NBA highlights on Mar. 31: Young hits Bucks with buzzer beater
The Atlanta Hawks defeated the visiting Milwaukee Bucks 136-135 thanks to a buzzer beater by Trae Young in overtime on Sunday.
The Washington Wizards also claimed 95-90 victory against the Denver Nuggets at the Pepsi Center. At the Oracle Arena, the Golden State Warriors took the opportunity to expand their lead in the Western Conference by crashing the Charlotte Hornets 137-90.
Is Young good enough to challenge Doncic for Rookie of the Year?
Trae Young #11 of the Atlanta Hawks shoots in the game they won against the Milwaukee Bucks 136-135 at the State Farm Arena, March 31. /VCG Photo
Atlanta had three players scoring 20+ points. Both Justin Anderson and John Collins dropped double-double of 24 points+12 rebounds and 23 points+12 rebounds respectively. Alex Len had 23 points. Trae Young struggled with his shooting and got only 12 points but still managed to deliver 16 assists. DeAndre' Bembry contributed 16 points off the bench.
Milwaukee saw seven of their players score in double-digits. Sterling Brown had a high of 27 points while Tim Frazier had 20 points and 15 assists. Bonzie Colson and Pat Connaughton dropped individually 15 points+16 rebounds, 17 points+12 rebounds. Brook Lopez had 19 points while George Hill contributed 18 points.
Sterling Brown of the Bucks drives forward against the Hawks, March 31. /VCG Photo
The Bucks understandably had Giannis Antetokounmpo sit out for Sunday's game for two reasons. First, he sprained his right ankle in the game against the Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday; second, as the team led the Toronto Raptors by three wins in the Eastern Conference when there were only five games to go for both of them this season, Milwaukee could afford to lose while not worrying about their ranking.
In spite of that, the Bucks still fought the Hawks until OT and only lost by one point. Atlanta's one-year rookie Young only made five of his 19 shots but that did not stop him from sinking that last-gasp game-winning shot. The 20-year-old could drop 24.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 8.7 assists on average per game, not only surpassing Luka Doncic and his 22.3 points, 9.1 rebounds and 6.3 assists with the Dallas Mavericks, but also made more people have second thoughts on who is the best rookie of the 2019 NBA Draft.
Nuggets should forget about West No.1
Michael Malone, head coach of the Denver Nuggets, watches from the sidelines in the game they lost to the Washington Wizards 95-90 at the Pepsi Center, March 31 /VCG Photo
Nikola Jokic had 23 points, the most for Denver, and 14 rebounds before he was ejected with the second technical foul. Paul Milsap got a double-double of 13 points and 16 rebounds. Jamal Murray and Will Barton contributed 12 and 10 points respectively.
Washington had three players with a 20+point scoring performance: Troy Brown Jr (24 points), Thomas Bryant (20 points+14 rebounds) and Jabari Parker (20 points). Bradley Beal scored 17 points.
Nikola Jokic of the Nuggets shoots a free throw in the game against the Wizards, March 31. /VCG Photo
People have already lost count of how many times the Nuggets missed the opportunity to replace the Golden State Warriors as No.1 in the Western Conference because of their losses. What made Sunday's loss worse was that Murray, Denver's best back-court attacker, got injured.
When Denver's head coach Michael Malone talked about Jokic's ejection after the game, he was angry at both the "Joker" and the referee: "He can't get tossed. I don't care what they do to him and how bad the refereeing is…He's too valuable for our team."
Jokic told the reporters what happened in the post-game interview: "He gave me a technical then I said something back. He said, ‘Do you want another one?' I said, ‘I don't care.' And he gave me another one."
Removing Boogie won't stop GSW from winning
Klay Thompson (L1), Andrew Bogut (L2), Draymond Green (R2) and Stephen Curry (R1) of the Golden State Warriors pictured during the match against the Charlotte Hornets at the Oracle Arena, March 31 /VCG Photo
The Warriors butchered the Hornets on Sunday. The game became a foregone conclusion in three quarters but the defending champions still managed to score over 30 points in all four quarters. Their lead in several of the statistics was astonishing: 50-28 in rebounds, 41-24 in assists, 21-8 in three-pointers, 60.23 percent to 35.29 percent in field goal rate, 63.34 percent to 25 percent in 3-pt rate, 54-34 in paint points.
As a matter of fact, none of Charlotte's starting five scored double-digit points while four of Golden State's did, except DeMarcus Cousins because he only played 11 minutes before he was ejected with a flagrant 2 foul in the second quarter.
DeMarcus Cousins of the Warriors in the game against the Hornets, March 31 /VCG Photo
Neither team was happy about the judgment. For GSW, it was the second straight game in which they had a problem with the referees. As for the Hornets, they only trailed by 14 points (38-52) before the flagrant 2 but it was this call that infuriated the opponents who then turned a normal loss to a 47-point nightmare.
Other results on Sunday: (away teams mentioned first)
Dallas Mavericks 106-103 Oklahoma City Thunder
Los Angeles Lakers 130-102 New Orleans Pelicans
Sacramento Kings 113-106 San Antonio Spurs
Memphis Grizzlies 96-113 Los Angeles Clippers