The Pelicans pressed the Clippers, the Eastern Conference pattern changed, and the Timberwolves held on to third place
On March 23, Beijing time, the NBA regular season continued, and the West ushered in two key card battles. First of all, the game between the Timberwolves and the Cavaliers, both teams have important cores missing, the Cavaliers Mitchell can't play, and the Timberwolves Towns are not there, fortunately, Gobert finally returned, in the case of Edwards' downturn, the Timberwolves relied on the advantage of multi-point flowering to win the key victory, this game, let the Timberwolves continue to maintain the pressure of chasing the top two Thunder and Nuggets in the West. In the other game, the Pelicans, who are fifth in the West, faced the Heat, the Eastern Conference champion last season, in the absence of Ingram, in the absence of Zion's state, McCollum stepped up, and the Heat was sleepwalking, and Butler was even more sluggish. The Pelicans are still closing in on the Clippers!
The Eastern Conference champions lost by 23 points, and the Pelicans ended a seven-game losing streak against the Heat
Just before this game, the Pelicans came with bad news, Ingram suffered a bone contusion in his left knee during the last game against the Magic, although more serious injuries (such as anti-joint or ligament injuries) were avoided, but he will also be out of the game for at least 2 weeks, and will be re-examined after 2 weeks, and may not return until the playoffs. In this game, the Heat's defensive strategy is to put the bus and defend the joint defense, which also makes Zion miserable, throughout the first half, Zion did not score in 4 0, and the key is 4 mistakes, and the net loss is 10 points! In the connecting section, the Heat offense is dumb, and the Pelicans are Marshall, Alvarado, and Murphy.
After the start of the second half, Zion finally scored, McCollum and Marshall continued to fire on the outside, and the Heat's offense was directly dumb, relying on the sporadic singles of Butler and Rozier, barely maintaining the situation. In the first three quarters, the Pelicans led the Heat by 10 points, and at the beginning of the fourth quarter, the Pelicans suddenly made a force: Wallan's mid-range shot, McCollum drove straight into the throwing board, Marshall dunked, Alvarado sneaked attack, and McCollum's three-point shot opened up a 20-point difference. After that, the Heat were powerless to fight back. In the end, the Pelicans defeated the Heat 111-88, ending the embarrassing record of 4 years of winless against the Heat (after 7 consecutive defeats)!
Pelicans stats, McCollum 30 points, 5 rebounds and 7 assists, Zion 4 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists, Varland 8 points and 10 rebounds, Alvarado 17 points, 5 rebounds and 7 assists, Marshall 13 points and 7 rebounds, Herbert Jones 10 points and 3 rebounds, Murphy 14 points and 8 rebounds. On the Heat side, Butler had 17 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists, Bam Adebayo had 12 points and 10 rebounds, Rozier had 13 points and 4 rebounds, and Swider had 14 points. The Heat's scoring is the same as squeezing toothpaste, they focus all their energy on the defensive end, but there is really no consistent scoring player on the offensive end, including Butler! After this game, the Heat fell to eighth place in the East again, and the Pelicans continued to pressure the Clippers.
The Timberwolves defeated the Dark Horse Cavaliers, and the Eastern pattern changed again
Previously, the Timberwolves had a 47-22 record and the Cavaliers had a 43-26 record, and the two teams were evenly matched. However, in this game, the Cavaliers core Mitchell was suspended due to a nose injury, and the Timberwolves interior core Towns was reimbursed for the regular season. In the first quarter, the Cavaliers, led by Niang and LeVert, gradually widened the difference. However, in the second half, Reed's difficult hook + three-pointer at the top of the arc, after which Reed continued to grab the ball and quickly assault the layup, coupled with Edwards' sneak attack and McLaughlin's three-pointer, the Timberwolves led the Cavaliers by 5 points in the first quarter. In the second quarter, the Timberwolves relied on the three-point rain of McLaughlin and Morris to continue to widen the difference, but Allen and LeVert blossomed inside and out, and Merrill and Garland led the team to overtake the Timberwolves in the second half, and both sides played a good game in the first half.
But in the second half, the Timberwolves began to exert their strength, Gobert and Reed dominated the offensive and defensive ends, and only allowed the Cavaliers to score 17 points in a single quarter. In the fourth quarter, Reed and Conley hit a three-point rain, Conley broke through to a rebound, Li Kaier quickly attacked and dunked, and then the Cavaliers were powerless to reverse the situation, and the Timberwolves beat the Cavaliers 104-91! After the Cavaliers suffered two consecutive defeats, they were thrown away by the Bucks with a 2-win gap, and the Magic behind them was only 1 win away from the Cavaliers, it can be said that the Cavaliers have integrated into the second group, and the suspense of the third place in the East has increased sharply, including the Magic and the Knicks have a chance to win the third place!
Cavaliers statistics, LeVert 16 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists, Garland 19 points and 4 rebounds, Allen 15 points, 13 rebounds and 5 assists, Morris Jr. 11 points and 7 rebounds. Timberwolves statistics, Conley 21 points and 6 assists, Edwards 16 points, 13 rebounds and 5 assists, Reed 18 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists, Gobert 9 points and 15 rebounds, Lee Kyle 10 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals, McLaughlin 12 points and 4 assists, McDaniels 15 points, 4 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 blocks. After this game, the Timberwolves are still 1.5 wins away from the Thunder and 1 win away from the Nuggets, but they have completely thrown off the Clippers behind them.