The New York Knicks snapped the San Antonio Spurs’ 11-game winning streak on Sunday with a convincing victory at Madison Square Garden, the same day the Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Denver Nuggets in a duel for fourth place in the West.
In addition, the Detroit Pistons and Boston Celtics remained on the winning track after defeating the Orlando Magic and Philadelphia 76ers, respectively.
Knicks shut down Wembanyama
Victor Wembanyama’s 25 points and 13 rebounds were insufficient to prevent the Spurs’ first loss (114-89) since January, at the hands of the New York Knicks, their last NBA Cup Final opponents.
Jalen Brunson, with 24 points, and Mikal Bridges, with 25, led the Knicks in scoring as it took eight minutes for the Knicks to reach the 10-point mark.
But they went into raptures with 19 straight points between the end of the first quarter and the start of the second to finish off the game.
The Spurs (43-17) remain second in the Western Conference.
Meanwhile, the New York Islanders (39-22) remain third in the East, a game and a half behind the second-place Boston Celtics.
Wolves climb to fourth place
The Timberwolves signed their third consecutive win on the road in a close game against the Nuggets (108-117).
That was capped by four consecutive points from Jaden McDaniels with just under two minutes remaining.
Minnesota took a 36-19 lead in the second quarter and never trailed on the scoreboard again.
The pace they imposed was key to the victory, with 30 points on the counterattack to Colorado’s 6.
Anthony Edwards was the leading scorer for the Timberwolves with 21 points, but was inaccurate from the perimeter (3 of 9).
For the Nuggets, Nikola Jokic had a triple double with 35 points, 13 rebounds and 9 assists.
Meanwhile, Jamal Murray scored 25 points on 9-of-22 shooting.
The Timberwolves (38-23) climb to fourth place in the West, from which the Nuggets (37-24) fall to fifth (Filed as: Knicks vs Spurs).
Pistons and Celtics win
The Pistons came from behind to defeat the Orlando Magic (92-106) in a tight game that was decided in the second half, in which Detroit won 56-35.
The dominance of the paint by the current leaders of the East (66-32) covered up the lack of outside shooting that they offered tonight, with a 4 of 30 in three-pointers.
The Magic didn’t improve those numbers much either, hitting 10 of 36.
Cade Cunninghan was the best visiting player, with 29 points and 11 assists, but he was 2 of 9 from the perimeter.
Slightly better was the second team in the East, the Celtics, who defeated the 76ers (114-98) in the best scoring night in the short career of center Neemias Queta.
The Portuguese, the 39th overall pick in the 2021 draft, scored 27 points and grabbed 17 rebounds (10 offensive) to give the Celtics their second straight win.
Spaniard Hugo González played almost 13 minutes in which he added a basket and four rebounds (Filed under: Knicks vs Spurs).
The Spurs remain second in the Western Conference
QuéOnnda.com
Thunder clinch playoffs; Lakers, Clippers and Bulls assert their authority in the NBA
Earlier in the day, the Thunder became the first team in the league to mathematically seal their postseason berth by defeating the Dallas Mavericks (87-100) with 30 points from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
In addition, the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Sacramento Kings (128-104) and the Los Angeles Clippers shined against the New Orleans Pelicans (137-117).
The Cleveland Cavaliers held off the Brooklyn Nets (102-106) and the Chicago Bulls subdued the Milwaukee Bucks (120-97).
In Indiana, the Memphis Grizzlies defeated the Pacers (106-125), and in Atlanta, the Hawks dominated the Portland Trail Blazers (135-101).
With information from EFE
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