Bad streak continues for Denver, Knicks beat Lakers

Nikola Jokic may have scored his 27th triple-double of the season, Denver conceded a third loss in a row against Brooklyn (122-120), Sunday in the NBA, where New York sent the Lakers out of the play-offs. imposing in Los Angeles (112-108).

The first 25 “TD” of the season of the double Serbian MVP had resulted in victories, but not the last two in a row, since the Nuggets also lost 48 hours earlier against San Antonio, penultimate in the conference. West, unchallenged so far by the Colorado team.

This retains a comfortable mattress, but which is thinning since its runner-up Sacramento and the 3rd Memphis, which remain on three and two consecutive successes, point to five victories. There is therefore no urgency for the Nuggets, but a month from the end of the regular season, they would be inspired to definitively secure their first place, synonymous with more parquet for the play-offs.

And that goes through a collective effort around Jokic, still ultra-dominant (35 pts, 20 rebounds, 11 assists), but who missed the shot that would have put his team back in front of the score five seconds from the buzzer. A vain effort, which also betrays perhaps a stroke of fatigue, Michael Porter Jr. having been the only one to really support him (23 pts), while Jamal Murray (16 pts) had to remain on the bench during the fourth quarter due to pain in the left knee, the one who suffered an anterior cruciate ligament rupture in 2021.

On the side of Los Angeles, the victory of the Knicks was also played with not much, because the Lakers, led by ten units with two and a half minutes of the term, reduced this gap to two.

But substitute Josh Hart was able to stay calm to put his two free throws five seconds from the buzzer, without D’Angelo Russell, California’s top scorer (33 pts, 8 assists) managing to maintain the suspense by missing his shooting behind the bow.

Opposite is Julius Randle, formerly of the Lakers house, who stood out (33 pts), supported offensively by RJ Barrett (30 pts), the day after a more complicated match on his part, lost to the Clippers . On the Lakers side, in the absence of LeBron James who is nursing an ankle, Anthony Davis was less bleeding than usual in attack, but very active all the same (17 pts, 16 rebounds).

Insufficient to prevent this first defeat in four matches, which slips them into 11th position in the West, with the same record (33 wins-35 losses) as New Orleans (12th) winner of Portland (127-110), thanks to 41 points scored by Trey Murphy III.

At the same time Oklahoma City (10th) beat (102-90) San Antonio. In the East, Joel Embiid (34 pts, 8 rbds, 4 blocks), as usual, strong, largely contributed to Philadelphia’s fifth straight success against Washington (112-93). The Sixers remain 3rd, ahead of the Cavs, who won (114-108) in Charlotte, led by Darius Garland (28 pts).