NBA – Round Up – 22/02/19 – 03/03/19

Teams of the Week

The Bucks gallop on

The Milwaukee Bucks had a pretty dominant week only losing 1 out of 6 games to the Utah Jazz. With highlight performances from Giannis Antetokounmpo and Eric Bledsoe which in mist games leaded points, assists and rebounds there is no wonder why they had such a successful games period. They have their spot in the playoffs and there is no saying that they can’t go all the way to win the championship.

Jazz hands all round

The Utah Jazz had an absolute phenomenal time over this period, losing one game at the start of the week in 2OT the Oklahoma City Thunder. Beating some big-name teams like the LA Clippers and the Milwaukee Bucks showing that they didn’t just have a period of ‘easy opponents. Donavon Mitchell plays a huge part in this leading the individual scoring in all of the games playing a massive part in these victories and the reason why they are looking to make the playoffs.

3…2…1… Its all taking off

Having James Harden on your team is basically cheating this season for the Houston Rockets. He’s the man who has dropped the most 50-point games this season and has continued his dominance this week. He was the leading scorer in all 6 games and even dropping a massive 58 points in the game against Miami Heat. If you are a beginner to basketball watching James Harden and the Rockets will get you wanting to watch more!

Room for improvement…

Celtics get lost chasing the Rainbow

This was a period to forget for the Celtics, being the team that I follow the most it was a difficult few games. Losing 5 out of 6 games against some teams that they had no means in losing to. Albeit they may have had a very hard run of fixtures including the Rockets, Bucks, Raptors and Trail Blazers (all teams that have their playoffs places in the bag). Losing to the Bulls was also a big shock and with only a win against the Wizards it was a very disappointing period to say the least. Even though they are looking to clinch a playoff place this does not look good for Kyrie and the Celtics for there chances for the overall championships.

Thunder and lightening very very frightening..

What has gone wrong for the Thunder. During this period, it has become clear that Russel Westbrook and Paul George can’t do everything. Both of them led with assists and points and apart from a 4OT win against Utah Jazz the games they lost were poor. Losing to the Kings and Spurs which are simply games that they shouldn’t be losing. Although playoffs are looking likely, similar to the Celtics it doesn’t look good for them in winning overall. It will be under major consideration for George and Westbrook is the Thunder are in there future if they can’t challenge for the championship.

The failure of the monarch

Despite Buddy Hields best point scoring efforts, the Kings just couldn’t get going this week. Against some tough opponents like Golden State and the Bucks (although it went to OT) they have had a torrid period. Losing to the Minnesota Timberwolves will have been a tough pill to swallow and making the playoffs looks a highly unlikely thing to happen. Has been a difficult year for the kings overall and without drafting in some talent I personally can’t see it getting any better.

Player of the week – IMO

The NBA gave the player of the week to Ben Simmons andDonavon Mitchell (Basketball-reference.com, 2019), however I want to give it to Bradley Beal. The WizardsShooting Guard averages 26 points per game for the season and this average willhave benefited from this period, including having a 46-point game against theHornets (which they ended up losing). Although this period had some prettyheavy losses for the Wizards, the individual efforts from Beal deserve to be highlightedand he will have to consider his future in at the Wizards.

Reference

Basketball-Reference.com. (2019). NBA Players of the Week | Basketball-Reference.com. [online] Available at: https://www.basketball-reference.com/awards/pow.html [Accessed 4 Mar. 2019].

ESPN.com. (2019). NBA – National BasketballAssociation Teams, Scores, Stats, News, Standings, Rumors – ESPN. [online] Available at:http://www.espn.com/nba/ [Accessed 4 Mar. 2019]. – This reference for allstatistics

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