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NBA Legends

 

Dr. J...a long time ago.

 

 

 

A Young MJ Takes Flight  Over 3 Celtic Legends - Bird, McHale, and Parish.

Oscar Robertson could rebound...and was quite flexible, too.

My 8-yr old, dishing the rock while playing in the same gym Derrick Williams played his high-school hoops at - La Mirada High.  Josh Samanta, both photos

Little Dude fearlessly going after a board, banging into the best player on the court that game, who likely doubled #34's weight.  

 

2015 NBA Draft Preview

 

NBA Awards

Apr 27, 2015

 

The Magic Johnson Award ---  Chris Paul, LAC....34 Pts, 3 Rebs, 7 Asst, 10-10 FTM, 1 Blks, 1 Stl, 11-19 FG%, and 2 Treys --- Paul was 9-13 from 2-land. I was working all day Sunday and missed the games, so don't know how much Kawhi guarded him, but it would seem to be the wise thing to do if he starts out hot in a crucial game 5. In wins in the series, CP 3 is averaging 33 pts shooting 61.5%, 2.5 turnovers. In the 2 losses, 14 pts, 42.3%, 4.5 T/O's. The Spurs have to stop him. Also in this series, it's interesting to note how large Blake has been on the boards...he had an absurd 19 in this game, and has reached double figures in every game in the series (while also averaging 7.3 asst). This comes after dialing down his rebs from a peak of 12.1 his rookie year to 7.6 this past season. I really think 7.6 will be the low water mark for him for a while...no way a guy as big, strong, and freakishly athletic as him should be below 8.5, minimum...even if he does play alongside DeAndre. What a series it's been so far...living up to the billing, big-time. 

 

The Uwe Blab/Allan Houston Award --- Danny Green, SA....0 Pts, 2 Rebs, 2 Asst, 0 FTM, 0 Blk, 0 Stl, 0-6 FG%, and 0 Treys in 28 minutes --- So finally Tony P comes to life a bit and scores 18 yesterday, but D Green lays this abhorrent stink bomb, combining the two awards it was so bad. He's at 50%, 10 pts/gm in their wins...2-17 overall, 3 pts/gm in the losses. He just finished his career year, becoming one of the few guards ever to block over a shot/gm in averaging 11.7/4.2/2.5...1.2 stl, 1.1 blk. Wade, MJ, David Thompson, Ron Harper, and Vince (SG/SF) spring to mind as the others.

 

NBA Awards

Apr 23, 2015

 

The Magic Johnson Award ---  Blake Griffin, LAC....29 Pts, 12 Rebs, 11 Asst, 5 FTM, 1 Blks, 1 Stl, 12-25 FG%, and 0 Treys --- Blake was an unstoppable force throughout game, garnering this massive tri-dub, but maybe got too confident with the btw the legs dribble up 2 with 10 sec on the clock...there were about 2 sec on the shot clock, but you gotta keep it simple and safe and make sure you get a shot off there...tragic mistake, leading to OT & and a dramatic, exciting Spurs win. Duncan was massive as well (28/11/4/2 stl, 1 blk....14-23), but finished going 2-8 from the floor, with one of his makes an insanely ugly falling sideways 7-footer....he literally has no juice at all left in his legs, making his season and this game all the more remarkable. He tried to save an out-of-bounds ball late and looked like a 48 yr-old rec player when he fell down. If the liveliest big-man legs in the league belong to A Davis or Noel, Dunc would be at the absolute opposite end of that - the deadest.

 

The Uwe Blab Award --- Tony Parker, SA....1 Pts, 2 Rebs, 5 Asst, 1 FTM, 0 Blk, 0 Stl, 0-6 FG%, and 0 Treys in 29 minutes --- The vaunted depth of the Spurs will be tested severely with an ailing Parker not near 90%, let alone 100. Patty Mills hit some big shots in his place late, starting with back-to-back treys late in the 3rd. He ended up with 18 pts, 8 in OT. 

 

The Allan Houston Hollow Man Award --- Courtney Lee, MEM....18 Pts, 2 Rebs, 1 Asst, 0 FTM, 0 Blk, 3 Stl, 8-11 FG%, and 2 Treys in 33 minutes --- Lee was nice for Memphis last night, red-hot in going 8-11 and playing solid D as well. Lee is the archetype 3 & D guy, posting roughly 10/2/2 & 45% this year, 40% from distance (1.2/gm). Memphis looks like it'll move on here up 2-0, and Carlisle admitting mid-series no way Rondo is back next year - classic!!! Add to that losing Chandler Parsons for the series, and it's audios Big D. 

 

Defensive Player of the Year Award - Kawhi Wins!

 

1) Kawhi Leonard ------- 333 (37-41-25).....23 yrs old

2) Draymond Green ---- 317 (45-25-17).....25

3) DeAndre Jordan ----- 261 (32-25-26).....26 - I bet you thought he was older. I did.

4) Anthony Davis -------- 107 (11-15-7).......22

5) Rudy Gobert ----------   33 (2-4-11).........22

 

Look at how young all these guys are! ...and 4 out of 5 are getting better (DeAndre plateauing at his peak right now...?) Exciting times in the league these days...any one of them looks like a deserving candidate for the award over the next 5 years. 

 

 

NBA Awards

Apr 22, 2015

 

The Magic Johnson Award ---  John Wall, WAS....26 Pts, 1 Rebs, 17 Asst, 8 FTM, 1 Blks, 1 Stl, 8-16 FG%, and 2 Treys --- Wall dominated - though he did have 5 T/O's, still a bugaboo in his game - as the Wiz had no trouble sweeping the Raptors in Toronto in this game, 117-106 (TOR outscored Wiz 31-20 in a garbage-time 4th). Washington will go for the sweep at home on Friday and Sunday. Dwight Howard was also fat in HOU (28/12/2 blk) as the Joshua Tree (15/8/9) connected with his old high school days teammate on numerous alley-oops and feeds. They were fun to watch last night. 

  

The Uwe Blab Award --- Trevor Ariza, HOU....4 Pts, 5 Rebs, 1 Asst, 2 FTM, 0 Blk, 0 Stl, 1-9 FG%, and 0 Treys in 35 minutes --- Ariza was off big-time last night, but Corey Brewer helped fill that void w/ 15 pts and 4 rebs in the HOU win over DAL 111-99. Harden went 5-17 and Terrence Jones (1-6, 5 pts, 6 reb) was also off, showing how bad Dallas was. The Mavs are a mess, with Dirk showing his age (3-14, though somehow grabbed 13 rebs), Rondo's perceived value across the league plummeting as he heads into free agency, and Chandler Parsons out possibly for the series with a bad right knee. They are in the scary netherworld of 'Bottom of the Playoff Teams'...no lottery pick, no chance at playoff success. 

 

The Allan Houston Hollow Man Award --- Richard Jefferson, DAL....7 Pts, 0 Rebs, 0 Asst, 2 FTM, 0 Blk, 0 Stl, 2-6 FG%, and 1 Trey in 22 minutes --- R-Jeff started for the injured Chandler Parsons, and posted this stink bomb. Here's a thought for Dallas  - start Aminu at SF...come out with your best players right away, and don't rely on a completely one-dimensional fading has-been as a starter in your most important games of the season. He played equal minutes with Aminu last night...he should have played 1/4 of Aminu's minutes.

 

 

NBA Awards

Apr 20, 2015

 

Note re Playoff Awards: The Uwe Blab Award (worst performance) goes to a player expected to step up and play a significant playoff role. So if some scrubby 7th/8th man goes 0-5 w/ no rebs or dimes, he doesn't win it.

