morris scored a key goal to take the lead, but Reggie gave the Lakers a chance, the referee first blew Tucker foul on Reggie, the Lakers challenged successfully, and then the Clippers re-served in the backcourt, failing to pass the half of the 8 seconds and being blown 8 seconds out of the law.
The Lakers won the ball, and Lakers Anthony and James failed to stage a reversal after two consecutive three-point misses, especially James's 0.7 second bottom corner three-point deviation, although it can not all blame James, but it is really a bit disappointing.
In fact, not all of the Lakers' players performed very poorly, at least Dwight Howard showed a long-lost dominance, he played 26 minutes, 5 of 11 shots, 4 of 5 free throws, 14 points, 16 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal and 3 blocks.
His 16 rebounds and three blocks all set a season high, with previous records of 14 rebounds (against the Kings on Jan. 5, 2022) and two blocks (against the Spurs on Oct. 27, 2021).
James has 21 points and 11 rebounds but 6 of 18 shots, which is quite inefficient, and it can only be said that the Los Angeles Lakers have not yet found a way to win, and I hope they can have some improvement after that.
Lone Rangers 109-114 Jazz, Doncic 23 points, 7 boards and 11 assists, Mitchell 33 points, 2 boards and 5 assists.
If this game had been in the normal direction, it should have been a confrontation between Doncic and Mitchell, but obviously, the script of both sides was not played according to this, this game, Mitchell played 36 minutes, 11 of 19 shots, including 7 of 12 three-pointers, 4 of 5 free throws, 33 points, 2 rebounds, 5 assists and 1 steal, absolutely first-class.
But the Lone Ranger wasn't Doncic who played best, but Powell had 22 points and seven rebounds on 9-of-12 shooting; Bertans had 17 points and three rebounds on 6-of-9 shooting; and Dinwiddie had 20 points, two rebounds and two assists on 8-of-12 shooting.
These three role players braced up the Lone Ranger's offense for this game.
We have to praise the Jazz, who finally broke through their deadlock at a crucial moment, this game they won a game that hit the key ball, the two sides have been in a five-to-five state, but the Jazz were able to win in the last minute was to use the defensive advantage of Gobert's interior.
After Gobert finally changed defenses to Doncic, the ability to defend big and small was really stunned, and even the Jazz's Bojan Bogdanovic was saying that Rudigo bell was very good at Luka Doncic's defense.
"He defended him well, stood in front of him and let him shoot difficult shots." Pogdanovic said the team changed more defenses in the second half, which had a big impact on the game.
In the first half, the two teams were in hot form, the Lone Ranger's Bertans felt hot, not only with two three-pointers to seize the lead, but also to continue the state of two consecutive three-pointers, the Lone Ranger began to expand the advantage, jazz Mitchell attacked well, but in the defensive end could not prevent the opponent from scoring, the Lone Ranger maintained the lead.
In the second half, the Lone Ranger still had the upper hand at the beginning, but over time the offense did not continue the sudden dud, and the Jazz soared into four three-point counterattacks in succession, and in the final quarter, the Jazz still laughed to the end, Pogdanovic hit the key three-pointer, and Doncic equalized two three-pointers.
There is a saying that Doncic's performance in this game is somewhat average, although there are also 23 points, 7 rebounds and 11 assists data, but the impact on the overall situation is not large, but Powell, who cut 22 points on the inside line, and Dinwiddie, who scored 20 points, and Bertans, who scored 17 points, played a highlight performance.
Objectively speaking, if it were not for The General Feel of Brunson, Doncic and others, they would have a great chance of winning this victory.
The Jazz's tactical adjustment is still a bit slow, Conley was once named by the Lone Ranger for military training, of course, in the last moment, Gobert's defense of Doncic is really "too eye-catching", I have to say that his 14 points, 17 rebounds and 3 blocks have helped the team a lot.
The fourth-place card battle in the East was finally won by the Jazz, who not only managed to hold their place but also opened the winning gap with the Lone Rangers.