Mauricio Codocea
04/29/2021 12:36 AM
Clarín.com
sports
Updated 04/29/2021 1:12 AM
Facundo Campazzo played
the best game
of his fledgling NBA career in the Denver Nuggets 114-112 victory over New Orleans Pelicans.
The Argentine achieved
a statistical milestone for the books
by signing his first
double-double
in the league, that is, two items on the list with double digits.
The point guard completed a performance of
19 points, also his maximum in the championship
(his previous best record was 16 points)
and 10 assists
, but also added 6 rebounds and 2 steals in 36 minutes.
His time on the court was the
second highest
since his arrival in the United States.
And it is that the team needed it as it has been needing it.
And Campazzo
stuck his face out for his own.
With the former Real Madrid as the starter once again,
as it became the norm
after the injury of Jamal Murray, the undisputed star of the team, Campazzo drove and was part of an
oiled playing circuit
that imposed the conditions from the start.
Campazzo was the great figure of Denver.
Reuters photo
Against some Pelicans fighting in the lower zone for the last place in the play-in that will grant two tickets to the playoffs, Denver became strong with a good start 15-4 in which Facundo
was the protagonist
with two assists from Penetrations that led his rivals to rotate to mark him, freeing the Argentine's teammates, who took advantage of his goal passes.
With his usual reading, he also stole his first ball of the night before what ended up being (by Campazzo's merit) a bad pass from Lonzo Ball and the Argentine himself finished off with the tray in transition, then repeating the remove against Eric Bledsoe, in an important moment as the Pelicans
had cut to five points
(47-42).
Unlike other opponents of less hierarchy in theory, such as bottom Houston, this New Orleans presented a battle and it is clear that it is expected that the Nuggets, without one of their two franchise players, things will cost more.
In the third quarter
Facu
showed off from the assists, although the odd one was one of those that are only counted in the NBA, since the player who ends up scoring usually moves enough with the ball so that it is not considered a "goal pass ", and it was important for his team to take a 10 advantage (71-61).
However, once again Michael Malone's men could not stretch more or at least maintain the difference and saw the victory jeopardized in the last 12 minutes.
And there the figure of the Cordovan appeared, because no less than
15 of his points were in the decisive period.
Campazzo's best game in the NBA
He achieved his first double-double against New Orleans
When New Orleans was three, 9m from the end, he hit a triple, then assisted Michael Porter Jr., and consecutively scored on a layup counterattack and assisted once more to serve 13 (103-90) that seemed to be heading. the game definitively at 5m40 from closing time.
He even did the same with a triple of his own to sustain the ten at 3m57 and returned to convert from a distance to take it to 13 again (109-96).
However, the Nuggets let the advantage slip away with a very weak closing from the rest of their players.
In fact, with those 15 goals,
Campazzo scored more than the rest of the team
(12) in a fourth quarter that Denver lost 34-27 and did not lose the game because of what he had done before, when he showed a great collective version.
And it was the base of the Argentine National Team who scored until the last points of the team, when he received a replacement and was
chosen
to hold the ball against the rival court with a foul and go to the line.
Campazzo did everything to win the game
: he even stole a ball from
Brandon Ingram
that would have ensured the victory but when he tried to dominate it, it went long and the Pelicans recovered it, scoring a triple that left the game 114-112 for Denver with 9 , 9 seconds left.
Facu's
team
survived those last moments and achieved its
seventh victory in eight games
to consolidate in fourth place, taking four and a half points ahead of the Los Angeles Lakers and even remaining just two victories behind the Los Angeles Clippers, three of Phoenix Suns and four of the leader, Utah Jazz.
On Thursday night, Campazzo will want to continue with the inertia of his spectacular performance against the Toronto Raptors, from 22 in Argentina.