 

The Magic Johnson Award ---  Blake Griffin, LAC....26 Pts, 12 Rebs, 6 Asst, 8 FTM, 3 Blks, 3 Stl, 9-20 FG%, and 0 Treys --- It was extremely close with Chris Paul (32/7/6, 3 stl, 13-20), but the clincher was the spin move dunk in the 3rd quarter, where after the spin move he launched seemingly way too far away, only to float in the air, sail past a soon-to-be-posterized Aron Baynes, and then throw it down hard. The dunk sent Clipper owner Steve Ballmer into one of his patented freak-out, crazy fan modes, and further energized the team and Staples Center. I had a playoff roti draft Thurs & Fri last week, taking 4 Spurs and no Clippers....and am having second thoughts. The Clippers, while having less depth but more youth, have a BIG advantage in hunger, having lost in the 1st or 2nd round of the playoffs ever since CP 3 got there. With yet another season of their Big 3 together (Blake, CP 3, DeAndre), maybe now is their time.

 

The Uwe Blab Award --- Paul Millsap, ATL....6 Pts, 7 Rebs, 2 Asst, 2 FTM, 1 Blk, 2 Stl, 2-11 FG%, and 0 Treys in 32 minutes --- Millsap was large (19/11/3) in last year's playoffs when Atlanta surprisingly took Indy to 7 games in the first round, but stunk it up Sunday, though the Hawks got the win over Brooklyn 99-92. Boris Diaw was close with some awful shooting (2-12, 0-5 from 3-Land), but had 6 rebs and 5 asst, showing off his typically well-rounded game, while his teammate Tony Parker struggled to a 4-11 night with just 2 rebs and 1 dime, struggling with a leg injury.

 

The Allan Houston Hollow Man Award --- Jamal Crawford, LAC....17 Pts, 0 Rebs, 0 Asst, 0 FTM, 1 Blk, 0 Stl, 7-10 FG%, and 3 Treys in 22 minutes --- Crawford ruined what could have otherwise been a perfectly hollow performance by somehow blocking a shot (.2/gm on the season). Crawford missed 17 games late in the season with a calf injury, and went just 10-36 (27.8%) in the 4 games back before finding his stroke just in time for when it really mattered. 

 

Final note on Clipper game - I was looking at Big Baby (Glen Davis) and thinking to myself, he looks WAAAAY more like a refrigerator than William 'Refrigerator' Perry ever did. Perry had a much bigger gut, whereas Big Baby has more of a consistent, uniform thickness to him. Good Lord, is he ever large!

 

NBA Awards

Apr 13, 2015

 

The Magic Johnson Award ---  Russell Westbrook, OKC....54 Pts, 9 Rebs, 8 Asst, 7 FTM, 0 Blks, 1 Stl, 21-43 FG%, and 5 Treys --- Westy carried the load in a rather huge game between the Pacers and Thunder yesterday. The Thunder lost 116-104, keeping them tied with New Orleans for the 8 spot, but essentially on the outside looking in, as N.O. owns the tiebreaker. The Pacers are also tied for the 8 spot with Brooklyn, and are also essentially 9th, as Brooklyn owns the tiebreaker there.

        As for Westy, he started strong - 22 & 4 dimes in the first quarter! - and finished with a flurry as well, scoring 20 in the 4th, but got very little support from his teammates. Only two other guys scored in double-figures, Kanter (13) and Waiters (16), but Kanter had just 5 rebs and Waiters just 2 rebs, 1 asst while making only 7 of 16 shots (0-4 from the stripe). Russell probably locked down the scoring title with this game, as he now leads Harden 27.9 to 27.5, but he also got his 16th technical of the season, and by the rules will have to sit out the Thunder's next game. OKC is hoping to have the call rescinded by the league office today, as their playoff hopes could be riding on it. 

