Paul George and Tatum rout the 1-9 Bucks 117-97
Paul George scored 27 points and Jayson Tatum added 21 as the Celtics beat the Bucks 117-97 on Sunday at Fiserv Forum, leaving Milwaukee 1-9
A one-legged three with the clock dying seals Detroit
内容摘要：Playing without Luka Doncic, who averaged 45 points in the previous four wins, Austin Reaves answered with 43 and a one-legged three to close the game
The picture is an AI-generated illustration, not a photograph from the match
Detroit trailed by 26 in the second quarter, closed to 109-104 in the final minute and was answered by the least defensible shot of the night, a one-legged, off-balance Reaves three that sealed a 121-116 Lakers win.
45, nine and eight going into the night
Los Angeles played this game without Luka Doncic, who had averaged 45 points, nine rebounds and eight assists across the four previous wins, every one of them a Lakers victory.
Reaves finished with 43 points on 14-of-27 shooting, 4-of-6 from three and a perfect 11-of-11 from the free-throw line, adding five rebounds, four assists and one turnover in 36 minutes.
He came into the game averaging 23.0 points during that stretch, so the request was not a miracle, only that the second option become the first for one night.
The night carried a Detroit subplot: the Pistons held the 42nd pick with a plan for Reaves in 2021, he turned it down to join Los Angeles as a free agent, and Detroit drafted Isaiah Livers instead.
Kessler pushed back on the luck talk: with Doncic on the floor Reaves takes a secondary role, and 43 points made the case that it is a choice, not a ceiling.
109-104 and a terrible shot that stayed up
The Lakers led by as many as 26 points in the second quarter, held the advantage for 97 percent of the game and never trailed, with no lead changes recorded.
Detroit closed to 109-104 with under a minute to play after the Lakers could not get their offense into rhythm, setting up the final sequence.
The dagger was not designed: a flipped-up, one-legged three from Reaves that he described afterward as a lucky attempt that simply fell.
Notably, Detroit's answer came from elsewhere: Jenkins with 31 points on eight made threes, Huerter with 24 and five blocks, neither enough to change who held the lead.
Detroit made 19 of 48 three-pointers against the Lakers' 11 of 28 and finished with 27 assists and 10 steals, but never led at any point.
Kessler's 16 boards and 58 points in the paint
Kessler collected seven offensive rebounds among his 16 boards and blocked three shots, while Jarred Vanderbilt grabbed 10 rebounds in 14 minutes.
Two 17-point nights from Williams and Sexton, both arriving off the bench, were the next scoring lines after Reaves' 43.
In addition, Cunningham's night was crowded out: 14 points on 6-of-15 shooting, eight assists, four turnovers and a minus-15 rating.
In the wider picture, both teams were back on the floor on Monday night: the Lakers in Atlanta at 9-2, the Pistons at home against Washington at 6-3.
Detroit owned eight offensive rebounds from Reed and 11 from Thompson and still lost the glass by a single board.
Editor's take: Kessler's 16 rebounds, seven of them offensive, are the least glamorous reason the Lakers were never truly behind.
Sources:
