In a thrilling matchup against the Washington Wizards, the Utah Jazz secured a commanding victory with a final score of 127-115. Jordan Clarkson emerged as the standout player of the game, delivering a career-high 38 points, including an impressive 12-point streak in the fourth quarter.
Clarkson’s stellar performance also saw him tally seven assists and ten rebounds, showcasing his versatility on the court. His remarkable display not only helped the Jazz snap a three-game losing streak but also etched his name in franchise history.
Clarkson surpassed Thurl Bailey to become the player with the most off-the-bench 30-point performances for the Jazz.
The Wizards lost their fifteenth straight game despite the efforts of Jordan Poole who scored 32 points, Kyle Kuzma who added 23 points and eight assists, and Tyus Jones who contributed 21 points.
Jazz – An exceptional game
In a dramatic turn of events, the Washington Wizards showcased dominance early on, securing a commanding 14-point lead in the first half. As the game progressed, they maintained their advantage, extending it to a 10-point lead in the later stages of the third quarter and a 5-point lead in the fourth.
However, the tide quickly turned as shots made by Sexton leveled the playing field, resulting in a tie at 111-111 and later at 113-113. It was then that Jordan Clarkson, displaying remarkable skill and determination, took charge for the Utah Jazz. With a series of impressive plays, including a go-ahead layup, a short jumper, a turnaround jump shot, a clutch 3-pointer, and a three-point play conversion, Clarkson propelled the Jazz into the lead with just 56 seconds remaining, at 125-113.
Following Clarkson’s heroics, the Wizards struggled to regain momentum, failing to score for a staggering 4 ½ minutes of the match.
Despite facing adversity with key players sidelined due to injuries and medical emergencies, including Lauri Markkanen with a right quad contusion, Walker Kessler with a right foot sprain, and Keyonte George departing early due to a medical emergency, the Utah Jazz delivered an exceptional performance. Their resilience and depth were on full display as they overcame challenges to secure a thrilling victory.
Belgium’s Alexander Doom clinched victory in the world indoor 4x400m relay, edging out US sprinter Noah Lyles with a spectacular finish.
The result confirmed Doom as a contender going into the June 7-12 European Championships ahead of the Paris Olympics and he said this means there is a lot of confidence growing in him.
“This means a lot of confidence, not just for me but for the team,” Doom said. “It was really a team effort. It is amazing back-to-back gold medal. What a fantastic night.”
Alexander Doom dominates
In a strategic move aimed at reclaiming gold in the men’s 4x400m relay, the USA brought in multiple world champion Noah Lyles. However, their efforts fell short against the tactics of individual 400m champion Alexander Doom.
Doom, employing a similar strategy to his winning performance in the 400m final the previous day, positioned himself behind the leader, US anchor runner Christopher Bailey. Then, with a burst of speed off the final bend, he surged ahead, leading Belgium to victory in a world-leading time of 3:02.54. This successful defense of Belgium’s title also marked Doom as the first man to win gold in both the 400m and 4x400m at the same World Indoor Championships.
Despite their efforts, the USA settled for silver, finishing a mere 0.06 seconds behind Belgium. Meanwhile, the Netherlands secured the bronze, replicating their performance from the previous World Indoor Championships in Belgrade.
Joel Embiid scored 59 points to carry the Philadelphia 76ers to a 105-98 victory over Utah on Sunday, just one of two 50-point performances that lit up the NBA night.
Cleveland guard Darius Garland scored 27 of his 51 points in the fourth quarter, but his heroics weren’t enough to prevent the Cavaliers from surrendering their first defeat on their home floor, 129-124 to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Joel Embiid’s impressive game
Embiid’s epic, which improved on his prior career best of 50 points, proved to be all the 76ers needed to hold off the tenacious Jazz.
The Cameroonian big man added 11 rebounds and eight assists along with seven blocked shots, all just a day after he scored 42 points in a victory over the Atlanta Hawks.
