US sports compact: NBA top game – Denver inflicts Boston’s first home defeat

The Boston Celtics suffered their first home defeat of the season in the NBA after 20 wins in a row. The Celtics lost to defending champion Denver Nuggets on Friday evening (local time) 100:102 (61:55). Jamal Murray with 35 points and Nikola Jokic with 34 points were the guests' two best players. Jokic missed a so-called triple double by just one assist. Boston's star player Jayson Tatum had the chance to equalize shortly before the end, but failed at the ring. Halfway through the regular season, the Celtics remain the best team in the league with 32 wins and ten losses.

In contrast, the Orlando Magic are slipping further and further. Orlando lost to the Philadelphia 76ers 109:124 and suffered its fifth defeat in the last six games. Philadelphia's top scorer Joel Embiid scored 36 points. The center, who was voted the league's most valuable player last year, scored more than 30 points for the 19th time in a row. With Tyrese Maxey, a second Sixers player surpassed the mark. Orlando had to do without world champion Franz Wagner in the eighth game in a row. His brother Moritz Wagner was allowed to play for at least a little more than six minutes after he was not used twice recently.

Thanks to Devin Booker, the Phoenix Suns defeated the New Orleans Pelicans 123:109. Booker scored 52 points in just three quarters, scoring 25 points in the first alone. It was the fourth win in a row for Phoenix.

The Indiana Pacers narrowly lost 115:118 to the Portland Trail Blazers in their first game with Pascal Siakam. The All-Star, who transferred from Toronto, had a solid debut and scored 21 points.

The Golden State Warriors' game against the Dallas Mavericks was postponed following the death of Warriors assistant coach Dejan Milojevic during the week.

The Chicago Blackhawks achieved a rare success this season in the North American ice hockey league NHL. With his first goal of the season, Seth Jones scored 4:3 (0:1, 2:0, 1:2, 1:0) against the New York Islanders in extra time on Friday evening (local time). It was the first shot on goal in overtime after 22 seconds. The German national player Lukas Reichel was only on the ice for eleven minutes and did not contribute to the goal. Despite the win, Chicago remains the team with the second fewest points in the NHL.

The Detroit Red Wings around Moritz Seider are doing better in the table. However, the Red Wings, who had been so strong recently, suffered a deserved 2:4 (1:1, 1:1, 0:2) defeat at the Carolina Hurricanes. After seven wins from eight games, Detroit remained offensively pale and only shot at the Hurricanes' goal twelve times, more rarely than ever this season. Seider was an asset with two shots on goal. The Red Wings are currently in the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference in the race for the playoffs with 51 points.

The Las Vegas Raiders have also officially made Antonio Pierce their head coach. The ex-NFL professional has already supervised nine games as interim coach this season and has led the team with Jakob Johnson from Stuttgart to five wins and four defeats in the National Football League during this time.

The 45-year-old took over the Raiders from Josh McDaniels, who was released on Halloween. Pierce is popular with the Raiders' players, and fans in Las Vegas have also rallied behind him. Johnson was initially released from the active squad, but over the course of the season he was signed to the training squad and activated for games.