NBA Players of the Week: Week 13 (March. 15th-21st)

By: Donovan Holden

The Players of the Week awards took a two week hiatus because of the association’s All-Star break, but now we are back! One of these players is the back-to-back league MVP, and the other has been in the MVP conversation all season long. At this point both of these guys are collecting their Players of the Week awards like it’s no big deal.

Eastern Conference: Giannis Antetokounmpo

• Team: Milwaukee Bucks

• Stats: 29.7 PTS, 12.7 REB, 10 AST

• Team record during this stretch: 3-0

Giannis just continues to add to his hardware however he can racking up his 3rd Player of the Week on the season, but the way he is playing you could assume he’s after the best hardware, a championship. In week 13 Giannis averaged a triple-double, his team went 3-0, and now the Bucks sit at 3rd in the Eastern Conference.

The “Greek Freak” scored 30 plus points in his first two games in week 13 and in the third game he tied his career high in assists with 15. Giannis has led the Bucks to six straight straight wins and 11 of their last 12.

Last week Milwaukee brought in PJ Tucker from Houston to pair alongside Giannis as the playoffs approach. Tucker can defend, knock down the corner 3, and has a good understanding for the game at 35 years old. This addition should make Giannis’ stats increase even more, and should help the Bucks elevate their play on both sides of the ball.

The 2x MVP is 4th in the NBA in scoring, and 5th in rebounding, but his game doesn’t stop there because he plays defense too. Giannis also logs 1.3 blocks, and 1.2 steals a game making him a legitimate candidate for Defensive Player of the Year.

Western Conference: Nikola Jokic

• Team: Denver Nuggets

• Stats: 26.8 PTS, 12.3 REB, 8.5 AST

• Team record during this stretch: 3-1

Much like Giannis, Jokic has also been honored with Player of the Week three times this season. This past week the “Joker” nearly averaged a 26 point triple-double and led the Nuggets to three wins in four nights. He now joins Carmelo Anthony as the second Nuggets player to win the award three times in one season. He is also second just to Carmelo in total conference Player of the Week awards with 9.

The Serbian cheat code didn’t just rack up points, rebounds and assists, but he also shot 58% from 3-point land over four games. He is a 7-footer who can be a one man fast break, passes like no other big in the entire NBA, and has stretches where he shoots over 50 percent from deep. Any roster in todays league would offer up 3-4 first round picks for a talent like Nikola Jokic, he needs to stay in the leagues MVP conversation from now until the day the trophy is handed out.

The Nuggets are 5th in the Western Conference right now, but they know they can play with just about any team in the Playoffs and Jokic has no plans of slowing down.

Donovan’s Honorable Mentions:

Eastern Conference: Jimmy Butler

• Team: Miami Heat

• Stats: 22.5 PTS, 10.5 REB, 4.2 AST

• Jimmy Butler has been playing on another level lately, and has taken the Heat from out of the playoff race to the 4th seed in the Eastern Conference.

Western Conference: Zion Williamson

• Team: New Orleans Pelicans

• Stats: 28 PTS, 7 REB, 4 AST

• Zion has scored 20+ points in 20 consecutive games

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