Harden scored 4 points and 5 assists, and the Clippers lost to the belly! The Suns pulled the Lakers into the top eight, making a 16-point reversal
On April 13, Beijing time, the NBA regular season continued, in the game that ended before, the Lakers defeated the Grizzlies, and the Warriors lost to the Pelicans. In addition, because the Mavericks rested Doncic and Irving in turn, the team lost to the Pistons, who had the lowest record in the league, so the Clippers locked up the fourth place in the West two games in advance and locked the first-round home-court advantage against the Mavericks in the playoffs!
The Clippers upset the Jazz
Before the Clippers and Jazz game, the Clippers locked up fourth place in the West, and Tyronn Lue also confirmed that Harden is back today, saying in an interview that he is not sure if Harden's foot injury will continue into the playoffs. Harden's pre-game tweet was a bit inexplicable: loyalty can't end once it starts, otherwise it's not loyalty. According to team reporter Murray, the Clippers generally believe that Xiaoka will get better, and Xiaoka has worn protective gear to participate in the team's shooting training. Back to this game, the Clippers opened up the gap early in the first quarter, Harden fed Zubac a dunk, fed Paul George and Mann three points, and Harden himself easily crotched to the basket. But after the Clippers opened up a double-digit point difference, the defense was obviously slack, and Horton-Tucker and Beazley blossomed inside and out.
The Grizzlies hit Wei Shao on the list, but Wei Shao and Coffey once opened up a 13-point difference. But in the second quarter, the Clippers suddenly went silent, Juzan's three-pointer, Beazley's dunk, Lofton ignored Theis's dunk, and the Jazz overtook the Clippers all the way! When the Jazz continued to widen the difference, it was Hyland who continued to play singles, the Clippers 60-61 Jazz at halftime, and Harden was 1 of 4 in the half, scoring 4 points and 5 assists. At the start of the second half, Harden + George + Zubac + Mann + Wei Shao clocked in and out of work directly! In the end, the Clippers upset 109-110 to the Jazz! Harden had 4 points and 5 assists, George 10 points, Zubac 10 points, Hyland 20 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists, Coffey 16 points and 6 rebounds, and Theis 14 points and 7 rebounds.
The Suns defeated the Kings by 16 points and pulled the Lakers into the top eight
Both teams can't afford to lose, but the Suns' Big Three are clearly showing signs of fatigue over the past few games, and Vogel's over-trust in Allen has led to the Suns' starting defense often collapsing suddenly. At the beginning of the game, Beal and Nurkic took turns to dunk, Durant singled Barnes, Allen hit three points, but the Suns also made 5 turnovers in 3 minutes, and Beal and Booker were sleepwalking. In the middle of the game, the Kings relied on Ellis and Barnes to blossom inside and out, Durant continued to play singles, but Sa trained Nurkic, Lyles and Fox continued to extend the lead, and the Kings were 27-22 Suns in the first quarter. In the second quarter, after Durant led the team to overtake the score with consecutive singles, Sabonis began to kill again, and the Suns did not convert offense and defense at all, as long as they made mistakes, they would definitely lose points.
In the second half, Sabonis dunked + Mitchell made a layup, the Kings opened a double-digit difference, or Durant stopped the bleeding with three points, and Murray continued to make a three-pointer at the end of the quarter, and the Kings led the Suns 54-45 at halftime, Durant scored 18 points alone, but Booker was 2 of 4, Beal was 1 of 4, and it was too stretched. At the beginning of the second half, Sabonis shot steadily, Murray and Fox rained three points, fortunately, Booker finally opened his hand, but the King relied on Sabonis and Fox, and once opened a 16-point difference!
In the fourth quarter, Ellis and Fox rained three-pointers, Allen shot inside, and Beal's three-pointer, the Suns finally tied the score! In the middle of the game, Murray and Allen continued to bombard each other with three points, but Fox and Murray opened up a seven-point difference. At the decisive moment, after Beal completed 2+1, Durant hit a jumper again. In the last 2 minutes, Beal steals a layup + Durant makes a free throw to tie the score, after which Nurkic grabbed a key rebound and made one of two free throws, after which Fox missed, but time ran out, and finally the Kings led the whole game and lost to the Suns 107-108!
Suns stats, Durant 28 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists, Beal 20 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists, Booker 21 points, 4 rebounds and 6 assists, Nurkic 10 points and 10 rebounds, Allen 19 points, 3 rebounds and 4 assists. Kings stats, Fox 23 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 steals, Sabonis 25 points, 12 rebounds and 9 assists, Murray 23 points, 7 rebounds and 3 steals, Barnes 12 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists, Ellis 17 points and 3 rebounds. After this game, the Lakers sat in eighth place in the West, and the Pelicans in the final game, as long as they win, they could lock in eighth, and after the Suns pulled the Lakers, they also had to hope that the Lakers would defeat the Pelicans in the final game, so that they could have a chance to get a direct ticket to the playoffs!