RACE TO TOP ROOKIE AWARD NO SLAM DUNK FOR MORANT
Zion wins in a photo finish if he continues to dominate and Pelicans make the playoffs
Is Zion Williamson going to steal Ja Morant’s award?
You know, the award everyone handed to No. 1 overall pick Williamson before the season began, before he got hurt and missed a good chunk of the first half of the NBA season.
Morant, the No. 2 pick behind Williamson in last June’s NBA draft, has turned in a stellar first season (very few young high-usage guards shoot nearly 50 per cent from the floor the way Morant has at 49.3 per cent) and the young Memphis Grizzlies have exceeded expectations by winning 30 games and flirting with .500. Both players attack the rim mercilessly and both the Grizzlies and Williamson’s New Orleans Pelicans are fighting for the West’s final playoff spot.
Morant won rookie of the month honours for October, November, December and January, but was supplanted by Williamson in February after the Pelicans star averaged 25.7 points on 56 per cent shooting in nine games. During the month, Williamson became the first freshman since Michael Jordan to score at least 25 points on 57 per cent or better shooting in four consecutive games. For the year, he’s up to 24.1 points per game on nearly 60 per cent shooting, despite the fact New Orleans is keeping his minutes in check.
The only other real competition for rookie of the year has come from undrafted Miami guard Kendrick Nunn, who was named rookie of the month (for the East) three times, before Chicago’s Coby White was announced as February’s winner on Tuesday.
Overall, this hasn’t been a great rookie crop, with a pair of undrafted players (Nunn and Toronto’s Terence Davis being among the top six or seven newcomers), but at the top, the 1-2 punch of Williamson and Morant is as good as we’ve seen in ages.
The question now is whether Williamson can supplant Morant for the award. If he dominates March and April and New Orleans gets into the playoffs, he’ll surely win. But if Memphis stays in eighth place and Morant shakes his recent mini-slump, he could pull off the upset.
The best player on a bad team? Has to be Washington’s Bradley Beal, right? Beal didn’t make the all-star game, despite his eye-popping numbers, mostly because the Wizards have been awful.
Beal has averaged nearly a point a minute (36.9 points in 37.1 minutes) over his last 15 games, helping Washington to compile a 7-8 record over that span, far better than its prior rate of success.
Much of this run has come since Beal’s all-star snub. Wizards head coach Scott Brooks said players, who voted him second among guards in all-star voting (coaches didn’t rate him as highly) “know he’s impossible to guard. He’s one of the elite scorers.”
Though Washington is 1-9 when Beal scores 40 or more points, the team is 9-9 over its last 18 games when he has scored 25 points or more. He’s second in the league in scoring overall.
While superstar guard Damian Lillard was sidelined due to injury, his Portland teammate C.J. Mccollum has done all he could to hold the fort. The good news for Blazers fans is Lillard is expected to return to action on Wednesday.
Mccollum has averaged 33.3 points and 8.3 assists, shooting 40.6 per cent on three-pointers and 48.4 per cent from the field overall.
Unfortunately for the Blazers, the team has gone only 2-4 in that span, despite a pair of 41-point Mccollum performances.
Portland was 3.5 games behind Memphis (as were New Orleans and Sacramento) entering play on Tuesday.
Milwaukee recently beat Oklahoma City by 47 points, the team’s third win this season by at least 40 points. If they do it again, they’ll set a new record. Eight other teams have also done it three times.
The Bucks had won six in a row, all by an average of 18 points, before losing to Miami, and they’re on pace to register the highest point differential in NBA history, with Giannis Antetokounmpo the heavy favourite to win his second straight NBA MVP award.
Steph Curry might be back just in time for the NBA Finals rematch. Toronto gets its first look at Golden State’s new San Francisco arena on Thursday and Curry could play in his first NBA game since Oct. 30 on that day, head coach Steve Kerr said Tuesday.
An expected March 1 return from Curry’s broken hand was delayed and he spent some time with the Warriors’ G League affiliate.
Golden State has the league’s worst record, but Curry wants to play and Kerr said Thursday is “definitely a possibility.” Toronto beat Golden State 4-2 last June to bring the NBA title north of the border for the first time.
Curry’s career 28.6-point scoring average against Toronto is the second highest ever, behind only Allen Iverson’s 29.7 in 38 regular-season meetings.
Curry’s brother Seth recently passed Kerr as the most accurate three-point shooter in NBA history.
Sixers guard Shake Milton recently hit 13 three-pointers in a row. That tied the longest streak ever with Brent Price and Terry Mills ... Los Angeles is 18-0 this season when Lebron James scores 30 points or more. The Lakers and Bucks, both conference leaders, face off on Friday night ... Atlanta’s Trae Young is the fifth player to average 30 points and 10 assists in consecutive months, joining Oscar Robertson, Nate Archibald, Russell Westbrook and James Harden.