“I’ve never seen a more dominating performance, when you combine defense and offense,” 76ers coach Doc Rivers said after Embiid became the first player in league history with 50 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and five blocks in a game since blocks became an official statistic in the 1973-74 season.
With the Jazz pressing late, Embiid scored 26 of Philadelphia’s 27 points in the fourth quarter.
Chants of “M-V-P” were raining down at the Sixers’ Wells Fargo Center as Embiid poured it on.
The teams were tied heading into the final period, and Embiid’s turnaround jump shot with less than six minutes remaining knotted the score at 94-94.
He hit two free throws on Philadelphia’s next possession for a 98-96 Sixers lead. His fadeaway jump shot with a minute remaining put Philadelphia up 103-98 and he closed out the scoring with a pair of free throws.
In Cleveland, Garland barely beat Embiid to the first 50-point performance of the season as he became the fourth Cavaliers player to hit the half-century mark along with LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Walt Wesley.
Garland’s 10 three-pointers — six in the fourth quarter — were just the start as Garland dazzled with an array of agile jump shots and bullish drives to the basket.
“Special,” Cavs veteran Kevin Love said of Garland’s performance. “A masterclass by Darius that was just beautiful.”
Cavs star Donovan Mitchell was cheering from the bench as he sat out with a sore ankle, but Garland’s career night wasn’t quite enough.
D’Angelo Russell scored a season-high 30 points on 11-of-13 shooting and handed out 12 assists, while Karl-Anthony Towns scored 29 points for the Timberwolves, who led by 24 late in the third quarter.
Thunder silence Knicks
Elsewhere, the Oklahoma City Thunder rolled into New York and thumped the Knicks 145-135 to the vocal dismay of the Madison Square Garden crowd.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 37 points and Josh Giddey had a triple-double of 24 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists to lead the young Thunder squad.
Australia’s Giddey, 20, joined Wilt Chamberlain as the only players to post triple-doubles in their first two games at the iconic Manhattan arena.
“We come here once a year, so you’ve got to have fun while we’re here and luckily in my time we’ve had two wins, so it’s been going good so far,” Giddey said in a post-game interview.
Lu Dort also scored 24 points for Oklahoma City, who connected on 62.5% of their shots from the field. That included making 17 of 31 from three-point range.
The Knicks out-scored the Thunder 48-36 in the first quarter, setting a franchise record for points in the first period.
But Oklahoma City buckled down defensively in the second, holding the Knicks to 25 and scoring 43 to lead by six at the break.
They never trailed and led by as many as 19 in the second half.
In Washington, Kristaps Porzingis scored 25 points and Deni Avdija chipped in 21 to lead the Wizards to a 102-92 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies.
Washington notched a fourth straight victory despite the continued absence of Bradley Beal. The Grizzlies were short-handed as well, with Ja Morant sidelined by a sore left ankle and Desmond Bane out with a troublesome toe.
By the end of the third quarter, everyone in Madison Square Garden thought that the New York Knicks would lose. With a score of 87-71, it was hard to come back from a 16-point deficit, especially early in the fourth quarter when this increased to 21 points. They were against the Miami Heat, the very team that beat them last spring in the Eastern Conference Semifinal round.
The odds were awfully stacked against them, and there was a quiet sort of desperation looming over the team as they struggled to gain momentum in the game.
However, just when they were about to hit the ground, there were two things that made them bounce back harder: the entrance of Knicks point guard Immanuel Quickley, and a certain fan.
Quickley entered the third quarter with only four minutes left on the clock. Remaining optimistic about the situation, the point guard refused to back down, drove to the basket, and scored numerous times. In doing so, he became instrumental in helping the team close the gap on Miami.
“It’s a decision to mentally check out or not. It’s a decision to keep fighting. It’s a decision to tell yourself you got to keep fighting no matter what,” said Quickley, as per SNY.tv.
14 of Quickley’s 20 points came in the last 16 minutes of play.
Jalen Brunson, on the other hand, made three clutch baskets and scored 8 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter. The reason? A certain fan had looked him in the eye and said, “This is embarrassing.”
