Luka Doncic carries the Mavericks, Pascal Shiakam gives the Raptors a little more and the Nets remain in crisis.

the Sportish presents the 7 things that caught the eye in a 9-game night in the NBA.

The game of the evening

The Hornets and the Cavaliers gave the world the match of the night. In the end, it was the Cubs who clinched the win 101-102 thanks to two shots from Kevin Love (more for him in a while), erasing a 17-point difference. Earlier of course… they lost a 10 point difference in the fourth half in a crazy game.

Jarrett Allen was the top winner with 29 points and 22 rebounds, with Love adding 25 points, including 22 in the second half. With the Hornets, Terry Roger had 24 points and Kelly Umbre had 21 points.

The Appearance of the Night

In a match marked by a 45-minute break because a basket was… wrong, the Mavericks defeated the Sixers 107-98. And they have Luka Doncic to thank for that, who finished the game with 33 points, 13 rebounds, 15 assists and 2 steals in 40 minutes of play.

This was the 4th 30th in a row for the Slovenian, who climbed to 10th in triple-doubles in all NBA seasons during the game. What was interesting, however, was that he did two nails during the game. Why is that important? Because in the previous 37 games this year he had done a total of … a nail.

In his last 10 games, the Slovenian has averaged 30.3 points, 9.9 rebounds, 10.2 assists and 1.6 steals in 37 minutes of participation. The message is now clear: Doncic is ξανά Doncic again. He became Luca Magic again and carries Dallas. It remains to be seen if the Mavs’ squads continue to live up to expectations and – most importantly – when and in what condition Christapes Porzingis will return.

Kevin Love saved the Cavaliers

This year, Kevin Love’s basketball “Resurrection” is one of the most beautiful stories in the NBA. The former All-Star forward has found himself and is playing good basketball again. Against the Hornets, he would be the one to take the Cavs by the hand in a performance from the past and score 22 of his 25 points in the second half.

This season, Love has averaged 14.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 2.1 assists with 39.6% on three-pointers (2.5/6.4 per game) in 22 minutes off the bench. He plays less than ever before in his career. But he looks happy and content. And everyone definitely likes that.

Nikola Vucevic is combative

It took Nikola Vuσεevi καιρό a long time to learn to play alongside DeMar DeRozan and Jacques Lavigne. He was the one who sacrificed the most in attack – as the greats traditionally do when on the same team with two peripheral scorers. But it has long since adjusted, with the fact that some Lavin and DeRozan games were missing to play his part. Against the Pacers, Lavin was absent and Vucevic … broke out with 36 points and 17 rebounds in Chicago’s 122-115 win over Indiana.

Vucevic is fine now. In the Bulls’ last 10 games, he has 22.5 points, 13.6 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.4 steals, averaging 36% on three-pointers in 36 minutes of attendance. The Bulls remain at the forefront of the East despite their absence. And they have Montenegro to thank for that.

The networks are in danger

The Nets lost (and lost) to the Jazz in Utah 125-102 and went on to record 7 straight losses, with James Harden putting his name on the absentee list alongside those of Kevin Durant, Joe Harris and LaMarcus Aldridge. They also lost Nick Claxton during the game. Brooklyn is still not doing well.

The Nets are now in danger of losing 6th place in the East as they have a 29-23 record with the 7th Raptors (5 straight wins) going 28-23 and the 8th Celtics (4 wins in a row) 29 have -25. Brooklyn is not good at all. The fact that he is now rumored to be considering sending James Harden to the Sixers in favor of Ben Simmons shows that everything is now open.

The Nets are a good team…on paper when full. But this year it was never finished. It’s true that if they somehow solve their – paaaaara many – problems, then by the time they make it all the way to the playoffs, probably no one will want to find them in the first round against him. However, the “Is” of the networks seem to be growing by the day. In the normal world – and not in the hypothetical world of “AN” – they count 7 consecutive losses. And it seems difficult to raise your head.

Robert Williams is here

Celtics 4 straight wins, Jason Tatum takes all the glory leaving some…crumbs to Jalen Brown. But there’s one player who’s been doing all the dirty work for a long time: Robert Williams, who had 9 points, 11 rebounds and 5 blocks in 32 minutes of play in defeating the Pistons (102-93).

Williams started the season mediocre but is getting better and better with every game. In the last 20 Celtics games, he has averaged 10.4 points, 11.1 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 1.1 steals and 2.8 steals in an average attendance of 32 minutes. Boston has found its next center for years.

Pascal Shiakam found himself

The Raptors continue to impress, beating the Hawks (again) (125-114) and achieving 5 straight wins. Pascal Shiakam ended the match with 33 points and 9 rebounds and was again in a miserable condition.

After a strange last season in which he seemed to be looking for a way to make him the Raptors’ best player, Shiakam is doing very well this year. He averages 21.4 points like last year, but everything is different. He shoots better (47.7% on shots vs. 45.5% last year, 35% in threes vs. 29.7% last year), gets more rebounds (8.6 vs. 7.2 in last year), passes better (5.1 assists vs. 4.5 last year), steals more balls (1.3 vs. 1.1 last year). He already has 15 double-doubles in 38 games while last year he had 12 double-doubles and 1 triple-double in 56 games.

This year’s Raptors are terribly interesting. It’s a team that can cause problems for anyone. If Shiakam continues like this, the Canadian ceiling will be higher than some imagine.