Eastern Conference: Tobias Harris
- Team: Philadelphia 76ers
- Stats: 23.3 points per game/ 9.7 rebounds per game/ 4 assists per game
- Team record during this stretch: 3-0
Tobias Harris is now a ten year veteran in the NBA, and this week he brought home his third career Player of the Week selection, and first with Philadelphia. Harris is a player who was called overrated and overpaid a season ago when the 76ers were taking a lot of heat for playing some poor basketball. He has clearly flipped the script early this season, and especially this past week.
Harris scored 20-or-more points in all 3 of their games, and even more impressive, he did it while shooting well over 50% from both the field and 3-point land. His most notable performance during this stretch of games was the final game of the week against Charlotte, where Harris kept the person working the stat book very busy. He had 24 points (9-14 FG, 4-7 3FG), nine rebounds, six assists, 4 steals, and three blocks. No other 76er has had a statistically sound game like this since Sir Chalres Barkley in 1990.
The 76ers currently hold the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference, and a lot of that can be credited to Harris. However he and the rest of the team will need to continue these efforts for the entirety of the season if they want to be taken seriously in the east. For now Harris is avoiding the “overrated/overpaid” talks, so let’s see if he and the rest of the Sixers can keep this up.
Western Conference: Steph Curry
- Team: Golden State Warriors
- Stats: 39.7 points per game/ 6 rebounds per game/ 5 assists per game
- Team record during this stretch: 2-1
Curry is no stranger to this recognition, making this the 15th time being honored Player of the Week in his career. The Two-Time MVP had quite the week and most notably he put up a new career-high 62 points on Jan. 3rd in a victory against the Blazers. Curry joins Wilt Chamberlain, Rick Barry, Joe Fulks and teammate Klay Thompson as the only players in Warriors franchise history to score 60 or more points in a single game. It would have been highway robbery if the NBA hadn’t given Curry the recognition for this after the 62 point game alone, and on top of that performance he had a 31 point outing and a 26 point performance in a loss.
Steph helped the Warriors turn things around and start playing their brand of basketball opposed to what they did in week one. Draymond Green returning from injury, and newcomer Kelly Oubre starting to find his shot were also major boosts to the team’s overall success this past week. Additionally the Warriors’ rookie James Wiseman is living up to ALL the hype of being selected 2nd overall in this year’s draft.
The world’s best shooter will probably have to keep up similar scoring efforts all season long, if the Warriors want to be a legit playoff team in the Western Conference. That being said, I am sure you will find Curry’s name pinned to this award a few more times this season. Not to mention possibly flirting with an even better career-high in points. Could Curry be back in the MVP discussion with this Warriors team?
DONOVAN’S HONORABLE MENTIONS:
Eastern Conference: Jaylen Brown
- Team: Boston Celtics
- Stats: 29.5 points per game/ 4.2 rebounds per game/ 2.7 assists per game/ 2 steals per game
- Team record during this stretch: 3-1
Jaylen Brown has been making huge strides both defensively and offensively the last two seasons, and it has gone a bit unnoticed. Probably due to the combination of his game not being particularly flashy, and him playing alongside his Superstar teammate Jayson Tatum. Even though he got what some people call “snubbed” from this award, NBA fans cannot let that take away from what he has been doing on the hardwood.
Brown during this stretch set a new career-high in points against the Grizzlies on Wednesday Dec. 30th posting 42 on 21 shots. He also shot an eye-opening 66.6% from the field during these 4 games. It is extremely rare for any guard to shoot with such high efficiency, and Brown made it look easy while arguably being the Celtics best player during this stretch.
Now more than ever does Brown have a lot of pressure during Celtic’s games, and it appears he is up for the challenge in year 5. Former Celtic Kendrick Perkins even went as far to say that Brown is the best two-way player in the NBA right now.
Western Conference: Nikola Jokic
- Team: Denver Nuggets
- Stats: 20.3 points per game/ 10.8 rebounds per game/ 13.3 assists per game
- Team’s record during this stretch: 2-2
Nikola Jokic just continues to post the most ridiculous stat lines for a center every week. If one of the most influential basketball players of all time in Steph Curry hadn’t gone off for a new career-high this week, Jokic is probably a shoo-in for this award. Any big man that averages 13.3 assists over a four-game stretch should automatically be considered for this recognition, no questions asked.
The setback for Jokic is that the Denver Nuggets had a few tough losses during this stretch, and have not been playing great basketball all season long. Even though this season is still very young, it is alarming to see Denver play poorly after being one of the hottest teams in the NBA Bubble just a few months ago.
“The Joker” clearly is not the issue, and you can probably expect similar productivity from the Serbian big man for the remainder of the season. The rest of the team looks to follow in his footsteps and turn their surprising 2-4 overall record around.