Six players hit career highs, Westbrook is still unreal as he averages 40 points a game, LeBron continues to break records, and the greatest power forward of all time, Tim Duncan, has his jersey retired.
The Quint takes a look at last week’s highlights from the NBA.
Nikola Jokic Falls Just Shy Of His First Career Triple-Double
Rookie seasons are incredibly exciting for budding stars like 6’10” Denver Nuggets forward Nikola Jokic. Why? Because every night could potentially be a career-high night!
Jokic showed the league signs of the potential he was drafted on when, against the Dallas Mavericks, he put up a ridiculously efficient 27 points while missing just four of his 17 field goal attempts (shots) and without a single free throw! He also cleaned up the boards 15 times and fell one assist short of his first career triple-double.
Joel “Trust The Process” Embiid Scores His Career High
Although not his first season in the league, the 2016-17 season is Philadelphia 76ers’ Joel Embiid’s rookie campaign, courtesy the season ending surgeries he underwent the last two seasons. And he is milking the platform to its fullest.
Everything Embiid has displayed thus far, indicates he is a mutiple All-Star player in the making. His dominating 33 points performance came in just 27 minutes of play against the Brooklyn Nets.
The Westbrook vs Thomas Battle
Let’s agree on one thing; Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook is going to make this list every week this season. In this week alone the guard had at least 40 points and 10 rebounds in THREE games back-to-back!
Boston Celtics’ Isaiah Thomas, not to be outdone this week, scored a career high 44 points (36 coming after the half) in a game against the Memphis Grizzlies. So when they went up against each other this week, there was no disappointment to be had.
Not only did they rake in the numbers, Westbrook with 45 points and Thomas with 34 points, but the game went down to the wire with the game tied at 104 with 2 minutes 49 seconds left in the clock.
Westbrook took over in those last three minutes sealing the game with a 3-point dagger with a little more than a minute to go, eventually closing out the game 117-112.
LeBron James Crosses Moses Malone for 8th On All-Time Career Points
LeBron James’ 2016-17 season should go down in history as one of the greatest ever. Not because of the spectacular numbers, but because the work that he has put into the first 13 seasons of his career have put him in a position to break multiple All-Time records this season.
This week again, LeBron crossed Moses Malone to settle in at 8th on the NBA’s All-Time Career points scored list. And at the pace he is going, he will most likely finish the season with around 28,500 points putting him ahead of Shaquille O’Neal for the 7th on that list.
Here is some added perspective, if LeBron continues to play at this (or even a marginally reduced pace) for six more seasons, the spot held by a certain Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is in play.
Bradley Beal Puts The Spell On The Clippers With 41 Points
Washington Wizards’ Bradley Beal is one of the biggest “What if..” of his generation is an understatement. One of purest scoring guards when healthy, Beal can put up big numbers in a hurry, making his teams hard to count out until the final buzzer.
Ironically, though, that gift to score is not complemented with the gift to lead, as he is at his best when playing second fiddle to one (sometimes two) All-Stars on his team. This game was different, as Beal 6 of 10 from the 3-pt line, en route to 41 points, just one shy of his career high. Such outbursts of offensive efficiency are crucial if Beal (and John Wall) is looking to make a deep run in the playoffs.
Zach LaVine Scores Career High 40 Points In Vain
LaVine’s two consecutive Dunk Contest trophies made skeptics wonder if he had any other discernable skill. The Minnesota Timberwolves player’s aerial assaults aside, they wondered if the young guard has more in his arsenal for opponents to take him seriously.
Well, LaVine has responded by averaging a career high 21.4 points per game, which includes this 40 point (his career high) outing in a narrow loss against the surging Sacramento Kings.
DeMarcus Cousins Gets Ejected, Comes Back To Score 55
It’s a slightly misleading title, but it isn’t entirely inaccurate. You see, with the game tied, Cousins makes a layup and gets fouled to put the Kings up 121-119 with 0:35 seconds left in the game, giving him 54 for the game.
He then inadvertently loses his mouthpiece while talking to the Portland bench, earning him his second technical and automatic ejection. The ejection was then rescinded by the referees, and cousins comes back (he was on his way to the locker room) to make the free throw giving him 55 and wrapping up the win over the Portland Trail Blazers.
Giannis Antetokounmpo Drops A Career High 39 Points
The Greek Freak just keeps getting better. The Washington Wizards learned this the hard way when they fell victim to the Milwaukee Bucks player’s 39-point (63% shooting from the field) onslaught.
This was Antetokounmpo’s seventh game with 20 points or more and the 22-year old isn't showing signs of slowing down anytime soon.
Marc Gasol Lights Up The Pistons For A Career High 38
Considering he has been in the league for nine seasons, you would think Memphis Grizzlies’ Marc Gasol has already hit his ceiling. He disagrees. The veteran has reinvented himself into more of an offensive force this season averaging a career high of 20.4 points, and has developed a dangerously effective 3-point shot.
Skeptics will say this because he doesn’t have to share the ball with Zach Randolph in the starting lineup. And while that may be partially true, due credit goes to the Spaniard who is having the most fun of his life, helping his team close out tight games this season.
Tim Duncan Jersey Retirement Ceremony
San Antonio Spurs’ Tim Duncan is the greatest power forward to ever play in the NBA. To have someone surpass him, you would need that player to:
- Play 20 seasons with the same team.
- Be a top 10 player in the NBA for 15 seasons.
- Win two championships (‘99, ‘03).
- Take a pay cut to load up on effective All-Star level players and then win two more (‘05, ‘07).
- Continue to play at a high level and win one more championship (‘14) at 37.
- Win two championships 15 years apart (‘99 - ‘14),
- Retire but not before ensuring that his torch is passed on to a budding superstar (Kawhi Leonard) he mentored for three seasons.
Safe to say, there will not be another Tim Duncan
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