Dennis Schröder put in an excellent performance against the ambitious Bucks. Boston and Dallas remain undefeated, but the Mavs lost Maxi Kleber. The NBA on Thursday.
Exclamation mark after three losses in a row: Dennis Schröder led the Toronto Raptors to an unexpectedly clear 130:111 (66:44) victory against the Milwaukee Bucks, who were considered a title candidate. The world champion, who is in the World Cup premium clinch with the German Basketball Association, managed a double-double (24 points, eleven assists) against Giannis Antetokounmpo, Damian Lillard & Co. and together with Pascal Siakam (26) played a decisive role in the second victory of the season of his new team. Also in double figures for Toronto (2-3) were Scottie Barnes (21 points, twelve rebounds) and Austrian Jakob Pöltl (14/11). Neither Antetokounmpo (16) nor Lillard (15, “this is obviously frustrating”) got over the 20-point hurdle for the Bucks (2-2).
Lakers stop negative streak against Clippers
The spotlight was on the Western Conference city duel in Los Angeles. Lakers and Clippers (both 3-2) delivered an overtime thriller in which LeBron James at the age of 38 once again looked as if he had fallen into the eternal fountain of youth. The King didn’t want to know anything about limited playing minutes and was the Lakers’ go-to guy until the end (130:125): 35 points, twelve boards and seven assists. This also ended an eleven-loss drought for his team against the city rival (Kawhi Leonard 38, Paul George 35), who still started without James Harden.
Celtics as they once were under Russell
That leaves only two NBA teams undefeated: The highly touted Boston Celtics, who dismantled the Indiana Pacers (again without a second of action: Daniel Theis) into their individual parts in 155:104 – three quarters were enough for Jayson Tatum to score 30 points – and are the best since Bob Cousy and Bill Russell once triumphed 173:139 against Minneapolis (1958/59). And the Dallas Mavericks (both 4-0), who won 114-105 at home against the Chicago Bulls. Here Luka Doncic (18 points) remained pale for once, while a scoreless Maxi Kleber had to leave the court early because of an injury to his left foot.
Isaiah Hartenstein (six rebounds) also came away empty-handed with the New York Knicks. The German center lost 89-95 with his team against the Cleveland Cavaliers (both 2-3).
Meanwhile, the defending champion Denver Nuggets (4-1) suffered a first serious defeat. In the 89-110 at the Minnesota Timberwolves, Nikola Jokic (25/10/3) missed a triple-double with an unusually weak hitting rate (11 of 23 from the field), while the upwardly mobile T-Wolves (2-2, Anthony Edward with 24) were finally able to underline their ambitions in a big way.
