NBA Week 4 Recap

We are now officially a full month into the new NBA season, and it has been a great month. This first month of the season showed me how much I really missed the NBA, but I digress. This is about week 4, and I can define week 4 in one word... Historic.

They did it, despite all the doubts, despite all the skeptics, they made history.
The Golden State Warriors
The Golden state Warriors are 16-0. They have the best start in NBA history, winning their 16th straight game in a blowout win over the Lakers. The game wasn't close at all. I honestly thought the Lakers would end the streak, that the old Kobe would make an appearance, but boy was I wrong. The man behind it all, Stephen Curry, finished with 24 and 9 assists. Draymond added 18. The game to reach the milestone was easy, but the rest of the week was not. They started the week against the Clippers, the team I thought would end the streak, and it looked like they would. Clippers were up 23 at one point, but like always the Warriors started charging. Behind an 8/9 from 3 in the 4th quarter and 73% shooting, the Warriors mounted the comeback. Oh, and Steph finished with 40 and 11, hitting all the important big shots. 13-0. Next they played Chicago, another tough one, but even with Jimmy Butler going for 28, 9, and 7, the Bulls didn't have enough. 14-0. Next the Warriors played the Nuggets, who they handled fairly easily. Curry had his lowest scoring game of the season with only 19, and this happened to him.

Get 'em Rook!

Aside from that little embarrassing moment, 15-0. Then the rest is history.

So who else made history this week? A pair of former teammates

Dwyane Wade

Wade entered exclusive territory this week. Vs the 76ers, Wade scored his 19,000 point, allowing him to enter into the top 50 on the all time scoring list. He finished that game with 27 in a comeback win over them.

LeBron James

Why does it seem that every week LeBron has some new career achievement? Well this week, LeBron entered the top 25 in assists. Why is that so significant? LeBron is only the second player in NBA History to do this. Who's the other? The Big O, Oscar Robertson.

Since we're already talking about James, let's get straight to his team

The Cleveland Cavaliers

The Cavs entered this week on a two game losing ship, and LeBron was not happy. Let's just say I think they got the message. They exacted their revenge against the same team that ended their win streak. In a blowout win vs the Bucks, LeBron led the way with 27. Next game they destroyed the Hawks in a game the final score makes seem closer than it actually was. LeBron finished just shy of a Triple double, with 19 points, 11 rebounds, and 8 assists. Lastly, they closed the week out with their 3rd straight win vs the Magic. Lebron finished only 15 points, but he did add a season high in assists with 13. Kevin Love really took off this game with 34 and 8, including a 27 point first half. JR Smith pitched in 26 too. Look out for LeBron to make history yet again this week, he is only 6 points away from passing Reggie Miller on the scoring list. I'm pretty sure he'll reach that.

Porzingus

"Godzingus gon' Godzingus" Joe Budden couldn't have said it any better. Kristaps Porzingus has officially arrived. He has been making noise all season, but he woke up everybody when he erupted for 29 and 11 last week. Well it was no fluke, he kept it coming this week. He led the Knicks to a win over James Harden and the Rockets with probably his best game yet. He totaled 24 points, 14 rebounds, and 7 blocks. He followed that up with another solid performance with 20 points and 14 rebounds in a loss to the Heat. He's starting to look like New York's best player, yes over 'Melo. And you heard it here first, Porzingus will win Rookie Of The Year.  I know I predicted Mudiay, and I'm jumping ship about 15 games in, but this man is just too good too soon.

Paul George

I wish the NBA would introduce a Comeback player of the year award, because if they did, they would be forced to name it after this man. Coming off a fully broken leg, PG13 hasn't missed a beat, in fact he looks better. He started off the week by giving the 76ers 34 points and followed that up with a 20 piece to the bucks. He decided to save his best for last this week because last night he erupted for 40 including 7-8 from 3 to beat the wizards. Paul George now has 10 straight 20 plus point games for the first time in his career. He's averaging 25.9 points per game to go along with 8 rebounds and 4 assists. To top it all of the Pacers are winning, currently 4th in the East and they have won 9 of their last 11 games. Superstar.

Russell Westbrook

I can't have a week recap without talking about Westbrook. Let's just say, Westbrook was Westbrook once again. Westbrook started the week off by going for 43, his 3rd 40 point game of the young season. He willed his team to victory with a performance that included 15 made free throws, 9 rebounds, and 8 assists. He would then fill up the stat sheet two nights later in a loss to the Knicks with 34, 7, and 7, but the losing would stop there. He played the Mavs, and gave them 31 and 11 assists. Westbrook took that game over in crunch time, hitting 2 mid range pullup jumpers with under a minute left to seal the game. The next game all was well in OKC because a certain someone arrived.

Kevin Durant

Durant finally returned from his 6 game absence, and he did not miss a beat. He came back and dropped 27 on 10/13 shooting. This man is unreal.

Los Angeles Clippers

Whats going on with the Clippers? These Clips have looked horrible this season. Is it injuries? Is it Coaching? Or are they just not good enough? I'm starting to think it's the latter. They were on a 3 game skid, until they won last night bringing them back to .500. One of those loses include the debacle vs the Warriors. They were up 23, and still lost vs the Defending champs. When it's crunch-time, the Clippers cannot develop offense. They are very stagnant in the 4th quarter. Blake can't create his own shot, and it seems like Chris Paul loses his. They need to fix this as soon as possible or they'll be looking at a very early playoff exit.

