US sports compact
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Kleber and the Mavericks add to the Lakers’ concerns
Dusseldorf While most Europeans are asleep, the North American professional leagues are buzzing. What Happened That Night in American Football, Basketball, and Ice Hockey.
ice Hockey: Draisaitl believes in title chance with Edmonton
The German NHL superstar Leon Draisaitl (26) believes in winning the title with the Edmonton Oilers in the North American ice hockey elite league. “It’s about being the best team and that’s our goal for the next few years: to be at the top and win the Stanley Cup,” said the top scorer in an interview with Sky Sport.
In the 6-1 win over the Arizona Coyotes, the national player scored for the fourth time in a row, increasing his goal tally to 48. He also prepared a goal, so Draisaitl has 96 points. “Our goal must be to deliver that consistently every evening. We’re on the right track there,” he said.
He tries to improve his own performance “from year to year, even in small things, and to always be productive”. Draisaitl doesn’t rule out winning the title this season either: “First we have to get into the play-offs, we have to start with that,” he said: “Every team that slips in there has the potential to win the Stanley Cup. “
Last week Draisaitl overtook ex-national coach Marco Sturm as the top German scorer in the NHL, he now has 247 goals in 545 games. Sturm had needed 938 games for his 242 goals.
Basketball: Mavericks add to Lakers’ plight
Luka Doncic, Maxi Kleber and the Dallas Mavericks have massively increased the Los Angeles Lakers’ worries over a non-playoff season. The Texans scored 123:110 in the home game on Tuesday evening (local time) against the record champions, who had to play without the injured LeBron James and slipped out of the playoff places due to the defeat. While the Mavericks consolidated their fourth place, the Lakers have 31 wins and 43 losses – the same haul as the San Antonio Spurs. The Spurs have the better record in a direct duel with the Lakers and are therefore in tenth place.
Should the Lakers miss the playoffs, it would be the second time in four years since James arrived in Los Angeles and the seventh time in the past nine years. The last time the Lakers were spectators in the 2019 playoffs was when James missed large parts of his first season injured. The following year the team won the championship, last season there was a defeat in the first round.
Paul George was the Los Angeles Clippers’ outstanding player on his comeback after a three-month break due to an elbow injury. The 31-year-old contributed 34 points to the 121:115 against the Utah Jazz. In the meantime, the Clippers were 25 points behind. The German national player Isaiah Hartenstein (14 points) gave the hosts the lead for the first time at 110:109. In the Western Conference, the Clippers remained in eighth place after their first success after five losses, Utah is fifth.
Meanwhile, in the Eastern Conference, defending champions Milwaukee Bucks clinched an enormously important away win at the Philadelphia 76ers. With the 118:116, first place in the table is within reach for the team around Giannis Antetokounmpo, who was the best pitcher of the evening with 40 points and blocked the last attempt by 76ers star Joel Embiid. With 62.7 percent of games won, the Bucks are only a hair’s breadth behind leaders Miami Heat, who have an average of 63.2 percent with 48 wins and 28 losses. The 76ers, meanwhile, slipped behind the Boston Celtics to fourth place.
The main round of the NBA ends in mid-April. The top six teams in each of the two conferences are directly qualified for the playoffs, the teams in positions seven to ten play the two remaining playoff places in the east and west among themselves. From eleventh place, the season is over for the teams after the main round.
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