        Quick MVP note. Many will say that Westy shouldn't be considered for MVP if the Thunder don't make the playoffs, but I disagree completely with that line of reasoning. Outside of Enes Kanter (over 18 pts, over 11 rebs since March 1), Westbrook has had very little consistent help. A sporadic 20 pts from Waiters here & there and occasional burst of production from Steven Adams helps out, but with Ibaka and KD out, it has been on Westbrook's shoulders to carry OKC to the playoffs. Since losing Ibaka on March 13th, the Thunder are 8-8...and of course KD has been out that whole stretch as well. What would OKC's record be without Westy during this period? 4-12? 3-13? His value this season has been IMMENSE, no matter if they make the playoffs or not. Certainly reasoned arguments can be made for Curry and Harden, as both are also deserving, but to discount Russell completely if the Thunder don't make the playoffs is wrong.

 

The Yinka Dare Award --- DJ Augustin, OKC....0 Pts, 0 Rebs, 1 Asst, 0 FTM, 0 Blk, 0 Stl, 0-5 FG%, and 0 Treys in 14 minutes --- Exhibit A in the Westy for MVP argument. In his last 6 games, 5 of them OKC losses, DJ has shot 23.3% and averaged 3.7 pts/gm while playing just over 20 min/night (.8 rebs, 2.8 asst). The little guy has turned his game and NBA fortunes around radically in the last 16 months (outright waived early last season), but has gone into a shell when OKC could have really used some clutch help.

 

The Allan Houston Hollow Man Award --- tie: Wesley Johnson, LAL....16 Pts, 1 Rebs, 2 Asst, 0 FTM, 0 Blk, 0 Stl, 6-9 FG%, and 4 Treys in 20 minutes....and....Jodie Meeks, DET....24 Pts, 1 Rebs, 0 Asst, 4 FTM, 0 Blk, 3 Stl, 8-12 FG%, and 4 Treys in 27 minutes --- Johnson has picked up his rebounding lately, 6.4/gm in April including this 1 reb performance, but generally remains a pretty limited player, averaging only 9.9 pts/gm (41.4%) on this 'starved for talent' Laker squad. As for Meeks, the 3 steals ruined an otherwise splendidly Hollow night, bombing away and doing little else, as he tends to do. In over 24 min/gm this year, Meeks is under 2 rebs (1.7) and under 2 asst (1.3) per contest, while scoring 11.1/gm.

 

NBA Awards

Mar 24, 2015

 

The Magic Johnson Award --- James Harden, HOU....44 Pts, 4 Rebs, 7 Asst, 21 FTM, 2 Blks, 2 Stl, 10-21 FG%, and 3 Treys --- It's quite a 3-way race for MVP at this point...most people put Curry in the lead as he's the best player on the Warriors and they have the best record (57-13). Here's a look at where they stand with 12 games left for each of them:

 

1) Curry - 23.3...4.3...7.9...2.1 stl, 42.0% from distance (3.4 makes/gm), 47.7% overall, missed just 2 games. Team has best record in league...very popular with fans, media. Ranks:  Pts (7th), Asst (6th), Stl (3rd)

 

2) Westbrook - 27.5...7.3...8.7...2.2 stl...8.1 FTM/gm at 84.4% rate. 42.7% FGs. Missed 14 gms. Lost his latest tri-dub after a reb was taken away, but his 9 so far this year has been a major storyline of the season. OKC will likely end up w/ 8th playoff spot depite KD playing less than 30 games. Better health, better FG% would likely make him a lock to win it. Ranks:  Pts (1st), Asst (4th), Stl (2nd)

 

3) Harden - 27.2...5.8...7.0...1.9 stl, .8 blk...8.8 FTM/gm at 86.8% rate. 43.9% FGs. Missed 1 gm. HOU still a 3 seed despite no Howard for 38 games. Defense improved this year (couldn't have gotten worse...). Ranks: Pts (2nd), Asst (8th), Stl (6th)

 

I would vote for Westy...and despite his obvious immense value to his team, I don't think LBJ will get strong consideration in light of missing 11 games and posting very 'average' numbers by his standards.

