With only three games last night, the NBA still gave us a lot to talk about, with impressive moves, and almost the same score for all the winning teams. The NBA is always full of surprises, which is what makes basketball so much fun.

Jazz Keep Running Hot

The Utah Jazz’s tough defense helped a lot to keep their win streak up and running as they beat the New York Knicks 108-94 on Tuesday night. 

Just like that, they achieved their ninth consecutive victory of the season. Rudy Gobert scored 18 points, 19 rebounds, and a total of four blocked shots. Teammate Royce O’Neale managed to score a career-high 20 points and helping Donovan Mitchell, who had a quiet night after finishing with only nine points. 19 points, seven rebounds, and five assists were given by Mike Conley.

On the other side, Austin Rivers helped New York to get closer after scoring 25 points, all of them in the first half. Julius Randel and RJ Barret scored 18 and 17 points, respectively, for the Knicks, who just picked up their third straight loss. The New York’s offense was completely lost in the fourth quarter as they only managed to get 13 points over the final 12 minutes. In this same quarter, the Jazz grabbed the lead with a 20-3 run. Next up, the Jazz will host the Dallas Mavericks tonight, while, on Friday, the Knicks host the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Hawks Pull Off An Upset

The great performance of Trae Young and his 38 points scored on Tuesday night contributed to the Atlanta Hawks beating the depleted LA Clippers by a final score of 108-99. With this, the Clippers let go of a seven-game winning streak.  The Clippers were missing three starters, including Paul George and Kawhi Leonard, who were ruled out due to protocols related to health and safety. Clippers’ guard Patrick Beverly was still affected by right knee soreness. Clips’ center Ivica Zubac indicated that the coronavirus pandemic had not been a problem for the Clippers before this week. As part of the health and safety protocols, teams are not allowed to reveal if a player tested positive for COVID-19.  

The Clippers were led by Reggie Jackson, who scored 20 points, eight assists, and seven rebounds, while Serge Ibaka achieved a total of 15 points, 13 of which were scored in the first half, helping the Clippers to a 48-43 lead at the break. For Atlanta, De’Andre Hunter and Clint Capela collected 22 and 13 points, respectively. The six-game road trip for the Clippers continues on Thursday at Miami, and the Hawks remain home to play against Brooklyn Nets today. 

Rockets Too Tough For The Wizards

It wasn’t until the seven-minute mark of the fourth quarter that John Wall was able to re-enter Tuesday night’s game between the Houston Rockets and the Washington Wizards. He has been dealing with a sore knee but, not long after he was finally on the court, he managed to help the Rockets through a solid performance against his former team. Wall scored 24 points (15 points and four assists by halftime) and Houston overcame Russel Westbrook and the Washington Wizard with a final score of 107-88.

Houston was already running the show by six when Wall re-entered the game. Back in 2010, Washington selected Wall as the number-one overall pick draft, and his career was mostly spent with the Wizards before he was traded, in December, to Houston. His former coach, Scott Brooks, was impressed by Wall’s performance and said after the game, “I’m not happy that he won tonight, but I’m happy that he’s back. He fought hard … to come back and I hope he has a healthy year.”

Now, the Wizards are visiting New Orleans on Wednesday while the Rockets are hosting Portland on Thursday night before a four-game trip starting Saturday night in New Orleans.