NBA: OKC pushes the Warriors, Gobert and the Timberwolves into the lead in the West

Victor Wembanyama could do nothing to get San Antonio out of its doldrums. The Spurs took the heat against Memphis (108-120) after leading by 19 points. An air of déjà vu for Gregg Popovich's men, last in the West... Great opponent of the Frenchman in the race for the title of rookie of the year, Chet Holmgren (36 points, 10 rebounds), shone with Oklahoma City, winner in San Francisco of a tense match against the Warriors (123-130). Andrew Wiggins thought he had given the 2022 champions the victory with a three-pointer with one second remaining, but Holmgren responded in a difficult position to snatch overtime. The moment chosen by his Canadian teammate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, executioner of the Blues at the last World Cup, to become unplayable with 10 points (out of 40 in total) and a counter on star Stephen Curry (25 points), back after having missed two meetings.

The Warriors' sixth consecutive loss (6 wins - 8 losses) drops them to 10th place in the West, where Minnesota (9 wins - 3 losses) took the lead. The Timberwolves snatched victory from New Orleans (121-120) thanks to a decisive shot from Karl-Anthony Towns (29 points, 9 assists) 5 seconds from the end. 17 points and 11 rebounds for the pivot of the Blues, Rudy Gobert.

The Milwaukee Bucks of Giannis Antetokounmpo (40 points, 15 rebounds) won a top-of-the-table duel against the Dallas Mavericks (132-125) of Luka Doncic (35 points, 9 rebounds, 9 assists) and Kyrie Irving (39 points). During the game, Antetokounmpo grabbed the 7,000th rebound of his career to become at 28 the youngest player to accumulate more than 16,000 points, 7,000 rebounds and 3,000 assists, ahead of Kevin Garnett, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Larry Bird and LeBron James. In the other matches of the night, the Knicks of Jalen Brunson (32 points) won 122-108 against the Hornets of LaMelo Ball (34 points) and rookie Brandon Miller. Third victory in a row for New York, without Evan Fournier this time. Finally, Jimmy Butler (25 points), Bam Adebayo (24 points, 10 rebounds) and their Heat teammates started by leading 22-1 in Chicago. However, it was the Bulls of DeMar DeRozan (23 points) who had the last word (102-97) and thus silenced the whistles of their own supporters. End of series for Miami, which remained on seven victories.