The night of basketball across the Atlantic was marked by a major and unprecedented event in San Antonio.
The evening of his 36e birthday, LeBron James offered himself a nice gift by winning with the Lakers at the Spurs (121-107). The best player in the world scored 26 points (11/23 shooting) with 8 assists and 5 rebounds in 35 minutes. 3e best scorer in NBA history (behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Karl Malone) and champion with LA in the fall in the Orlando bubble, he continues to write his legend by signing a 1000e consecutive game with ten points and more registered in the regular season. Monstrous. In this area, James hovers above a certain Michael Jordan (867 matches).
The evening star at the AT&T Center in San Antonio was not “King James” but “Queen Hammon”. At 43, former WNBA point guard Becky Hammon made history by becoming the first woman to coach an NBA team. In this case the Spurs, orphans of their legendary coach Gregg Popovich, excluded by the referee for yelling at him in the 2e quarter time. His assistant therefore took over until the end of the match, lost by the Texans. “I didn’t particularly think about what that represented because it could be disturbing. I didn’t have time to look at my messages. I tried to put the players in the right places, to motivate them. Of course, I would have preferred a victory, “said the former player of the Russian national team who had once drawn the wrath of the American coach, judging this choice of naturalization” anti-patriot “for a player. born in South Dakota (but who evolved in Russia in Moscow).
“It’s wonderful to see her leading her team, calling systems”
LeBron James
The first woman to become an assistant coach in the NBA in 2014, already with the Spurs, Hammon has therefore taken a new step before, why not, having her chance full-time in the costume of head coach. “She’s been reaping the fruits of her labor over the past few years and Coach Pop has given her a chance… It’s wonderful to see her leading her team, calling systems. She’s passionate about this game, kudos to her and kudos to our league, ”commented LeBron James. “It is completely deserved, greeted the coach of the Lakers Frank Vogel. She really knows her job well and she is obviously not there by chance. She has what it takes and the players have a lot of respect for her. She will be a great coach one day ”. “Even when Pop is there, she is very present during time-outs,” said Spurs player DeMar DeRozan. It enlightens us on defensive and offensive systems. It would be cool to offer him a first victory as a coach ”. Missed.
In the other matches of the night, Kevin Duran was a hit (33 pts to 11/22, 11 rbs, 8 wt) during the very offensive match won by the Nets against the Hawks (145-141). The Frenchman Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot was titular by his side (3 pts to 1/5, 3 pds, 1 rb in 26 min). Nicolas Batum too and he contributed (11 pt at 4/6, 5 rbs, 3 wt) to the victory of the Clippers against the Blazers (128-105), marked by 28 points (9/17) from Kawhi Leonard and 23 (8/15) by Paul George. Note the heat stroke of Jaylen Brown (42 pts at 15/21) to allow the Celtics to subdue the Grizzlies (126-107) and the unnecessary triple double of Giannis Antetokounmpo (26 pts at 10/18, 13 rbs, 10 pds), beaten by the Heat with the Bucks (108-119).
