Cavaliers, at the top of the NBA, Ja Morant dominated the Celtics and Nuggets fell with 56 points from Jokic
Memphis Grizzlies this Saturday surpassed Boston Celtics 127-121 with a great performance from Ja Morant, Cleveland Cavaliers defeated Charlotte Hornets by 116-102 to assert themselves at the top of the NBA and Denver Nuggets lost to Washington Wizards by 122-113, despite the 56 points by Nikola Jokic, his NBA record.
Memphis Grizzlies (16-8) surprised at the TD Garden with a great night from Ja Morant, who was on the verge of a triple-double with 32 points, 9 rebounds and 9 assists.
Jaren Jackson Jr. contributed 27 points and 9 rebounds, while the Spanish Santi Aldama, who had few minutes, scored 9 points and grabbed 6 rebounds.
For Celtics with little success (40% in field goals and 30% in triples), Jrue Holiday scored 23 points, Payton Pritchard and Jaylen Brown, 22 each, while Jayson Tatum signed a double-double with 17 points, 13 rebounds and 9 assists.
Evan Mobley exploded in Charlotte with 41 points and 10 rebounds for the Cleveland Cavaliers (21-3), who returned to winning ways with their fourth consecutive victory after their double defeat against the Atlanta Hawks.
Mobley was accompanied with 18 points each by Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland. Jarrett Allen also had a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
The Cavaliers went up by 22, but Charlotte Hornets (6-17) did not give up and gradually reduced the deficit until they were only 4 points (100-104) in the last quarter with 5:05 remaining.
But Cleveland took back the reins of the game in those final moments with a 2-12 run for the final 102-116.
The best of the Hornets was Brandon Miller with 25 points.
Nikola Jokic had to do everything in the game that the Denver Nuggets (11-10) played against the Washington Wizards (3-18).
He scored 56 points, grabbed 16 rebounds and distributed 8 assists, but it was still not enough for his Nuggets to win on the Wizards’ court.
The Wizards, who had before them the possibility of overcoming the worst streak in franchise history after losing 16 games in a row, appealed to pride and played a remarkable game.
Jordan Poole led Washington with 39 points, Julian Champagnie contributed 23, while Lithuanian Jonas Valanciunas, in charge of the difficult task of marking Jokic, signed a double-double with 20 points and 12 rebounds, in addition to 5 assists and 5 blocks .
The Wizards outscored the Nuggets 48-15 in points from the 3-point line, after finishing 16 of 41 (39%), 9 of them from Poole, to a poor 5 of 24 (20.8%) from Denver.
Oklahoma City Thunder (18-5) remains the leader of the West with its victory in New Orleans led by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s 31 points and Jalen Williams’ 27.
Oklahoma City went up by 30 in the second quarter, but relaxed and allowed the New Orleans Pelicans (5-19) to cut it to just 9 during the fourth quarter.
Dejounte Murray with 26 points and Herb Jones with 24 led the local comeback attempt.
Luka Doncic had a triple-double with 30 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists for the victory, the seventh in a row, for the Dallas Mavericks (16-8), who are second in the West.
The Mavericks were up 24 shortly after the end of the third quarter but they played with fire and the Toronto Raptors (7-17) were only 5 points away with 1:35 left.
Kyre Irving scored 29 points and Klay Thompson 20.
For the Raptors, Gradey Dick had 27 points, Jakob Poeltl 20 and Scottie Barnes had a double-double with 19 points and 14 assists.
Cade Cunningham also had a triple-double (29 points, 10 rebounds and 15 assists), in this case for the Detroit Pistons (10-15), who won at Madison Square Garden.
After Detroit was up 17, the New York Knicks (14-9) got within just 2 points in the fourth quarter, but the Pistons left the home team with no options with a 2-12 run in response.
Malik Beasley scored 23 points for Detroit.
For the Knicks without Karl-Anthony Towns, Jalen Brunson had 31 points and 10 assists, while Mikal Bridges scored 20.
Phoenix Suns (12-10) are a different team when they don’t have Kevin Durant. Royce O’Neale’s 23 points and Devin Booker’s 21 were not enough on Saturday night in Miami.
The Miami Heat (11-10), led by Bam Adebayo’s 25 points, 12 rebounds and 8 assists, only lost the initiative in the game during the second quarter.
Jimmy Butler contributed 24 points to Miami’s score and Duncan Robinson, 19.
