Winners and Losers of the NBA Week

(Gerald Herbert/AP)

Winner #3: Luka Doncic

(USA Today Sports)

Luka has secured a winner spot this week basically just for being popular. Luka and Damian Lillard tied for the last guard All-Star Starter spot. In the case of a tie, the winner goes to the fan vote. Luka has more International appeal than maybe anyone in the league, so he won that one. People have been saying Dame got snubbed, but I don’t want to gloss over the season Luka is having. This was a close race for a reason. Even though the Mavericks started off slowly, Luka is still averaging a career high in points at 29.1 per game. He is also averaging 9.4 assists and 8.6 rebounds. He’s probably 5 minutes of playing time per game away from averaging a triple double in his 3rd season. He is shooting a career high 34% from 3 this year as well. Luca is number one in usage rate in the entire NBA and not the reason for Dallas’ slow start. Dame had a case as well, but this robbery talk needs to stop.

Loser #3: Houston Rockets/Sacramento Kings

(spacecityscoops.com)

The Houston Rockets and Sacramento Kings tied for my first loser of the week. Each team looked promising to start off their campaign. The Kings were 12-11 before dropping 5 straight and sliding down to 11th. Their losses include double digits Ls to Orlando and Memphis, neither of which are considered high level. Their roster has started to play back down to their mean and trades seemed to be coming before the deadline for SacTown. Houston has maybe had it even worse. Since losing their number one option Christian Wood to injury, they haven’t won a game. Houston is in the midst of a 7 game losing streak dating back to February 4th. The Rockets are 3-8 overall this year without Wood. Houston has dropped games to the Hornets, Pelicans, Knicks, and Wizards over this stretch. Those are bad losses people. Like bad. Houston doesn’t seem to be as desperate for a trade as Sacramento, they were just overachieving to start the year. They are now where they actually would probably like to be, at the bottom of the West.

Winner #2: Portland Trail Blazers

(Craig Mitchelldyer/AP)

The Portland Trail Blazers have steadily climbed up the Western Conference this week. Portland has won 6 in a row on the back of Damian Lillard. Dame is averaging 32.3 points per game over the 6 wins. That would lead the NBA in scoring. With many of their players out including CJ McCollum, Jusuf Nurkic, and Zach Collins, Portland has gotten contributions from many different guys. Enes Kanter has stepped up in the absence of his fellow bigmen. Gary Trent Jr. has turned into one of the league's deadliest shooters, hitting on 45% of his 3s this year. Even their 46th pick, rookie CJ Elleby, put up 15 points in a key win over the 76ers. Portland ended as the 8th seed last year due to injuries. They were always better than that, and they aren’t letting it happen again.

Loser #2: Jaylen Brown

(theathletic.com)

Jaylen Brown had a real case to start the All-Star game this season. He is having the best year of his career in multiple categories and has been the most consistent player for the Celtics this year. Jaylen is up 5 points in his scoring average from last season, putting up 25.6 PPG. He is also having a career year as a facilitator, dishing out 3.7 assists per game. Brown finished 2nd in media voting, meaning they had him as a starter with Bradley Beal. But Brown lost the player and fan voting to eventual starter Kyrie Irving. Jaylen is a lock to be a reserve for the East, but with the game in his hometown of Atlanta, it would’ve been nice to see him make it. He’s also the best defensive player out of all of them, but that’s just me old head ranting.

Winner #1: Brooklyn Nets

(cbssports.com)

What a week for the Nets!!! To start, they are winning!! Brooklyn has won 5 games in a row after hitting a rough patch last week. Without their best player, Kevin Durant, Brooklyn has been lead by Kyrie and Harden. Harden has turned into the point guard for this team. He is averaging a career high 11.7 assists per game. Harden has lead the NBA in assists twice with lower numbers. Kyrie has started to score at an incredibly efficient rate. Irving is putting up HIS career high in points this year with 27.7 a night. He is shooting 53% from the field and 42.7% from deep on 6 attempts. Another win for Brooklyn is getting 2 starters in the All-Star Game. Durant and Irving will be representing them among the starting 5, with Durant being a captain. Brooklyn picked apart the defending champion Lakers Thursday night and looked like the best team in the league. Without Durant. If this week showed us anything, the Nets are legit.

Loser #1: Cleveland Cavaliers

(Mark J. Terrill/AP)

The Cavs are losing on a couple different levels this week. First, they are literally losers. They have lost 9 games in a row and have completely fallen out of the Playoff picture in the East. Which is so wide open the Wizards are still a factor. Cleveland looked like a surprising team to start the year. Their young backcourt of Colin Sexton and Darius Garland looked like a promising duo for Cleveland. All-Star big man Andre Drummond looked like he was in the midst of a comeback season for the Cavs. Their last win came against the worst team in basketball, the Minnesota Timberwolves, on February 1st. They are 4-15 against teams over .500 this season. They are also losers because of how they have handled Drummond in the past few days. Cleveland has come to an agreement with Andre to not play until they can find a place to trade him. Drummond wanted to play, but Cleveland doesn’t want to hurt his trade value. Draymond Green summed this up pretty well in a rant he had on Monday about the mistreatment of players. I recommend you check it out. Cleveland is going down the hole and has lost all the excitement they gathered in the first month of the season. But at least they have Jarrett Allen’s afro.