... Speaking of Westbrook and Harden, they’re the first pair of teammates to average 30 points plus five assists for a month
... The recent Memphis win over the Lakers snapped L.A.’S 18-game road winning streak against Western Conference opponents. It was the longest run in a conference since 1970-71 ... Brooklyn’s Kyrie Irving underwent arthroscopic surgery on his shoulder and is out for the rest of the season ... Canadian R.J. Barrett, the third pick of the draft, has had two strong games in a row, including Monday’s Knicks victory that snapped Houston’s six-game winning streak.
A quick look at the top Canadians in the NBA this season:
Jamal Murray, Nuggets: Huge game against the Raptors for the Blue Arrow.
Shai Gilgeous-alexander, Thunder: Still rolling, despite wobble versus Bucks.
Andrew Wiggins, Warriors: Making most of new start.
R.J. Barrett, New York Knicks: Rookie delivers two strong games in a row.
Tristan Thompson, Cavs: No buyout, so will have to play out the string there.
Dillon Brooks, Grizzlies: Slumping again after great game versus Sacramento.
Kelly Olynyk, Heat: Contributing nicely to a streaking team.
Cory Joseph, Kings: Sacramento quietly in a playoff race.
Brandon Clarke, Grizzlies: Still on the sidelines with another injury.
Luguentz Dort, Thunder, OKC:
One of best two-way rookies in NBA.
Chris Boucher, Raptors: Has had some flashes, but undersized.
Nickeil Alexander-walker, Pelicans: Does JJ Redick injury open up playing time?
NUMBERS GAME
1
player in NBA history has ever scored at least 35 points in a game, along with 10 rebounds, five blocks, five made three-pointers and five rebounds. That would be Kristaps Porzingis, who just did it for the second time on Monday for Dallas.
89
points scored by Milwaukee in a loss to Miami on Monday, the fewest by the Bucks all season. The loss dropped the team’s odds of winning 70 games from 41 per cent to 27 per cent, according to ESPN.
38
wins in 39 games by Nba-leading Milwaukee against opponents with records below .500. Toronto is 32-4 in such games, the Los Angeles Lakers 32-3. Boston is next at 28-7. The Bucks are 14-8 against teams at or above .500.
7
blocks by Los Angeles Lakers centre Javale Mcgee in only 24 minutes on Sunday against New Orleans. Mcgee also blocked six shots in 21 minutes earlier this season. John Henson’s seven blocks in just 16 minutes in December was the best low-minute, rim-protecting performance of the year.
7
steals by Toronto’s OG Anunoby against Denver on Sunday. That’s tied for the most in the NBA this season with Dennis Smith Jr., Ricky Rubio, Elfrid Payton, Jonathan Isaac, Ben Simmons (twice) and Fred Vanvleet. Anunoby had 13 steals over two games.
Five surging squads
1
Indiana Pacers
Appeared to have hit a rut, but four straight wins, with great play at both ends of the floor, has changed all that.
2
Los Angeles Clippers
Blowing opponents off of the floor on offence with a whopping 125.1 points per 100 possessions over last four.
3
Milwaukee Bucks
Actually lost a game when offence went cold, but nobody can score on these guys.
4
Houston Rockets
Despite a surprising loss on Monday, Harden and Westbrook have figured it out and small ball is really working.
5
Miami Heat
Three wins in a row powered by a strong attack. Have rallied after a down stretch to the year.
With a record 22 Canadians seeing the court this NBA season, the contributions of a few have flown under the radar. That includes Luguentz Dort, the undrafted rookie from Montreal, who has become a key player for overachieving Oklahoma City.
Alongside Hamilton’s Shai Gilgeous-alexander and all-star Chris Paul and others, Dort has helped make the Thunder an excellent defensive team. He’s averaged 0.9 steals per game in his 25 appearances, 17 of them starts. Those 17 starts are a record for a player on a two-way contract (the deals that allow players to split time between the NBA G League and the NBA, up to a maximum of 45 NBA days). Dort is fast approaching his maximum days count (and in order to keep that service time down he doesn’t practise with the team, an extremely odd situation, to be sure). His contract must be converted to a standard deal before the G League season ends in order for him to be eligible for the playoffs.
“Right now I’m just staying patient,” Dort told ESPN’S Royce Young recently.
Dort, who hails from the same area of Montreal as Toronto’s Chris Boucher, said he soaks up as much information as he can from the veteran Paul, something Gilgeous-alexander does as well.
The 20-year-old played at Arizona State for a year and played high school ball in Canada at Athlete Institute in Mono, Ont.
NELSON CHENAULT/USA TODAY SPORTS