 

The Yinka Dare Award --- Bojan Bogdanovic, BKN....6 Pts, 6 Rebs, 1 Asst, 0 FTM, 0 Blk, 0 Stl, 3-14 FG%, and 0 Treys in 26 minutes --- Bojan was originally a 2nd round pick of the Heat in the 2011 Draft, but chose to play hoops in Turkey instead, before finally playing in the NBA this year. Maybe he should have stayed in Turkey, as he hasn't exactly lit it up in the states as a 25 year old rookie in Brooklyn, where just about everything has gone wrong this season. Bogo is a 6'8" SF averaging 8.4 pts, 2.8 rebs playing just under 24 min/night while shooting 43.8%. The Nets are 11 games under .500 in the weak East, but yet just 1.5 gms out of the 8 spot for the playoffs. D-Will continues to age in fast-forward mode, Brook Lopez continues to miss games (10 this yr) and underachieve on the boards (4 rebs in 34 min last night, just 7.0/gm this yr), Joe J has continued his steady decline at age 33 (3-11, 3 rebs, 1 asst in 37 min last night), and Thaddeus Young must be wondering why his entire career seems to be spent on teams in NBA purgatory. Time to detonate and start over in Brooklyn.

 

The Allan Houston Hollow Man Award ---  Vince Carter, MEM....14 Pts, 0 Rebs, 1 Asst, 2 FTM, 0 Blk, 1 Stl, 4-8 FG%, and 4 Treys in 20 minutes --- Maybe Vince will finally hang up his sneakers after this season, considering he's setting new career-lows in minutes (16/gm...8 min/gm under 2nd lowest total), points (6.1/gm....4 pts/gm under 2nd lowest total), and most importantly, FG%, where he's shooting 34.4%, far worse than his prior career-worst of 40.7, set last year. He is at #25 on the all-time NBA scoring list with 23,527 pts, and #59 on the all-time pts/gm list with his average of 19.6...shrinking ever so slightly with each further game he plays. 

 

 

NBA Awards

Mar 23, 2015

The Magic Johnson Award --- Danilo Gallinari, DEN....40 Pts, 7 Rebs, 4 Asst, 10 FTM, 2 Blks, 3 Stl, 12-21 FG%, and 6 Treys --- Gallo started off quite slowly this year, recovering from a bad ACL injury in April 2013 that kept him out the entire 2013-14 season. His minutes, FG%, and points were all down significantly until this month, when 30+ min/night finally became the norm for him. This is his 5th 20+ game of the month, and at only 26 yrs old, games like this show the Italian first drafted by the Knicks 6th overall in 2008 (right after Kevin Love went 5th) still has the game to be a solid starter in the league. 

 

The Yinka Dare Award --- Nick Stauskas, SAC....2 Pts, 0 Rebs, 0 Asst, 0 FTM, 0 Blk, 0 Stl, 1-6 FG%, and 0 Treys in 21 minutes --- Oh Nicky...you're so easy to beat up on. Stauskas has failed to record a multiple steals game all season long (wow!), and is averaging just .6 stl/gm per 36 minutes. He can't really rebound or dime decently either, but that's no big deal since he was drafted as a shooter...right? Oh, except that he's shooting 35.3% and just 29.1% from distance, so that's not going too well either. 8th overall pick last June...

 

The Allan Houston Hollow Man Award ---  JJ Redick, LAC....20 Pts, 0 Rebs, 2 Asst, 3 FTM, 0 Blk, 1 Stl, 7-16 FG%, and 3 Treys in 29 minutes --- Redick knows how to shoot - 42.8% from 3-Land this year - but doesn't do much else, averaging just 2.1 rebs and 1.8 asst in 31 min/gm this season. He's averaging 15.8 pts/gm on 46.8% shooting though, and hitting 89.7% of his free throws (but under 3 attempts/game).