"Honestly, a fan looked at me in my eye over here and said 'This is embarrassing.' So I'll say him"
–– Jalen Brunson to Cassidy Hubbarth on what motivated him in the Knicks 21-point comeback win over Miami pic.twitter.com/iLqvfhxQhw
Taking the comment personally, Brunson was in no time observed to be in a fired-up state with the manic glint back in his eyes.
Sure enough, with the team’s optimism and desperation, they outscored the Heat with only 1:59 remaining in the clock, 96-97.
And they kept the advantage on their side until the end of the match, managing to hold off the Heat with a final score of 98-100.
Brunson led the Knicks’ offensive effort with 24 points while also posting 3 assists and 3 rebounds.
Meanwhile, Quickley had 20 points, 2 assists, and 4 rebounds. RJ Barrett, who also had clutch moments in the game, added 18 points, 1 assist, and 7 rebounds.
The Knicks trailed by 21 points.
They came back in the 4Q to win a must-win game and keep their East Group B hopes alive.
Jayson Tatum scored 37 points and grabbed 13 rebounds Wednesday to spark the NBA-leading Boston Celtics to a 125-112 victory over visiting Dallas despite 42 points from Luka Doncic.
The Celtics, whose nine-game win streak was snapped Monday at Chicago, bounced back by dominating the Mavericks, improving to 7-1 in Boston and an NBA-best 14-4 overall.
Tatum’s remarks
“I think we were locked in from the beginning,” Tatum said. “Losing to Chicago made us regroup and refocus.
“We just knew they were a really talented team. Luka is the head of the snake. It was good to come home and get back in the win column.”
It was Tatum’s 10th career game with 35 points and 10 rebounds. He made 11-of-24 from the floor and 13-of-15 from the free throw line.
Image of Jayson Tatum (right), from Wikipedia.
In a showdown of early season NBA Most Valuable Player candidates, league scoring leader Doncic countered with a game-high point total on 17-of-28 shooting and 5=of-9 from the line. The Slovenian guard also had nine assists and eight rebounds.
“Everybody knows how talented and special he is,” Tatum said. “He can do so many things on the court. He’s somebody I respect and like competing against.”
The Celtics led 70-49 at halftime and by double figures from late in the first quarter until Doncic sparked a late rally to pull Dallas within 114-105 with 3:43 remaining.
Al Horford answered with a 3-pointer to ignite a 10-2 Boston run and Dallas never came within 13 again.
The Sacramento Kings saw their seven-game win streak snapped as Trae Young scored 35 points to lead the host Atlanta Hawks to a 115-106 victory.
Domantas Sabonis had 15 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists to spark Sacramento (10-7). Clint Capela pulled down 14 rebounds for the Hawks (11-7).
Donovan Mitchell scored 34 points to lead the Cleveland Cavaliers over Portland 114-96 and stretch their win streak to four games.
The Cavs improved to 8-1 at home and 12-6 overall as Darius Garland had 24 points and 12 assists while Jarrett Allen added 24 points and 13 rebounds.
DeMar DeRozan scored 36 points and added eight assists to lead the Chicago Bulls over host Milwaukee 118-113, dropping the Bucks to 12-5 despite 36 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists from Greek star Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Colby White and Nikola Vucevic sank back-to-back 3-pointers to give Chicago a 115-109 lead and DeRozan and Patrick Williams sank late free throws to seal the triumph.
T-Wolves defeat Pacers
Karl-Anthony Towns had 23 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists while Frenchman Rudy Gobert contributed 21 points and 16 rebounds in Minnesota’s 115-101 victory at Indiana.
Myles Turner scored a game-high 31 points for the Pacers, whose five-game win streak ended.
Zion Williamson scored 32 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to power the New Orleans Pelicans to a 129-110 victory at San Antonio. He shot 14-of-18 from the floor and 4-of-8 from the free throw line.
At Miami, Kyle Lowry scored 28 points and Caleb Martin had 24 to power the host Heat over Washington 113-105. Kyle Kuzman had a game-high 33 points for the Wizards.
