By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Both Luka Doncic and Nikola Jokic led their games in scoring and also delivered the winning plays as the final horn sounded.
Jokic made the start with a major defensive and the block (yes) in the last play of the Denver Nuggets‘ game against the Houston Rockets. The reigning NBA MVP helped stop Eric Green’s drive to the basket and then immediately swatted Jaysean Tate’s layup to secure a 95 – 94 victory for his team.
In the 36 minutes he played, Jokic finished with 28 points and 14 rebounds. Daniel Theis dropped a team-high 18 points for the struggling Rockets that are now 1-6 while Alperen Sengun finished with nine points.
Meanwhile in Dallas, Doncic hit a quite tough 3-pointer at the buzzer to hand the Mavericks a 107 – 104 win over the Boston Celtics. The Slovenian star had a season-high-tying 33 points on 5-10 triples, plus nine rebounds and five assists.
Kristaps Porzingis contributed 21 points plus seven rebounds to the Mavericks‘ victory. Frank Ntilikina had five points in 13 minutes.
Dennis Schroder completed the match with 20 points and six assists for the Celtics.
Furkan Korkmaz fired 7-9 from beyond the arc and finished with a season-high 25 points as the Philadelphia 76ers beat the Chicago Bulls 114 – 105 on the road. The Turkish wing came off the bench and spent 32 minutes on the court as an x-factor for the Sixers.
Nikola Vucevic registered a double-double of 11 points and 11 rebounds for the Bulls, shooting 5-16 from the field.
The Portland Trail Blazers handed the Los Angeles Lakers their second loss in a row by dominating the final period to come up on top 105 -90. Jusuf Nurkic was a key player for the Blazers with 15 points plus 17 rebounds.
Sekou Doumbouya made his debut with the Los Angeles Lakers and had a promising output of 10 points on 5-5 shots off the bench in just eight minutes. His team was without LeBron James while Anthony Davis, who was questionable before the game, played only seven minutes before he was sidelined with stomach illness.
The rest of Saturday’s NBA results and Euro scorers:
Miami Heat – Utah Jazz 118 – 115 (Bojan Bogdanovic 16 points – five rebounds)
Phoenix Suns – Atlanta Hawks 121 – 117 (Bogdan Bogdanovic 18 points, seven rebounds, Danilo Gallinari 10 points)