It’s another eventful day in the NBA this Sunday, with both the Toronto Raptors and Golden State Warriors making the headlines.
The Raptors just proved they are ready to contend in the East with a convincing and well-played victory over the Milwaukee Bucks. Meanwhile, the Warriors are back in the news as they survived a fiery challenge from the Sacramento Kings and set a new NBA record in the process.
In other results, Denver continue to impress, while Utah, Philadelphia, New Orleans, San Antonio and Portland all bagged the important Ws.
Charlotte Hornets 110-123 Denver Nuggets
The Denver Nuggets are one of the best teams at home this season, and they improved to 16-3 on their games at Pepsi Center with a dominant win over the Charlotte Hornets.
Nikola Jokic, who grabbed the NBA 2019 highlights with his triple-double against the New York Knicks in the New Year, led the way for the Nuggets once again. The Serbian big man finished with 39 points, 12 rebounds, six assists, three steals and a block.
Even more remarkable, Jokic is only the second player to achieve that stat line in less than 34 minutes of play. The other player to do it? Michael Jordan.
Utah Jazz 110-105 Detroit Pistons
Utah started off cold and found themselves down by 18 points (31-13) against the Detroit Pistons in the opening frame. However, the Jazz still ended up winning the match.
Donovan Mitchell stepped up big time for the Jazz, with last season’s Rookie of the Year runner-up scoring 24 of his 26 points in the second half.
Blake Griffin, who finished with 34 markers, tried to bring Detroit back in the game and cut the Jazz’s lead to just two, 104-102, with 40.9 seconds left to play. Mitchell responded with a clutch 15-footer to bring their lead up by four in the final 22 seconds, and Utah held on to complete one of the best comebacks of the year.
Dallas Mavericks 100-106 Philadelphia 76ers
Ben Simmons is making triple-doubles easy to come by.
In the absence of Jimmy Butler, Simmons completely took over to shut down the Dallas Mavericks who were looking to bounce back from their recent defeat to the Boston Celtics. The Australian sensation had 20 points on top of 14 boards and 11 dimes.
Ryan Broekhoff put up a career game with 15 points, but his efforts were not enough as Mavs’ top-scorer Luka Doncic was limited to just 14 points on 4-of-16 shooting from the field.
New Orleans Pelicans 133-98 Cleveland Cavaliers
Amid all the trade/free agency rumours surrounding superstar big man Anthony Davis, the New Orleans Pelicans redirected all the attention to the team by thrashing the slumping Cleveland Cavaliers.
Jrue Holiday (22 points), Julius Randle (22) and Davis (20) all scored 20-plus each to pace the Pelicans to their best win of the season so far. The 35-point margin is also the team’s fifth-biggest margin of victory in franchise history.
New Orleans staged a 15-0 run to start the second half, and they never looked back to pile more misery on the cold-shooting Cavs.
Only Tristan Thompson and Jalen Jones shot at 50 percent for the Cavs, with the likes of Larry Nance Jr. and Alec Burks shooting below 30 percent.
Toronto Raptors 123-116 Milwaukee Bucks
FINALLY! Third time’s the charm for the Toronto Raptors as they beat the Milwaukee Bucks on their own turf.
Giannis Antetokounmpo had another monster performance for the Bucks, banking in 43 points while grabbing 18 rebounds. Nevertheless, it was Kahwi Leonard who had the last laugh with his all-around effort of 30 points, six rebounds, six assists and five steals.
The Bucks even played the Barney Song to mock the Raptors during the game, so Toronto are certainly all smiles right now.
Final #NBA Scores
🏀 Spurs 108-88 Grizzlies
🏀 Bucks 116-123 Raptors
🏀 Kings 123-127 Warriors
🏀 Trail Blazers 110-101 Rockets#ThisIsWhyWePlay pic.twitter.com/olLLVFfHmy— SBOBET (@SBOBET) January 6, 2019
Memphis Grizzlies 88-108 San Antonio Spurs
Don’t write off the San Antonio Spurs just yet. After struggling earlier in the campaign due to injuries, the Spurs have found their rhythm and are back in contention for a playoff place.
The Spurs have now won four straight games (and 12 of their last 15) after taking down Southwest rivals Memphis Grizzlies. Derrick White and LaMarcus Aldridge combined for 37 points, while Patty Mills also came up with huge plays—particularly in the second quarter—to help San Antonio pull away for good.
San Antonio moved up to fifth with a 23-17 record, tied with the LA Clippers and only half a game behind the Houston Rockets.
Houston Rockets 101-110 Portland Trail Blazers
James Harden produced but failed to deliver. Despite the reigning NBA MVP’s 38-point explosion, the Portland Trail Blazers managed to surprise the NBA 2019 odds at SBOBET with a win over the surging Rockets.
The Rockets won their previous six games, including an upset of the Warriors. However, Harden received little help from his teammates.
Jusuf Nurkic shined the brightest for the Blazers with his 25 points and 15 rebounds. C.J. McCollum, on the other hand, tallied 24 markers with four assists and rebounds reach.
While Clint Capela dominated the boards for Houston, it’s quite alarming that the team only had 13 assists in the game. It didn’t help that they shot 34.2 percent from 3-point territory.
Golden State Warriors 127-123 Sacramento Kings
It was a close fight all over again. The first two meetings between the two ball-clubs ended with a five-point lead or less, and that’s exactly the case once again as the Golden State Warriors edged the Kings by a four-point margin.
The match turned out into a three-point battle between Stephen Curry and Buddy Hield. Unfortunately for the Kings, Curry made 10 of his 20 triples en route to 42 points while Hield closed out the match with 32 points (8-of-13 from trey).
Interestingly, the two teams combined for a new NBA record 41 treys made in a game. The previous record was 40, bagged by the Cavs and the Minnesota Timberwolves last February 2018.
●●●
CHECK OUT OUR BLOG FOR MORE BASKETBALL STORIES & ODDS
Stay updated with everything sports and betting.
Follow us on social Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