 

P.S. Westbrook recorded his 10th tri-dub of the season yesterday. Below is a list of guys to record 10 in a season since 1985-86:

 

10 Triple-Doubles

Single-Season Since 1985-86

                                       last done

Russell Westbrook *2014-15

Jason Kidd               2007-08

Grant Hill                 1996-97

Magic Johnson        1990-91

Larry Bird                 1989-90

Fat Lever                 1987-88

 

Two of the more underrated players in NBA history make the list - Grant Hill and Fat Lever. Because Hill's prime years were spent on bad Detroit teams, and then he messed his ankles up and was never the same player, people discount his greatness way too much. He was DOMINANT!! He was like a Magic Johnson but with athleticism more like Michael Jordan. He was never a great shooter, but he could take it to the hole as good as Iverson in his day, except he was 6'8" not 6'0". Here's what Hill averaged from his 2nd season thru his 6th season, 5 years of dominance: 21.9 pts, 8.1 rebs, 6.5 asst, and 1.6 stls while shooting 47.5%. He should make the Hall of Fame, no doubt. 

 

As for Fat Lever, he played on some exciting run-n-gun Denver teams in the late 80's, and did EVERYTHING on those teams. Like Hill though, his period of domination was rather short...but for 4 seasons in a row (1986-87 thru 1989-90), he put up some absurd numbers, rebounding better than any guard in the history of the league not named Oscar or Magic, as well as posting massive steals totals. His averages during that 4 year stretch?  18.9 pts, 8.9 rebs, 7.5 asst, and 2.5 stls while hitting 46.1% from the floor. He and Jason Kidd are probably the best ever rebounding guards for 6'4" & under. Lever was 6'3".

NBA Awards

Mar 6, 2015

 

First of all, a few people noted my amateur oversight of Hassan Whiteside not being included in yesterday's Bill Russell Award. Indeed, at 5am yesterday, I did overlook the guy who probably should have been the outright solo winner of the latest Award to be added (on a periodic basis) to the NBA Awards portfolio. Whiteside was dominant against the very height/size/athleticism challenged Laker frontcourt - 18 pts, 25 rebs, 4 blks, and 6-10 from the floor (6-13 from the stripe). What a story he's been this year - averaging 16.0/15.8 and 3 blks his last 5 games, while shooting 64.7%.

 

The Magic Johnson Award --- Russell Westbrook, OKC....43 Pts, 8 Rebs, 7 Asst, 12 FTM, 0 Blks, 2 Stl, 14-32 FG%, and 1 Trey --- Westbrook is still dominating the Magic Award (or as a cc'd reader suggested yesterday, the Westbrook Award), but is finally showing a few signs that he might actually be human after all. He shot under 44% last night, missed 5 of his last 6 shots in a tight loss to CHI (108-105), had 5 turnovers, and failed to record his 5th straight triple double. So the verdict is in: he's not a basketball cyborg sent from the planet Hoopatron, he's just a human being who's really good at dribbling, shooting, passing, rebounding, and generally causing havoc on a basketball court. Elias Sports Bureau pulled this little nugget on Russell:

 

 

      Consecutive 40-Point, 5-Rebound, 5-Assist Games

 

           1961    Elgin Baylor            4

           1963    Elgin Baylor            3

           1963    Wilt Chamberlain    3

           1989    Michael Jordan       3

           2015    Russell Westbrook  3

                                  -- Elias Sports Bureau

 

I have to ask....how did LeBron never do this? Or Kobe? Or Oscar? Or Kareem (averaged over 5 asst/gm 3X)?  Maybe even T-Mac? How about Westy's teammate KD, who averaged over 7 rebs & over 5 asst last year while scoring 32 a night? Surprisingly short list...

