NBA – Round Up – 05/02/19 – 15/09/19

Teams of the week

Lets start talking about the Pacers

In the last week and a half whilst keeping in touch with the NBA the team that most surprised me was the Pacers. On face value the team doesn’t seem to have that ‘All-Star’ player but the team works extremely well together. The team is overall 3rd in the Eastern Conference and with players performing the way they currently are they have a great chance at reaching the finals as the only team they were to lose against were the Milwaukee Bucks and with them being majorly ahead anyway it is a minor blip it what looks like a strong finish to the season.

It really does look like a Golden State

Unlike the Pacers the Golden State Warriors have a team full of superstars and this would explain there dominance in the Western conference, dominance that exceeded expectations this week with them winning 4 out of 5 games played (the only game they lost was to the Trail Blazers who are having a finals push). This to me seems incredible and are undoubtedly my favourites to win the playoffs this year.

Looks like magic to me

Orlando Magic may have not been the nest this season but over the recent week and a half have exceeded all expectations. With the only games they have lost being against the Oklahoma City Thunder they have excelled and also beat tough competition in the Milwaukee Bucks (conference leaders) and the New Orleans Pelicans –  I believe they have took advantage of the disgruntled Pelicans form the Anthony Davis trade rumours (a blog post on this will be done at a later date). Even though the Magic may be too late for a playoff push they can still have a strong end to the season and build towards next year.

Room for improvement…

The sun hasn’t risen in Phoenix

At the moment the Suns look like they are never going to get out of this slump, currently on a 15 game losing streak, thus not winning a game at all within this round up. Even with Deandre Ayton and Devin Booker, they seem to be the only two that are consistently performing eith the rest of the team letting them down and therefore it makes you think where thye might be this season or who the Suns need to draft in to try and compete as if you had a season ticket at the Suns this season id be asking for a refund.

Will the Knicks ever get better?

Before the last game of this week where the Knicks were against Atlanta Hawks they were on an 18 losing streak and are at the bottom of their respected conference and have the same amount of wins as the Suns do. The question will always remain if the Knicks will ever return to the glory days of Patrick Ewing or whether they are to be firmly positioned at the bottom of the conference https://yarn.co/yarn-clip/75d5ae1e-382f-4afe-95cd-c77d4dad9afb

https://yarn.co/yarn-clip/75d5ae1e-382f-4afe-95cd-c77d4dad9afb (Nine-Nine, 2019)

The best player this week – IMO

The NBA chose Toronto Raptors Khawi Leonard and Utah Jazz’s Donavon Mitchell for this weeks NBA player of the week, this is understandable due to the form that both teams are in sand that they are the stand out players. However I want to highlight the efforts of Rajan Rondo. Since leaving the Celtics Rondo has had a difficult times and has now found himself at the Lakers. With finding it difficult to get into the first team with the injury of Lonzo Ball he seems to be trying to prove himself. His last gasp winner against Oklahoma City Thunder, taking it on himself rather than giving it to Lebron James, was a big call which ultimately paid off. Hopefully he can carry on this run of form and make himself a staple at the Lakers.

New Blog post on All Star NBA reactions on March 1st and another roundup on the March 5th which will be another week and a half round up due to the interference in NBA fixtures from the all star game!!!

References

ESPN.com. (2019). NBA – National Basketball Association Teams, Scores, Stats, News, Standings, Rumors – ESPN. [online] Available at: http://www.espn.com/nba/ [Accessed 19 Feb. 2019]. – This reference for all statistics

Nine-Nine, B. (2019). and I’m scared that the Knicks might never be good again,. [online] Yarn. Available at: https://yarn.co/yarn-clip/75d5ae1e-382f-4afe-95cd-c77d4dad9afb [Accessed 19 Feb. 2019].