The Cleveland Cavaliers suffered their second defeat of the season against Atlanta, and Victor Wembanyama was stopped by LeBron James’ Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday in the NBA. On the eve of the Thanksgiving celebrations, a day without a game, 28 of the 30 teams in the North American basketball league made the country’s floors creak on Wednesday evening.
Cleveland falls to Atlanta
The Cleveland Cavaliers suffered their first defeat of the season at home, the second in total in 19 games, against the Atlanta Hawks (124-135). With limited playing time (17 min), French No. 1 in the draft Zaccharie Risacher blazed during the third quarter, scoring 13 of his 17 points (2 rebounds, 1 block), before being confined to the bench for the end of the match, during which the Hawks made the difference thanks in particular to 22 assists from leader Trae Young (20 points), his record.
Victor Wembanyama folds against the Lakers
The series ended in the Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, while the Spurs, defeated 101-119, remained on four wins and the Los Angeles Lakers on three defeats. Top scorer for his team and co-top scorer of the game with Los Angeles rookie Dalton Knecht, Victor Wembanyama (20 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 interceptions, 3 blocks) pulled off some classy actions, but was handicapped by a certain clumsiness (9 out of 20 shooting, 2 out of 9 from distance) which prevented the Spurs from going the distance.
The 20-year-old French giant (2.24 m) stood out against the two Lakers stars. He inflicted an authoritarian counter to Anthony Davis on the first action of the game, and wrapped around LeBron James during a delicate “spin” to finish at the basket, in addition to some spectacular alley-oops.
43 points for James Harden
The bearded James Harden blazed with 43 points to offer a sixth victory in seven matches to the Los Angeles Clippers against the Washington Wizards (121-96) who sank with a 13th loss in a row. Harden also distributed 7 assists and grabbed 4 rebounds. The Blues of the Wizards struggled with the image of their team. Bilal Coulibaly scored 3 points (4 rebounds, 1 assist) for a differential of -43 (change in score when he was on the court), Alexandre Sarr scored 13 points (5 rebounds).
Another player above 40 points, Jalen Green (41 points) contributed to the success of the Houston Rockets against Philadelphia (122-115) after overtime. Without Joel Embiid and Paul George, Philadelphia continues to sink, but Frenchman Guerschon Yabusele was able to stand out with 22 points, his NBA record, 7 rebounds and 2 assists. Ahead of Houston, 3rd in the West, the Oklahoma City Thunder and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (35 points) retained the lead in the conference thanks to their success on the floor of the Golden State Warriors (105-101), deprived of Stephen Curry.
Tidjane Salaün shows herself
The young Frenchman Tidjane Salaün (19 years old), No. 6 in the draft in June, stood out with 17 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 steals during the Charlotte Hornets’ defeat against the Miami Heat (98-94). ), notably allowing his team to lead 94-92 42 seconds from the siren after a long shot. Holder, Salaün played 37 minutes and 35 seconds, the highest total for his team and his record, after having been on the bench for a long time since the start of the season. Moussa Diabaté grabbed 11 rebounds without scoring a point in 33 minutes.
For their part, in difficulty in recent weeks, the Minnesota Timberwolves, finalists of the Western Conference play-offs in the spring, collapsed at home in the last minutes against the Sacramento Kings (115-104 defeat), despite 12 points. advance with 7 minutes to go. Author of 29 points, Anthony Edwards castigated the attitude of his team: “we are too soft, we can no longer talk to each other, the coach says one thing and we do the opposite, we don’t follow the game plan”he told several media in the locker room.
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The Wolves surprised at the end of the summer by sending their interior Karl-Anthony Towns to New York for Julius Randle, and have not regained their defensive intensity since. French pivot Rudy Gobert was discreet with 9 points and 7 rebounds.
