NBA Sunday round-up: Cleveland march on; Hawks inflict heavy loss on the Pacers
Eastern Conference: Cleveland Cavaliers 114- 90 Los Angeles Clippers
Venue: Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA
Led by their talisman LeBron James’s 27-point performance, the Cavaliers inflicted an 114-90 defeat on the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday night to record their second straight win after defeating the other side from the same city- The Lakers- by 12 points three days prior.
Giving James some much-needed support on the night were JR Smith and Kyrie Irving, each of whom contributed 17 points each for the visitors. The reserve Channing Frye also chipped in with 15 points on the night.
For the hosts, it was J.J Reddick, who scored 19 points on the night and he was well supported by Chris Paul, who netted in 17 points. Kevin Love also had a decent outing, scoring 12 points but it didn't prove to be enough on the night as 2015 runners-up romped home to a 24-point win.
Speaking after the game, the 30-year-old James expressed happiness and felt that the team was steadily getting back to track.
“We're getting into form right now. We've got a great rotation going right now. The guys are healthy and we're just trying to play the game the right way. We came out and took care of business,” he said.
Eastern Conference: Atlanta Hawks 104-75 Indiana Pacers
Venue: Phillips Arena, Atlanta, GA
One of the more one-sided results of Sunday night saw the Hawks prevail over the Pacers on their home turf by a whopping 29-point margin at the Phillips Arena. Led by Al Harford and Paul Milsap, who scored 18 points each on the night, the hosts proved to be too good for their fellow Eastern Conference rival, who had no answer, especially in the third quarter, when the former scored 47 points to break the Pacers back.
There was, however, a silver lining for the Pacers, in the form of Myles Turner, who scored 19 points on the night, but unfortunately, he didn't receive sufficient support from the rest and they eventually went down in the contest.
The Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer was a happy man and credited the defense for the win, along with Harford and Milsap.
"The defense was good, and I want to give the defense credit, but those are two great players that are hard to control. Tonight I felt like we caught a little bit of a break,” he said.
Western Conference: Utah Jazz 108- 99 Sacramento Kings
Venue: Sleep Train Arena, Sacramento, CA
Led by Derrick Favors’s 28 points, the Utah Jazz prevailed over the Sacramento Kings on their home turf to record their second straight win. Favors performances was matched by an equally superlative performance from Gordon Hayward, who scored 27 points on the night.
Shelvin Mack also chipped in with 14 points on the night as did Rodney Hood and Trevor Booker as the Jazz followed from where they left off against the Wizards a couple of nights back.
Favor’s tally of 28 points was overtaken by the main man for the Kings- Demarcus Cousins- who in his comeback match after the one game suspension scored 31 points along with 10 rebounds and received good support from Omri Casspi and Darren Collinson, who scored 20 and 14 points respectively. However, those exploits from the trio went in vain as the Jazz notched a 9-point win in the end.
Reflecting on his and his team’s performance on the night, Cousins felt they had a poor opening two quarters and felt they were outworked by the Jazz.
“They got a lot of second-chance rebounds and a lot of wide-open kick-outs.It was a terrible first half and a better second half. We got put in a lot of scramble situations in the first half and they outworked us in those situations,” he said.
Eastern Conference: Milwaukee Bucks 109-100 Brooklyn Nets
Venue: Barclays Center, Brooklyn, NY
Giannis Antetokounmpo notched up an almost complete performance with 28 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists and steered the Bucks to a 109-100 win over the Nets at the Barclays Center on Sunday night.
He was well assisted by Jabari Parker, who scored 22 points and Khris Middleton, who accounted for 19 points on the night and paved the way for their 3rd straight win. Brook Lopez scored 20 points for the hosts. Sean Kilpatrick also had a good game, scoring 19 points for the Nets, but in the end, it went in vain.
The Bucks coach Jason Kidd praised Antetokounmpo’s performance, saying it almost looked as though he didn't break a sweat during the encounter.
"Sometimes it doesn't look like he's sweating, or breathing hard.and that just shows how talented he is,” the former Nets point guard-turned-coach said.
Western Conference: New York Knicks 90-87 Los Angeles Lakers
Venue: Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA
In the most closely-fought contest of the night, the New York Knicks defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 90-87 in the dying moments of the contest, courtesy a cracking three-pointer under pressure from Jose Calderon, who netted in the winning shot with two-tenth of a second left on the clock.
It was, however, Carmelo Anthony, who was the star of the night for the visitors, scoring 26 points and 12 rebounds, thereby paving the way for the victory. Playing his final head-to-head matchup in the regular season against Anthony, Kobe Bryant put up in a decent performance, scoring a mere 14 points as the Lakers crashed to their second straight loss and 53rd overall this season.
Speaking about this being the final tussle, Bryant reminisced the old times and added that he had a fun duel with Anthony, over the years.
"We had so many battles throughout the years.It's always strange, thinking it's the last time, but it's been fun." he said.
Anthony too expressed sadness, saying it was an emotional situation for him and adding that their relationship went beyond the basketball court.
"It was a very emotional situation, from the standpoint of competing against one of the greats, a friend and brother, for the last time.This isn't just a basketball relationship. I mean, basketball brought us together, but this goes way beyond the court and we've taken it to another level., he said.