The title favourite conceded an unexpectedly clear defeat against the defending champions. And the Brooklyn Nets paid the appropriate price after their travel hardships. The NBA on Friday morning.
The Milwaukee Bucks around Giannis Antetokounmpo showed the Golden State Warriors the limits. The “Dubs” lost 99-118 – and it could have been even worse. At the half-time break, the Californians were already 39 points behind and could not get a grip on Antetokounmpo in particular. The Greek ended up with a triple-double with 30 points, twelve rebounds and eleven assists, while the Warriors stars remained pale: Steph Curry scored twelve points, Klay Thompson eleven.
It was just the 11th loss of the season for the Warriors (30-11), closing the gap on the Phoenix Suns (31-9) at the top of the Western Conference about halfway through the season. The Bucks (27-17), on the other hand, kept pace with the Eastern Conference leaders and narrowed the gap to the fourth-place Brooklyn Nets (26-15), while the Chicago Bulls (27-12) sit atop the standings.
Memorable away trip for the Nets
The Nets lost outright at home to the Oklahoma City Thunder 109-130, paying the price for a long and arduous away trip that saw a team shuttle and play between Eastern and Pacific Time within 24 hours for the first time since 1973 (Detroit Pistons).
Without the rested Kevin Durant and also without Kyrie Irving, who is not allowed to play in home games because of his missing vaccination against the Corona virus, there was no match for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (33 points, ten rebounds and nine assists) and Lu Dort (27 points). Of the three top stars, only James Harden played because of that, he scored 26 points and spoke of “total exhaustion” after the final siren.
Grizzlies stock up on eleven
The Memphis Grizzlies (30:14) extended their winning streak through the league. The team around young star Ja Morant (16/8/9) won 116-108 at home against the Minnesota Timberwolves and now has eleven wins in a row. Desmond Bane was the best scorer for Memphis with 21 points.
