Teams of the week
Raptors weren’t extinct this week
Bulls, Knicks and Bulls again, there was no letting up for the Toronto raptors this week as they had 3 comfortable wins. Even though the Knicks and Bulls are amongst some of the weakest teams in the NBA at the moment, these are games that the Raptors could have lost especially since they have already achieved playoffs and are trying to rest stars such as Kyle Lowry and Khawi Leonard. However the second string teams still were too good, how it may be promising signs for the Raptors, alarm bells need to be constantly ringing for the Bulls and Knicks.
Back in the Jazz age
Some comfortable victories for the Jazz this week shows exactly what they have deserved there place in the playoffs this year. In the last three victories against the Suns, Lakers and Wizards. Usually it is Donavon Mitchell running the show and despite him being a staple in these victories it was Rudy Gobert who was running the show leading in points and assists for the Jazz in these games. Could this be an even newer age of Jazz with a championship push on the horizon?
Hands up for Detroit
Was quite difficult to pick a third team for this week but I want to highlight the efforts of the Detroit Pistons, with 2 losses and 2 wins this week. They started off the week with losses to the Denver Nuggets and the Golden State Warriors (which were expected) but they two big wins against other playoff contenders of the Magic and Trailblazers. These kind of victories need to be highlighted and with Andre Drummond pulling off a minimum of 17 rebounds a game over this period it shows the dominance in there defence and attack game.
Room for Improvement…
The Bulls continue there poor season…
Two losses for the Bulls at the hands of the Raptors and another to the Trailblazers shows a perfect week of losses. Its been an overall poor season for the Bulls and they just haven’t found a rhythm to even have a chance to push to even get close to a playoffs. Since the great days of having Michael Jordon carrying them to championships it doesn’t come easy for the Bulls anymore and looks like it wont for seasons to come.
The Cleveland show was cancelled in 2013…and when LeBron left
Since LeBron left Cleveland things have gone from bad to worse and they have had a season to forget. The Celtics, Spurs and Clippers had victories against the Cavaliers this week and in comfortable fashion. They have no highlight players other than Kevin Love who has been out for most of the season and they are going to struggle to attract any more players for the future with a lack of talent and it will be difficult to say whether they will be able to challenge again.
Lost some pace at the end of the season
The Indiana Pacers have had a poor week, although they already have secured there first playoff game against the Celtics this week does not bode well for them. They lost all three games this week one including which was the Celtics. They only lost by two points but they will be going into the first playoff game having this in the back of there mind which may impact there performance. Hopefully they can try and get there heads straight but as a Celtics fan myself I do hope not.
Player of the week – IMO
Devon Booker (pictured below). Its the second time he has appeared on my team of the week but this week I cant hide away his efforts for the Suns. Even though the Suns lost both there games Devon Booker dropped massive back to back 50 point games. Considering the Suns lost both of these games, Devon Booker need to have a look to his future at Phoenix as back to back games like this don’t come very often and he need to see if his efforts are being appreciated enough and currently there not even close.
References
ESPN.com. (2019). NBA – National Basketball Association Teams, Scores, Stats, News, Standings, Rumors – ESPN. [online] Available at: http://www.espn.com/nba/ [Accessed 3 Apr. 2019]. – This reference for all statistics
Gibson, B. (2016). LeBron James And The City Of Cleveland’s Complicated Relationship. [online] Hoops Habit. Available at: https://hoopshabit.com/2016/04/08/lebron-james-city-clevelands-complicated-relationship/ [Accessed 3 Apr. 2019].
NBA.com. (2019). Nightly Notable: Devin Booker | NBA.com. [online] Available at: https://www.nba.com/video/2016/10/08/20161007-nightly-notable [Accessed 3 Apr. 2019].
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