Houston (USA), May 9 (EFE) .- The final stretch of the NBA regular season was full of relentless fighting and important triumphs for the Golden State Warriors and the Washington Wizards, which increased their chances of being in the playoffs.
Point guard Stephen Curry, with 49 points, was once again the key to the Warriors’ 136-97 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder and they defended the eighth place in the Western Conference.
The great moment of Curry and the Warriors makes no one want to face them in the entry tournament and that if they maintain their current positions they would be the Los Angeles Lakers, who are seventh.
The latest offensive explosion was the seventh time this season that Curry scored 10 or more 3-pointers, and the fifth he hit in his last 15 games played.
With the victory, the Warriors stayed in eighth place in the Western Conference standings, half a game ahead of the Memphis Grizzlies, who also beat the Toronto Raptors 99-109 away from play. -in in the Eastern Conference.
The Brooklyn Nets got back on the winning track with an important 119-125 road win over the Denver Nuggets and snapped their longest losing streak so far this season of four straight losses.
Now Brooklyn (44-24) has four regular-season games remaining with the goal of winning, but also shaping its rotations, building chemistry and consolidating at least second place in the Eastern Conference.
While they are almost guaranteed at least third, victory over Denver puts Brooklyn a half game ahead of the series tiebreaker Milwaukee Bucks in the race for second place.
Any nervousness about the Nets’ current stretch should be tempered by recognition of the imminent return of All-Star guard James Harden, who has been out for more than a month.
Harden has been key in unlocking the Nets’ offense and since their debut on Jan. 16, the Brooklyn team is 23-5 when at least two of the “Big 3” play and one of them is Harden.
More spectacular is being the final stretch for the Washington Wizards, who in overtime beat the Indiana Pacers 132-133 at home and beat them in ninth place in the Eastern Conference for the second consecutive win.
While guard Russell Westbrook tied the legendary Oscar Robertson for the best triple-doubles mark at number 181.
The Utah Jazz also continued on the winning path, defeating the Houston Rockets 124-116 in the duel between the team with the best record in the NBA and the worst in the league.
Now the Jazz (50-18) continue with the best record in the NBA and the Rockets are already thinking about the lottery draw.
Philadelphia Sixers (47-21) beat the Detroit Pistons 118-104 and reached the eighth consecutive win, the best winning streak currently in the NBA and consolidate as leaders of the Eastern Conference with three games ahead of the Nets when they only have four games left to play.
Another team that took an important step towards ensuring the playoffs were the Portland Trail Blazers, who had the contribution of 30 points from point guard Damian Lillard, and defeated the San Antonio Spurs by beating 124-102 in what was their third victory. consecutive.
The Trail Blazers (39-29) consolidated in sixth place in the Western Conference with one game and EFE
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