And the best team in the East is… Philadelphia 76ers. Now 7-2, at the top after the defeat of the Heat (6-2) on their track, on a horrible night against the Celtics. The Sixers, in the middle of jaleo ben simmons, without Danny Green and without Tobias Harris (shaken strongly by COVID), they are winning the whole world and marching with a very firm course in an East that draws new hierarchies. Or so we believed: there are the Sixers, impossible to map before the start of the season but with seven wins in nine games. For every setback, a new triumph. Add and add on the court … and we’ll see what happens in the offices.
In Detroit, against a completely impoverished Pistons (98-109) the Sixers reacted after the break: 66-63 in the first half, 32-46 in the second. Tyrese Maxey, the starting point guard without Simmons, had 9 points in the third quarter and 20 (with 5 assists) total on the day he turned 21. Joel Embiid closed the game with 19 points and 9 rebounds and Shake Milton, who also started by obligation, finished with 16 + 8 + 5. In the first part, he sustained the Seth Curry team, which continues with its excellent start to the season (23 points, 4/8 on 3-pointers).
The rest was to let some despondent Pistons cook in their own juice, in which less promises like Bey and Stewart go, and that they went from playing well for Jerami Grant in the first half (22 points) or depending on him without a lot of sense in the second (27 total). A disaster for a team that is a horror (1-7) and for which The arrival of Cade Cunningham, the highly anticipated number 1 in the draft, has not been the expected good news for now. Not the momentum, not the call for optimism. The rookie finished with 18 points, 10 rebounds and 4 assists. His most drinkable statistical line in his third game. But he hit his numbers, consumed by obvious anxiety, 4/17 shooting and 1/7 shooting. Thanks, basically, to a 9/10 on free throws. He has started his first NBA season with 17.9% in field goals (7/39) and 1/21 in triples. To look the other way … for now.
ATLANTA HAWKS 98-UTAH JAZZ 116
If the Sixers rule the East, in the West (and in the League) the Jazz are still in the lead, who dynamited the Hawks (98-116) without Donovan Mitchell and after three very even quarters: 74-75. But in the last quarter, Snyder’s men scored 8 triples and closed the game with 13/22 in shots for 24-41 in those final 12 minutes. An exhibition that also came with the aforementioned absence of Mitchell, low at the last minute due to an ankle problem.
The history of the game was Jordan Clarkson’s 30 points. The guard came from two straight games without scoring a triple and a 1/13 total against the Kings. In the first half he missed another five triples for 23 errors in a row in two and a half games … but he scored the first midway through the third quarter and no longer dropped the piston. The combo guard disarmed some Hawks who had not yet lost at home and whose start to the season is being disappointing: 4-5 now. Trae Young (21 points on 20 shots) is struggling to generate, and the depth of the Georgia team is less than expected if neither Bogdanovic, nor Huerter, nor Hunter flow… even Reddish is cooling off after his excellent start. On the Jazz, always infallible if the rival shows weaknesses, Conley added 13 points and 11 assists and Joe Ingles, 19 and 3. A 13 + 15 rebounds from Gobert did the rest for a team that, at least in the regular season, is ultra reliable, hyper professional, splendid.
PHOENIX SUNS 123-HOUSTON ROCKETS 111
The news was not on the track, of course. Hours after the scandalous article by ESPN that pointed to the owner, Robert Sarver, and that the NBA announced an official investigation, the Suns had to go out to play, on their court and against the Houston Rockets. They won (123-111) with clear feelings that they are straightening the course (4-3, three victories in a row) after starting with some hangover after his defeat in the Finals. In that rarefied environment, the Rockets (now 1-7) made their way in the first half (56-61) but crashed into reality afterward. The Suns were leading by 15 midway through the fourth quarter, with the game under control and with a 67-50 total in the second half. The bench added 52 points, with 19 from Shamet, 12 from Cam Johnson and 11 from McGee; Booker finished with 27 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists, Ayton with 16 points and 11 rebounds and Chris Paul with 9 points … and everything else: 5 rebounds, 5 steals and another 13 assists (data in which it is already third in the historical ranking).
In the Rockets, little like almost always. Good first part of Wood (at the end 18 points, 15 rebounds and 5 assists) and details of the rookies Sengun (10 + 4 + 5) and Jalen Green (16 points). Usman Garuba again ran out of minutes in a team that accumulates defeats while trying to at least outline a competitive playstyle. Costs.
#adversity #Sixers #leaders #East