A tight race is raging at the top of the Eastern Conference. The Boston Celtics have lost their recent top spot – to the delight of the Miami Heat. The NBA on Tuesday morning.
The Celtics were without their two go-to-guys Jaylen Brown and Jason Tatum for the away game in Toronto, with Robert Williams III also missing north of the border. Instead, Daniel Theis slipped into the starting line-up and delivered a decent performance with 13 points, ten rebounds as well as two assists and two blocks each in 41 minutes of action. While Marcus Smart was the top scorer for the visitors playing with an eight-man rotation (28), Pascal Siakam was the match-winner for the Raptors (43:32) with 40 points and 13 rebounds.
After 112-115 in overtime, Boston (47-29) had their six-game winning streak snapped and the record-breaking champions dropped from first to fourth in the conference standings. The Raptors are sixth.
Butler leads the Heat back to the top
Primus are now back the Miami Heat (48-28), who overcame their four-loss slump to beat the Sacramento Kings 123-100. Top scorer here: Jimmy Butler, recently in a heated exchange with coach Erik Spoelstra. The forward scored 27 points and gave seven assists.
The Chicago Bulls (43-32) are still fifth after their 104-109 loss to the New York Knicks, but are now tied with the Raptors. 37 points from Bulls protagonist DeMar DeRozan ultimately didn’t help the Bulls at Madison Square Garden.
Spurs increase pressure on Lakers – Warriors and Magic lose
In the Western Conference, meanwhile, the San Antonio Spurs (31-44) increased the pressure on the Los Angeles Lakers (31-43). The Spurs won 123-120 at the Houston Rockets, who were without Dennis Schröder because of shoulder problems, and moved closer to the Lakers in tenth place in the standings, which just qualifies for a play-in spot. The Lakers are worried about LeBron James, who is questionable for Tuesday’s game at the Dallas Mavericks because of ankle pain.
Further up the standings, the Memphis Grizzlies (53-23) moved into second place ahead of the faltering Californians with a resounding 123-95 win over the short-handed Golden State Warriors (48-28). The Dubs were missing star guards Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson as well as “Zuarbeiter” Draymond Green.
Another swing back to the East: There, the Wagner brothers lost with the Orlando Magic at the Cleveland Cavaliers with 101-107 and remain the worst team in the East after defeat number 56 (with 20 wins). Rookie Franz Wagner was on the court for 28 minutes and scored ten points, Moritz scored a meagre two points in 21 minutes.
