Weekly NBA Wrap With The Mid Range Jumpers
MVP Watch
- Stephen Curry (Golden State Warriors, 23.6ppg, 7.9apg, 4.7rpg)
- James Harden (Houston Rockets, 27.5ppg, 6.8apg, 5.6rpg)
- LeBron James (Cleveland Cavaliers 26.0ppg, 7.4apg, 5.5rpg)
Notable Mentions
- Damian Lillard (Portland Trailblazers)
- Jeff Teague (Atlanta Hawks)
- Marc Gasol (Memphis Grizzlies)
- John Wall (Washington Wizards)
- Anthony Davis (New Orleans Pelicans)
The race to the MVP is becoming clearer as we head into the All-Star period. For me the top 3 have separated themselves, however things change really quickly and I suspect this won’t be the top 3 come the end of the season. Curry continues to dazzle even during a few losses this week. The next period for James Harden will show us where he sits in the MVP race as the Rockets face a prolonged period without Dwight Howard. What I want to see is how he responds and whether Harden’s play will keep them in the top half of the West. I suspect they will as Dwight hasn’t had a big influence on their success but time will tell.
LeBron James will be there at the end and as of late the Cavs are looking like the contender they envisioned when he returned to Cleveland. The Cavs are getting contributions from several players and a large part of the reason for that points to LeBron’s leadership. That for me is MVP worthiness and is why I see him near the pointy end of this race.
Standouts
Russell Westbrook
Westbrook has had himself a nice season and probably hasn’t got the respect he deserves. He’s averaging 26.1 points per game with 7.6 assists per game and 6.2 rebounds per game, which is easily in the top echelon for for guards in each category. While his shooting percentage isn’t great, he is a volume scorer and will not hesitate to keep shooting if his shots aren’t falling. Back to back 45+ point performances for Westbrook this week illustrates his scorer mentality and with fellow scorer Durant on his side, Westbrook doesn’t get the looks that other scoring guards might get. With the Thunder sitting outside the playoffs Westbrook and Durant will have to pick up their game so it will be good to see him continue this sizzling form.
Teams On The Rise
- Charlotte Hornets
- Minnesota Timberwolves
- New Orleans Pelicans
Teams On The Slide
- Orlando Magic
- Washington Wizards
- Miami Heat
- LA Clippers
Performance Of The Week Thus Far
Anthony Davis – 41 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists + Game-winning 3PT
Russell Westbrook – 48 points, 11 assists, 9 rebounds, 4 steals
Notables
Steph Curry – 51 points, 4 assists, 4 rebounds vs Dallas Mavericks
James Harden – 45 points, 9 rebounds, 8 assists vs Portland Trailblazers
This weeks performance of the week was the duel between Westbrook and Davis. Westbrook was superb as was Davis down the stretch culminating in a ridiculous game winning 3PT field goal.
Play Of The Week
Steven Adams Watch
7.4 ppg , 7.0 rpg, 24.3 mins per game
Adams has had a good week with a rough finish following his injury on Monday NZT. A couple of solid performances for Adams, some nice highlights and an invite too All-Star weekend for the NBA rising stars game brought some buzz around Adams but an injury to his right hand may put those All-Star plans on hold. The severity of the injury is unknown at this stage but I’m sure there will be more light shed on it throughout the week. Adams did gain some attention shooting a nice free throw with his left hand!
Heres a video of his injury which we hope won’t keep the big fella out long.
Storyline Watch/Random Thoughts
Contenders rise
As we past the mid season checkpoint and head into All-Star break the contenders begin to stand up and show their true capabilities. The emergence of Golden State, Atlanta, Memphis and Toronto and too a lesser extent Cleveland and Houston demonstrate that their heading in the right direction. Cleveland are a good example of a team that required a few personnel changes and are now a threat in the East.
Golden State and Atlanta have been questioned throughout the season and have capped off impressive runs to lead their respective conferences. San Antonio is a team you know is going to be around near the end, and should they stay injury-free they will move their way up the order. The questions remain around teams like Portland, Dallas, LA Clippers, Chicago, Washington, Milwaukee as too whether they will be good enough for a deep run post all-star break and into the playoffs. The daily grind of the NBA is a much discussed point and we may seem teams freshen up during the break and emerge as a real contender or even head the other way. I’m looking forward to seeing which teams really have what it takes and which teams will fall away as we near the crunch time of the regular season.