NBA: LEBRON JAMES DOOR CLEVELAND, KYRIE IRVING AND BOSTON DOMPTENT PHILADELPHIA
Thursday night in the NBA was not easy for the Cavaliers who had to fight against Atlanta. Led 67-63 at the break, the Cleveland players suffered Dennis Schröder's law before LeBron James awoke. Expelled for the first time in his career a few days earlier, the winger took his team to success in the second half (24 points, 12 assists, 6 rebounds). Kevin Love (25 points) and Dwyane Wade (19 points) were also able to take off in the last quarter to give Cleveland its tenth consecutive victory in the NBA (121-114).
The Cavaliers are undefeated since November 9, three weeks without defeat, an eternity in the NBA. With this 15th win in 22 games, Cleveland remains 3rd in the Eastern Conference, but returns to Detroit (2nd, 14th v-6d) who did not play Thursday, while Boston continues to prance (19 v-4 d) . The Celtics gave a lesson in realism in Philadelphia (108-97) with 36 points in 33 minutes of play by Kyrie Irving.
At the same time, Denver was mistreated by a highly motivated Bulls team. Led by Lauri Markkanen and Robin Lopez (20 points every 2), Chicago was a surprise success on the Nuggets floor before Will Barton gave the victory to two seconds of the buzzer (111-110).
In the other meetings of the evening, Portland, surprising 4th of the NBA West conference, fell from above in front of his public: the Trail Blazers which remained on three consecutive victories, fell against Milwaukee (103-91) in spite of the mixed night by Giannis Antetokounmpo (20 pts, 7 of 20 shooting). Finally, for their first game without Blake Griffin, missing eight weeks because of his left knee, the Clippers sank at home against Utah 126 to 107.
The results of the NBA night:
Atlanta-Cleveland 114-121
Boston-Philadelphia 108-97
Denver-Chicago 111-110
Portland-Milwaukee 91-103
Los Angeles Clippers-Utah 107-126