Los Angeles (AFP)
Miami Heat settled its match against its guest Chicago Bulls 112-99, in his struggle with his runner-up for the top spot in the Eastern District, while Ja Morant scored 52 points with the Memphis Grizzlies, the highest in his career, and provided two of the most beautiful glimpses of the season to lead him to a 118-105 victory over San Antonio Spears Monday in the NBA.
The Heat achieved their fourth victory in a row, their second consecutive loss in Chicago, to move them two games away from the lead in the East.
Miami presented a distinguished collective performance, as Nigerian-American Gabe Vincent and Tyler Hero scored 20 points, compared to 15 for Jimmy Butler and Pam Adebayo.
The team’s impressive defensive performance also played a valuable role in the victory, after its players succeeded in limiting the danger of Demar DeRozan and stopped a series of 10 matches in a row, in which he scored at least 30 points, to be satisfied with 18.
Miami raised its record in the lead to 41-21 compared to 39-23 for the Heat.
Vincent said of Miami’s defense against DeRozan: “We prepared for him in many ways, we surrounded him and confronted him hard and made him uncomfortable,” adding: Despite that, he hit successful balls, but we won.
In Memphis, Morant scored 22 of the evening’s 30 successful shots as the Grizzlies scored their second straight win after beating the Bulls on Saturday.
In addition to his amazing performance, Morant provided two of the best moments of the season, first when he scored a landslide head-on against the Australian giant Jacob Bolttel, before a throw-in by New Zealander Steve Adams hit him from the beginning to the end, followed it quickly as he jumped from the distance Intermediate with the whistle at the end of the second quarter.
Memphis consolidated its third position in the West with 43 wins and 20 defeats, behind the Golden State Warriors (43-18) and the Phoenix Suns (49-12).
The Milwaukee Bucks, the defending champion, fourth in the East, returned to victories by defeating the Charlotte Hornets 130-106.