The Brooklyn Nets, humbled by a loss Tuesday to a Philadelphia team lacking three top starters, bounced back by winning at Toronto 112-98.
Kyrie Irving scored 29 points, Ben Simmons and Nic Claxton each added 14 points and Kevin Durant had 12 points, seven rebounds and five assists for the Nets.
Terry Rozier scored 22 points and P.J. Washington added 19 to spark the Charlotte Hornets over visiting Philadelphia 107-101.
Shake Milton led the 76ers with 22 points, nine assists and seven rebounds. Mason Plumlee and Nick Richards each had 13 rebounds for the Hornets.
The Denver Nuggets rallied from 13 points down in the fourth quarter to win in overtime at Oklahoma City 131-126.
Nikola Jokic had a game-high 39 points plus 10 rebounds and nine assists for Denver and sank two clinching free throws with 8.3 seconds remaining in overtime.
Bruce Brown had a triple double with 17 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists for the Nuggets while Aaron Gordon had 30 points for Denver. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder with 31 points.
Team USA rejoiced on Wednesday, Sep 5, at the Mall of Asia Arena when they won by a large margin against Team Italy with a 100-63 victory. This sweet redemption came after their shocking loss to Lithuania last Sunday.
A brief recap of the USA’s loss to Lithuania
Last week took the world by surprise, as fans did not expect the American players to fall prey to the Lithuanians’ strong strategic start, making their first nine shots from three-point range and building a 21 point lead in the second quarter. Despite the effort to close the gap in the third quarter (28-17) and fourth quarter (39-39) of the game, Team USA could simply not catch up and ultimately suffered their first defeat in 10 games this summer.
Results:
Team
1Q
2Q
3Q
4Q
Total
USA
12
25
28
39
104
Lithuania
31
23
17
39
110
“They just punched us in the mouth. Right away, they made every shot. They executed. I don’t think it was a case of us not being ready. I think it was a case of them playing a perfect first quarter and us understanding how hard we’re going to have to play.”, Coach Kerr (USA) said.
Kerr also said that although they had secured their quarterfinal and 2024 Paris Olympic spots before the match, he still hated losing.
“I hate losing,” Kerr said. “I probably won’t sleep much tonight, but for us to get better, we needed to feel this. We needed to respond the way we did. Next game, we have to start the way we did the second half. We can’t ease into the game at all.” Coach Kerr (USA) said.
Team USA: 100-63 victory over Italy
With a renewed sense of competitiveness and a refusal to succumb to their previous defeat, Team USA took Coach Kerr’s advice to heart and did not ease into the game at all.
Early on in the game, the USA made sure that the world knew that they were back with fire and determination. In the first quarter, they led the game by a 10-point margin, 24-14. Not giving Italy a chance to recover, this advantage continued into the second and third quarters, where, by the end, they were up by 39 points against Italy. Losing by only two points in the fourth and final quarter, the USA triumphed over Italy with a 100-63 victory, proudly securing a spot in the final four and competing in the semifinals against Germany.
Mikal Bridges, Tyrese Haliburton, and Bobby Portis Jr. were hailed as game leaders in the match. Bridges recorded a total of 24 points and one block for his team. Haliburton, on the other hand, had a total of 3 assists and 3 steals. And finally, for the rebound department, in which the Team USA also dominated with 51-33, Portis registered a total of 7 rebounds for the team.
This marks the U.S.’s best start to a game since the commencement of the World Cup, and it was evident that the Americans had learned their lessons from their previous loss, as Brunson and Bridges asserted that it was essential for the team to “set the tone” at the beginning of the match.
“Our main focus was our energy and how we start the game, and how we set the tone. We did that throughout the course of the game and I’m proud of how we’ve responded and we got to be ready for the next game,” Brunson said.
Results:
Team
1Q
2Q
3Q
4Q
Total
USA
24
22
37
17
100
Italy
14
10
20
19
63
Coach Kerr, who was pleased at USA’s redemption in the MOA arena, said that joy and competitiveness go hand in hand.