For the first time this season, Stephen Curry (who was accused of being injury-prone in 2012) missed a game. Despite that, he’s had a remarkable season, and his comeback later in the week was just one of the things that occurred this past week. Join us as we recall the NBA’s events from Monday, January 14 to Sunday, January 20:
All-Star Starters Unveiled: After counting the votes from you (the fans), the 2013 NBA All-Star Starters were revealed on Thursday night. Want to know who made the cut? If you didn’t already know, check out our Twitter account (@sporty_reporty) or visit here to not only find out, but to get analysis as well.
Broken Records: The Chicago Bulls set a franchise record this past week for most consecutive overtime games played. The Bulls beat the Philadelphia 76ers and the Boston Celtics (after a prayer jumper by Marco Belinelli) before losing the Memphis Grizzlies, all in overtime. In Saturday’s contest, the Bulls looked especially exhausted, but that did not stop them from pounding the ball inside and trying to gut out a win. This all after destroying the Atlanta Hawks 97-58. That was a defensive clinic, and I’m sure that the Hawks are still having nightmares of all the shots blocked, shot-clock violations, and turnovers that Chicago forced. The determination that the team displayed all week is encouraging for the fans, since their MVP is still recovering. Once Rose returns (which could be soon), people will need to start putting the Bulls in as top contenders. They have the defense, post offense, chemistry, grit, and rebounding. Those facets of the game lead to championships. The question is: will Rose come back too late for anything good to get established? We’ll have to wait and see.
Underwhelming: Ironically, the two teams in the underwhelming section this week are are responsible for 33 of the the NBA’s championships. After winning 6 games in a row, the Boston Celtics have returned to slumping again. Even after their “savior” returned, they can’t seem to be consistent with their effort. The emergence of Courtney Lee and Jeff Green as reliable bench options have been offset by the fact that Brandon Bass and Jason Terry are slumping in the worst way possible. As mentioned by Doc Rivers in his postgame tirade, guys just are too content with losing, and that’s why any progress is met with back-tracking. Rajon Rondo says the locker room is too “lax” and Paul Pierce says that the Celtics are “regressing back to old ways.” Doc also alluded to potential roster moves if the players can’t get it together, and that seems like a reality given the team’s up-and-down play. Last year, the Celtics went after high character guys to fill the bench, and they were pretty successful. This year, the team has more talent, but they don’t have the same grit that last year’s team had. What will it take to get the team to play Celtic basketball? Maybe a trade or two is the only option . . .
The L.A. Lakers are equally guilty of “underwhelming-ness” if not more guilty than the Celtics. Sitting at 17-23 with 4 of the top-20 players in the NBA, there’s much to be frustrated about if you’re a Lakers fan. Howard misses too many freethrows, Gasol is getting left out on many offensive sets, everyone wants to be the #2 option behind Kobe, the coaching is off, and the list goes on. There’s so many things wrong with L.A., and it’s hard to see any short-term options that could save them this year. Will they even make the Playoffs? I think they can pull it together enough to at least make the 8-seed. At this point, though, anything further would be a stretch. The Lakers need to pull it together, and they don’t have too much time to do so.
Whelming: The New Orleans Hornets are benefitting endlessly from having their professional scorer in Eric Gordon back. Things are finally flowing for the 14-27 squad, and they are finally living up to preseason expectations. Gordon has not wasted any time in establishing his role in the offense, and his presence only helps Greivis Vasquez as he pushes through a career-year. The Hornets have won 6 of their last 8 games, and despite dropping one to Golden State, they are rolling. The problem is, they have to dig themselves out of the hole that they put themselves in early in the season. Halfway through, one can see the potential there. One thing they might want to work on: waking Austin Rivers up. This is a lottery pick averaging 6 points a game. It’s not right, and they need to do something to get some production out of him.
Since January 4th, the Atlanta Hawks have tumbled their way down the East standings. They’ve lost 8 out 10 games since then, and they show no signs of slowing down. This fact is accentuated by the unfortunate news that G Lou Williams will miss the rest of the season with a torn ACL in his right knee. The Hawks need a good breakthrough win, and they also need someone not named Al Horford or Josh Smith to step up. Until they get contributions from someone else (looking at you Teague), their tumbling will continue.
Overwhelming: The Indiana Pacers are playing like they don’t need Danny Granger. Oh wait, they don’t. Paul George, through 11 games in January, is averaging 23.2 points on 48% shooting. Also, the Pacers possess the League’s most potent defense with a defensive rating of 95.7. None of this was expected without their star player in Danny Granger, and they show no signs of slowing down (and as opposed to the Hawks, this is a good thing). The success of the Pacers doesn’t solely rest on George’s shoulders, however. David West, with a year as a Pacer under his belt, has emerged as Indiana’s premier big man who has played well enough to sneak into the All-Star game in Houston next month. Together, West and George have carried this Pacers team into relevancy without Granger.
After firing Avery Johnson, the Brooklyn Nets have gone 10-2 under interim head coach PJ Carlesimo. So successful, in fact, that the next episode of “The Association: Brooklyn Nets” will center on how happy the team is with him running the show. It seems as if players have bought into his system rather quickly, and that is paying instant dividends (evidenced by their record). Sure Phil Jackson would have been great, but Carlesimo is doing a swell job himself. Watch out for the second-half Nets.
Players of the Week: Carlos Boozer of the Chicago Bulls (East) and Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder (West) have been named the Players of the Week for their respective conferences for games played from January 14th through January 20th. Carlos Boozer labored through 3 overtime games (and a thrashing of Atlanta) last week to average 23.0 points and 14.8 rebounds. Among his highlights during the week was a 19-point, 20-rebound effort in Boston and a season-high 36 point effort in Toronto. The Bulls went 3-1 behind Boozer this past week.
The obvious thing to talk about is Kevin Durant’s average of 37.5 points per game during the past week. This included an NBA-best (this season) 52 points against the Dallas Mavericks in an Overtime win, 41 points against the Phoenix Suns, and 37 points (along with 8 assists and 7 rebounds) in a loss to the Denver Nuggets. Durant was on a scoring tear last week, and it shows. LeBron James set the NBA record for youngest player to get to 20,000 points on Thursday. The way Durant is going, it looks like he might be able to break James’ record.
That’s all, folks! Join us next week as we cover 1/21/13 – 1/27/13 in the NBA. Until then, check back here for more content, and don’t forget that NBA League Pass Mobile is free until Sunday!
Although his consecutive freethrow streak was broken today in a win against the Knicks, Deron Williams and the Brooklyn Nets have shown considerable improvement under new head coach PJ Carlesimo
SYRY 