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All you need to know about Wednesday's most important NBA clashes.
Rockets 135, Clippers 103
While you waited for the playoffs, the Rockets did well
Paolo Uggetti: No team may have benefited more from the fact that the NBA season is as long as the Houston Rockets. Houston put until December 17 to surpass the .500 mark, then reached candidate status with James Harden's goal series. Now the rest of the pieces are gathered around Harden, and the Rockets suddenly look more like the team we saw that brought the Warriors to seven games in last year's Western Conference final. . Since February 23, the Rockets have lost only three of their 21 games. Eleven of those 18 wins were double-digit.
Houston's offensive brand is so strong that its defense activities are often overlooked, sometimes even decried. But since the break of the game of stars, the Rockets defense occupies the second place in the league table. The improvement was crystal clear on Wednesday night when the Rockets handcuffed the Clippers for 48 minutes; their heavy defensive system in switches forced 15 turnovers, and the Clippers had no real answer. On the other hand, the best 3-point defense in the league (34.0% allowed) could not stop the Rockets from shooting 47% against 3 or an effective Clint Capela dominating the paint for 24 points (most of them on lobs ) and 15 rebounds.
The current standings suggest a possible first round clash between Clippers and Rockets. And although there are a lot of stories – Chris Paul back in South America, many stories of the tunnel incident and so on. – it would be a nightmare scenario for a new team of Clippers trying to continue their season of well-being. The Rockets, meanwhile, may well be on the way to their dream scenario. Fighting the Clippers in the first round and the Nuggets in the second would allow them to compete against two teams they beat by 59 points overall last week, before getting the rematch with Golden State in the final of the conference.
Can Houston believe God's point in the playoffs?
Uggetti: Because Harden's getaways feel ordinary unless he reaches 50 points (he still has a ridiculous 31 points on just 15 shots), Paul's game stands out the most against the Clippers. He finished the night with 29 points and seven assists, as well as several Paul's patent highlights, like this one:
And this one:
He also made sure to illustrate how much he was upset by the referees. So it was really the full experience of Chris Paul.
It's hard to overstate the importance of Paul's play and health for this Rockets team. His control of the pace of the game is unparalleled and his mid-range game gives them an infallible security, a dimension they do not have when it comes to Harden versus the world.
Since Paul returned from the left leg injury for two months, he's averaged 15.9 points and 8.3 assists, and the Rockets are now 21- 8. And in games where he scores at least 25 points (like Wednesday night), Houston is 5-0. Paul has averaged 32 minutes per game this season, which is even more than last season. Since his return, there are only 31 minutes per game left. Houston still has a chance on seed 2 (with 1.5 games behind Denver), so it makes sense to try to win every game. But as Paul's right leg injury showed in last year's playoffs, the margin of error against the Warriors is slim. A little rest before the playoffs might not hurt.
Raptors 115, nets 105
Brooklyn takes a dark look at his playoff future
Haley O'Shaughnessy: If the standings remain unchanged and the Nets meet the Raptors in the first round, their NBA run will probably be over. The match works in Toronto's favor for the simplest reasons: to succeed, Brooklyn relies on ridding his opponents of matches and Toronto proved Wednesday that he had the means to dissuade them out of the perimeter. The Raptors are among the top 10 in the percentage difference of 3 points; the teams draw 0.8% less against them than against the rest of the league. To be honest, the Nets have a place ahead of them in this defensive category. The difference is that if you win 3, Toronto will find another way to beat you.
Nets are not so adaptable, but neither are they one-dimensional. Because Brooklyn builds on the 3 and tends to line up on the perimeter, this creates openings to cross the lane and avoid firing at the edge. The Nets defeated the Raptors Wednesday in the region, scoring 58 points, against 48 in Toronto. This is not surprising, even against the Raptors' defense: the Nets score more points than any other team (31 per game), and are the leaders of the league in free throws.
But Toronto will force Brooklyn to play more than a full match. It's hard to defeat a team that can seemingly always backtrack, but it's the little things that will count – such as turnarounds and poor rebound performances, both of which hurt the Nets all season.
Pascal Siakam proves how much he has improved
O'Shaughnessy: D'Angelo Russell and Pascal Siakam had very different paths for the Wednesday night's clash, a 115-105 loss to Brooklyn against Toronto that could very well end in a preview. (If the season ended today, the Raptors, who are second in the East, and the Nets, seventh, would meet.) Russell, the second overall pick in 2015, should lead the Lakers into a new era ; Siakam, the 27th overall pick in the following year, was more of an afterthought. But now, the two players aged 20 and over are the first two candidates for the most improved player of the season.
The camp you fall in depends on what you think the reward should be. Siakam, who finished with 28 points, 10 rebounds and five assists against the Nets, began his career with fewer expectations than his counterpart in the draw, but is now the most complete player of the two. Russell and he both excel at leading to the trash. Only Siakam entered the league as defender. Now, the most impressive thing about Siakam is not his defense, it's how much he improved in attack. Siakam averaged nearly 10 points less than his superstar mate Kawhi Leonard, but showed his ability to execute the same shots. The tandem was targeted against the Nets; the Raptors were looking for Siakam or Leonard at the elbow or the post whenever they needed a bucket for Toronto to keep its distance. (Both finished with 11 goals scored, although it took four fewer tries to Siakam to get there.)
The fear inspired by the growth of Siakam should not make us forget what Russell is doing this season. His numbers were similar to those of Siakam on Wednesday – 27 points, seven rebounds and six assists – but on the season, his scores are higher; Russell scores on average 21.1 points against Siakam 17 (although Russell does not share sharing with Leonard), 6.9 assists for 3.1 for Siakam and 3.8 rebounds for 6.9 for Siakam . Several times this season, Russell has imposed. Meanwhile, Siakam has the advantage of playing in a much better team. Both explain to a large extent why their teams have exceeded expectations this season. Siakam was the reason why the Raptors outperformed Russell and the Nets on Wednesday.
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