With an impressive performance of 53 points and 12 rebounds, Joel Embiid was the great protagonist of the NBA this Sunday along with AJ Griffin, who gave the victory to the Atlanta Hawks at the buzzer and in overtime. In addition, the New Orleans Pelicans made life miserable for the Phoenix Suns again and the Milwaukee Bucks stumbled against the Houston Rockets, bottom team in the West.
Becoming the first player this season to achieve two games over 50 points, Embiid crushed the Hornets with 20 of 32 shooting from the field (including 2 of 3 on 3-pointers) and was perfect from the line of personnel (11 of eleven). James Harden touched the triple-double in the Sixers (19 points, 9 rebounds and 16 assists) and in the Hornets, who have lost five straight games, Terry Rozier and Kelly Oubre Jr. scored 29 points per head.
With just 0.5 seconds left and in overtime, AJ Griffin gave the Atlanta Hawks an epic victory with a fantasy play: he received a ball from Jalen Johnson's sideline, grabbed it from behind and, without touching the ground, he spun to hit an amazing basket that left the Bulls speechless. Bogdan Bogdanovic (28 points and 7 rebounds) was the top scorer in Atlanta and in Chicago DeMar DeRozan's almost triple-double game (34 points, 13 rebounds and 8 assists) was useless.
Seven consecutive victories, leaders of the West and with the morale eaten by the Suns. This is how triumphant the Pelicans are, who were guided by Zion Williamson (35 points on 14 of 21 shooting and 8 rebounds) and CJ McCollum (29 points and 7 assists) to defeat Phoenix in overtime for the second time in 48 hours .
Without Devin Booker due to hamstring injury, the Suns added their fourth straight loss despite Deandre Ayton's 28 points and 12 rebounds and Mikal Bridges' 27 points. The Spanish Willy Hernangómez only played a minute in the Pelicans without leaving a mark on the statistics and the Puerto Rican José Alvarado contributed 2 points, a rebound and 2 assists in 10 minutes.
The surprise of the day was experienced in Houston, where the Rockets, who occupy the last place in the West, defeated the powerful Milwaukee Bucks of Giannis Antetokounmpo (16 points and 18 rebounds) and who are the second best team in the entire league only behind the Boston Celtics. Jalen Green (30 points and 7 rebounds) led Houston and Jrue Holiday (25 points, 6 rebounds and 8 assists) did the same in a Bucks who only made 36.7% of their shots.
Spaniard Serge Ibaka did not play for the Bucks; his compatriot Usman Garuba contributed 2 points, 2 rebounds and a block in 11 minutes with Houston; and Khris Middleton played just 6 minutes for Milwaukee before leaving the game with an ankle injury.
The Los Angeles Lakers recovered from three straight losses by beating, with a lot of suffering, the Detroit Pistons who have the worst record in the league. LeBron James (35 points) and Anthony Davis (34 points, 15 rebounds and 7 assists) shone in a Lakers game in which Austin Reaves signed a key triple in a very close finale. Bojan Bogdanovic, with 38 points, stood out in Detroit.
The fourth victory of the New York Knicks came at Madison Square Garden and with authority (36-22 already in the first quarter) against the Sacramento Kings of Domantas Sabonis (20 points and 12 rebounds). RJ Barrett (27 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists) and Julius Randle (27 points and 8 rebounds before being ejected in the third quarter for protesting) led the New Yorkers.
They had only won 5 games in their first 25 games, but the Magic have picked up a run and this Sunday they sealed their third consecutive win against some sad Toronto Raptors who have lost twice against Orlando in 48 hours. Franz Wagner (23 points) was Orlando's top scorer while in Toronto, still without Spanish Juancho Hernangómez due to an ankle injury, highlighted Gary Trent Jr. (24 points).