 

The Yinka Dare Award --- Dirk Nowitzki, DAL....10 Pts, 4 Rebs, 0 Asst, 0 FTM, 0 Blk, 1 Stl, 5-13 FG%, and 0 Treys in 27 minutes --- First of all, it's a crime he was chosen to the All-Star game over Gordon Hayward this year. Secondly, he has basically sucked over his last 9 games: 11.7 pts, 6.6 rebs, 1.0 asst, .7 stl, and shooting 41.5%. At 36 yrs old, and turning 37 shortly before the 2015 NBA Draft (yes, I'm totally fiending for it as always), it seems Father Time is knocking a bit louder on the door of Dirk's incredibly productive NBA career. His scoring average of 17.5 is almost a full 5 pts below his career average of 22.3, and only the 2nd time in the last 15 seasons he's been below 20 pts/gm (other time was 2012-13, 17.3). His 6.1 reb/gm is the worst average since his rookie year, and his FG% of 46.1 is among his 4 worst ever since his rookie year. Combine all this with Rondo's poor fit in Dallas (read ESPN article here...subscription required), and it doesn't look like the Mavs, who lost 94-75 to Portland last night, are much of a threat in the upcoming playoffs this year.

  

The Allan Houston Hollow Man Award ---  No one worthy ---  We have to give the utmost respect to Allan Houston's Hollowness...and of course, also his agent who somehow convinced the Knicks to pay him $99m over 6 years, despite the fact that he was a one-dimensional SG who'd just turned 30. That contract would likely be #1 in my hypothetical book of bad contracts. In year 3 of that contract, Houston averaged 18.5 pts, was as hollow as ever (2.4 rebs, 2.0 asst), shot just 43.5%, and missed 32 games. In year 4 of that contract, Houston averaged 11.9 pts while shooting 41.5% and played only 20 games. Years 5 and 6 he was retired. New York might as well have gathered  

 

NBA Awards

Mar 5, 2015

 

The Magic Johnson Award --- Russell Westbrook, OKC....49 Pts, 16 Rebs, 10 Asst, 16 FTM, 1 Blks, 3 Stl, 16-33 FG%, and 1 Trey --- I was gonna skip the Awards today as I have a long and early workday, but then I saw Anthony Davis' line on my phone (39 / 13 / 2, 3 stls, 8 blks) and thought, 'well I gotta give the Magic to my guy Mr. Davis'. Then I looked up Russell's line. Just when we thought he couldn't get any more phenomenal, he turned it up yet another notch. The fantasy website 'Rototworld.com' summarized the historic nature of his night and his tri-dub streak very neatly:

 

Where do we begin? He logged his fourth consecutive triple-double to become the first player since Michael Jordan in 1989 to do that, became just the third player to log consecutive 40-point triple-doubles in NBA history (Jordan and Pete Maravich), had a career high in points and boards, and became the second player in the past 30 seasons to drop a 45-15-10 line (Vince Carter). He also had a ridiculous 46.1 usage rate tonight. This guy needed surgery to repair a dent in his face last week. Crazy.

 

Can you believe VinceSanity notched a 45-15-10 line? Would have thought LeBron maybe....but not Vince. Westy is now the league's leading scorer, averaging just over 27 a game, and with averages of 7.0 rebs and 8.2 assts, is looking to become the first player since LeBron in 2009-10 to average 7 & 8 in those categories (before LBJ, it was MJ in '89). Besides Davis, CP 3 (36/6/12) and Draymond Green (23/12/5, 3stl, 3blk, 4 treys) had strong nights as well.

 

The Yinka Dare Award --- Evan Turner, BOS....2 Pts, 2 Rebs, 2 Asst, 0 FTM, 0 Blk, 1 Stl, 1-8 FG%, and 0 Treys in 25 minutes --- Turner stunk up the joint vs. Utah last night, and is now at 17 straight games without exceeding 12 points - all while playing 30 min/night and with the ball in his hands much of the time. But a bad shooter is a bad shooter, and that describes Turner quite well, despite his decent playmaking skills. Amazing that he went 2nd overall in the 2010 Draft behind John Wall. Here are 5 of the next 8 picks in that draft: #3 Derrick Favors (really coming into his own in Utah)...#5 DeMarcus Cousins (most dominant center in the league)...#7 Greg Monroe (15.7/10.6, 49.2% on the year)...#9 Gordon Hayward (borderline All-Star this year - 19.4, 4.8 rebs, 4.2 asst, 1.4 stl, 45.2%, 36.9% on 3's)...and finally, #10 Paul George (2-time All-Star). The 76ers really swung & missed with Turner.

