NBA, the 7 things that stayed with us from the night: Jokic wears the nuggets

Nikola Jokic moved (and) moved to the Golden State, the Knicks confirmed they’re strangers, and DeMar DeRozan continued the concerts.

the Sportish presents the 7 things that caught the eye in an 11-game night in the NBA.

The game of the evening

Lots of great games on the last night before break for All Star Weekend. What won the rest, however, was none other than that between the Warriors and the Nuggets, with Denver coming back from -16 and taking the win (116-117) at the Golden State with a buzzer-beater three-pointer from Monte Morris.

This was only the Nuggets’ second lead in the match after…113-114 a few seconds earlier. Leading the winners was Nikola Jokic (more on that later) with 35 points, 17 rebounds and 8 assists, with Brin Forbes adding 22 points. With the Warriors, Steve Carey had 25 points and Clay Thompson had 16 points (but shooting 5/15).

The Appearance of the Night

Nikola Jokic was unstoppable against the Warriors. And he not only had 35 points, 17 rebounds and 8 assists, but also 13/24 shots, 3/5 of which were threes.

The Serb continues to carry Denver and awaits the return of Michael Porter and Jamal Murray, with the Nuggets going into the break with 3 straight wins and a 33-25 record, sixth-best in the West. In his last 10 games, Jokic has averaged 25.3 points, 13.7 rebounds, 9.1 assists and 1.1 steals with 37.5% on threes in 32 minutes. The nuggets remain dangerous. If Murray and Porter return to good form, no one will want to face them in the first round of the playoffs.

DeRozan jokes

There are times when cosmetic adjectives lose their meaning. Such is the case right now with DeMar DeRozan, who led the Bulls to a 125-118 victory over the Kings and finished the game on 38 points with 16/27 shots (1/1 3-point), 5/5 shots. 6 rebounds and 6 assists.

This was DeRozan’s 8th series of the ’30s. 7th straight game to +35 points while shooting over 50% in all games, which has never happened before in NBA history. DeRozan finds himself in an unimaginable situation. The Bulls have 5 straight wins and just took over Tristan Thompson. Chicago isn’t kidding.

Halibarton is thriving for the Pacers

There are many who believe the Pacers “stole” the Kings in exchange for Domandas Samponis taking on Tyrese Halibarton (along with Buddy Hild). Since Samponis is an All Star twice, that’s extreme. However, that doesn’t change the fact that Halliburton has the potential to be an All-Star. And he’s already thriving with the Pacers, as shown by the win over the Wizards (113-108), where he had 21 points and 14 assists.

In the 4 games in which he wore the Pacers jersey, Hallibarton averaged 20.8 points, 4.3 rebounds, 11 assists and 2.3 steals with 45.2% on three points in 39 minutes of attendance. It’s clear he won’t keep all the numbers at this level, especially after the return of Brogdon and Turner. But he has the talent to have similar numbers in general. The Pacers have something extraordinary on their hands.

OMG meets LOL in the Knicks

The Nets made an incredible comeback at “Madison Square Garden,” coming back from -28 and claiming the win (106-111). And all in a game that Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Ben Simmons and Joe Harris didn’t have. Cam Thomas (21 points) and Seth Curry (20 points) gave concerts. But you can’t help but say something about the Knicks.

Every time you think the Knicks have hit rock bottom, another punch comes along to prove there’s rock bottom. Her friends’ “OMG” and her opponents’ “LOL” often seem to be in the same sentence. The Knicks dreamed of making the playoffs but didn’t even make it into the play-in tournament. No one can see this and not consider that they have failed so far.

Someone tells the Blazers to refuel

In the final days of the exchange, the Blazers swapped everything they had at the team’s offices except for Damien Lillard, Yusuf Nurkic, Anferny Simmons and a photocopy. They hugged the tanking and shouted that they wanted a high top. A few days after the last day of the exchange, they are counting 4 straight wins, with Portland’s latest casualty being the Grizzlies in Memphis. The last three wins came against the Bucks (in Milwaukee), the Knicks and the Lakers!

The Blazers are tanking, but someone … forgot to tell their players. Portland has a 25-34 record and ranks 10th in the West with the 11th Pelicans having a 23-35 record. The – without Lillard – Blazers remain in the play-in tournament.

The Lakers have a soul, the Jazz are lifeless

The Lakers (again) lost Anthony Davis to injury and found themselves at -14 against the Jazz in the third period. And yet, they didn’t just turn the match around, they took the win 106-101, with LeBron James having 33 points (15 in the fourth period) and LA turning the match around when they went without a center. That is, as all jazz opponents seem to be doing now, to neutralize Rudy Gomber’s influence.

The Lakers showed after a while that they have soul. The instinct of self-preservation worked again. As for the jazz? They saw a streak of 6 wins shattered in an awkward way, confirming that this team is missing something to raise the level. Whether that’s a soul, a forward, or just an opportunity to take advantage of Gomber on offense (5 points with 2/3 shots and 11 rebounds in 28 minutes of play vs LA) when he’s tagged by players reaching the middle is a good one Ask. And it’s a question they need to find an answer to immediately.