San Antonio Spurs

The Spurs are probably the best team in the NBA that no one is talking about, but is that really surprising? They are currently 2nd in the Western conference with an 11-3 record. They have an upcoming superstar in Kawhi Leonard that leads them in scoring, while almost single handedly locking down the opposition's best player. LaMarcus Aldridge is starting to fit in the system making them even scarier. And to top it all off, Tony Parker has got out of his slump and is starting to look like the Tony Parker we know. I think people need to start realizing that these Spurs are no joke this season.

Well that's it for week 4! Y'all know the spot by now, WhyToby.blogspot.com

follow me on twitter to see my live NBA Tweets. Link in blog! Be back next week.

Week 1 Recap

What a time.... To be alive . The first week of the NBA was beautiful, and I mean great. Could we have expected any better ? The superstars came to play . Particular score. Multiple 40 point games in the FIRST week. And it got so crazy, we had two 40+ performances in the same game! But it wasn't all good. There have been a few disappointments from some players and teams already, which is not a good sign, but we'll be getting into all of that.

So what's probably the biggest headline of week one? Does it even need to be debated? Pretty Easy.

STEPHEN CURRY

This man has been absolutely insane to start the season. Through the first 4 games this season. Stephen Curry is averaging 37 points, 6 assists , and 5 rebounds a game. Oh yeah, nothing to serious, but has a PER ( Player Efficiency Rating) of 50.25. He has had 30 in 3 of the 4 games, including a 53 point outburst. He has had 3 20 point Quarters too. The rest of the NBA has a grand total of one. He has a total of 148 points in 4 games, the most since Michael Jordan. 

Steph Curry is NO Fluke. 

Oh Yeah, the Warriors are no Fluke either. They are currently undefeated, and have won all their games by at least 14, including a 50 point drumming of Memphis. 

Well what's been the second biggest story of this season? His name shouldn't be too surprising either.

RUSSELL WESTBROOK

Westbrook is literally destroying who so ever dares to guard him. Currently averaging almost a Triple Double with 30, 9, and 7. Westbrook has been a nightmare for opposing teams this season. And San Antonio had to learn that the hard way. The very first game of the season, Westbrook torched Tony Parker and San Antonio to the tune of 33 and 10, but wait he wasn't done there. The next night he dropped 48, 11, and 8 on Orlando in a double OT victory, not to mention he pretty much hit a half court Jumper to send it to Overtime. 

So What about Kevin Durant??

If y'all had any doubts about him, he's just fine. He's averaging 29 points per game, including a 41 point effort vs Orlando also. I think that foot is just fine.

Another Interesting storyline of week one is this year's Rookie Class.

This year's class is good... REALLY Good. 

The Number 1 overall pick, 

Karl Anthony Towns is averaging 17, 10 with almost 3 blocks a game. His star performance came against Denver when he erupted for 28 PPG, 14 rebounds, and 4 blocks .

Jahlil Okafor, the 3rd Overall pick, erupted for 26 and 7 his DEBUT game in the NBA. He's currently averaging about 20 and 6.

Remember the bust? Or the supposed bust, Kristaps Porzingus... Well he's pretty good. First NBA game he goes for 15, and his latest game he went for 13 points, 14 rebounds, 2 blocks and 3 steals. Stop being disrespectful, the boy can play. 

And my pick for ROY, Emmanuel Mudiay? He's holding it down too. Opening game vs the The Rockets he went for 17 and 9. 

Let's get into some of the disappointments before the surprises of this season...

Kobe Bryant 

I won't even lie... He is awful, God awful. He started the season with an alright game with 24 in a loss to the Wolves. But since then he's been shooting his team outta games, air balling wide open shots, and just can't flat out score. Is this officially it for Kobe? 

Anthony Davis

He was suppose to be the MVP this season... He was suppose to make the leap and become the best player in the game this year... Well no. The Pelicans are 0-4 currently and he's partly the reason. Even though he's averaging 20-10, it's not the dominant Type. Davis will need to assert his dominance and be more efficient if he hopes to make the playoffs this season.

The Houston Rockets

The Houston Rockets had the worst start through 3 games in... NBA History. They lost their first 3 games by 20 points or more. I don't know what's going on with them... James Harden is played awful too Maybe the Based God's curse is real. They were able to pull out a good win vs OKC. James Harden went off for 37. So maybe things are starting to change, we'll see.

Enough of the disappointments... Now for the surprises.

Andre Drummond

One of the biggest surprises of the first week of the Season has been the play of Andre Drummond. If someone told you they saw this coming, they are lying. Andre Drummond has become Dennis Rodman reincarnated so far. Check these stat-lines.

18 points and 19 rebounds vs Atlanta

18 Points and 10 rebounds vs Utah

20 points and 20 rebounds vs Chicago

25 points and 29 rebounds vs Indiana

What is going on?? He's lead the Pistons to a 3-1 start, and he took home Eastern conference player of the week honors.If he keeps this up, he might just take the title of the best big in basketball.

Giannis Antetokounmpo 

THE GREEK FREAK HAS ARRIVED. He was suspended the first game of the season, but since he came back, he has wreaked havoc . In his 3 games this week, Giannis has had at least 20 points and 8 rebounds. This kind of production wasn't expected for years down the line, he's showing it in year 3.

Week 1 of the new NBA season just showed me how much I missed it, and how glad I am that it's finally back! Can't wait to see how the rest of this season turns out.