 

The Allan Houston Hollow Man Award ---  Jodi Meeks, DET....20 Pts, 0 Rebs, 1 Asst, 3 FTM, 0 Blk, 2 Stl, 8-14 FG%, and 1 Trey in 28 minutes ---  Remember the Sam Hinkie writeup a couple weeks ago? Meeks is another contract I'm sure Sam laughed at heartily last summer. Meeks parlayed 33 min/gm on a crappy Laker team last year into a 3 year, $18.7m deal with Detroit. The even funnier thing is, Detroit had just drafted a younger version of Meeks - Kentavius Caldwell-Pope - the summer before, and KCP plays much better defense. And Meeks is just as hollow as KCP as well, averaging just 2.5 rebs and 2.1 asst per 36 minutes this year...virtually the same as last year's averages of 2.7 and 1.9 per 36. Oh...and Meeks is shooting 40.8% on the year, 31.7% from distance. Of course, this is the same team that signed the Joshua Tree to a massive deal in 2013 and then cut him outright just 18 months later. Some day I'd like to compile all the unbelievably stupid NBA contracts and turn it into a book...there's so much material to work with...maybe John Koncak's deal in 1989 could be the starting point. 

 

The Bill Russell Award --- Tie between DeAndre Jordan, LAC....6 Pts, 19 Rebs, 0 Asst, 2 FTM (out of 10 attempts - ouch!), 1 Blk, 1 Stl, 2-5 FG%...and...Rudy Gobert, UTA....10 Pts, 16 Rebs, 3 Asst, 4 FTM, 3 Blk, 1 Stl, 3-9 FG% ---  The DeAndre rebounding roll keeps on trucking, even though his free throw shooting (40.4%) is quite a drag down the stretch in games. I read an interesting stat on his shooting (71.3%) - he has more dunks this year than 14 NBA teams. This was the 10th straight game of at least 15 rebs for Jordan, averaging 20.1 over that stretch.

        As for Rudy Gobert, aka The Stifle Tower (he's French - awesome nickname someone came up with), he now has 40 rebounds in his last two games, and has averaged over 3 blks/gm since the start of the new year. His domination of the paint defensively has propelled Utah to 24 wins already this year, and their over/under in Vegas was 25 before the season started. I love this team and took that over back in October. Go Jazz. 

 

       By now you've probably heard about Russell Westbrook's phenomenal February averages (31.2 pts, 9.1 rebs, 10.3 asst.) not being accomplished since Oscar Robertson well over 40 years ago. I was surprised to see this because I remember in the Spring of 1989 Doug Collins moved Jordan to the point and he started racking up triple doubles. I looked up the data and sure enough, he had 7 tri-dubs in a row, and in 10 out of 11 games, but indeed, he couldn't quite come up with a 30/9/10 month. His March that year: 28.5 pts, 8.7 rebs, 11.2 asst.....his April: 32.7 pts, 9.4 rebs, 9.3 asst. But after looking at these numbers for a bit, I suddenly realized that combined, they probably made the cut. Sure enough, over the last 27 games of the 1988-89 season (all of March & April), these were MJ's averages:

 

Michael Jordan, Mar/Apr 1989

Pts ------- 30.4 

Rebs ------ 9.0

Asst ----- 10.4

 

So the next time someone mentions Westy & Oscar....make sure you tell them that yes, MJ never did it over a 1 month period, but instead did it over a 2-month period...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    
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