Canadians Murray, Wiggins taking over games ...
Montreal’s Birch making his mark ... Picking all-star reserves ... LouWill’s unexpected leap ... Barea chirps at Wall
If Jamal Murray was ever under the radar, that isn’t the case anymore.
Murray, the 20-year-old Kitchener native who stayed in Ontario to finish high school before playing a year at Kentucky, is turning heads with his recent work with the Denver Nuggets.
Murray scored a career-high 38 points in Monday’s win over Portland, including a tying layup with 33.6 seconds remaining, followed by a free throw. He also handed out six assists and only turned the ball over once while shooting 14-for-19 from the field. The scoring bonanza came just a game after Murray scored 30 against Phoenix.
Opponents aren’t sure how to slow down Murray, who mixes a lethal jump shot with a strong feel for the game. Murray hasn’t been consistent this season (a baffling 18% on three-pointers in October, 29% in November and then 46 and 43% since) but when he is on, as he has been lately, he’s a load.
Nikola Jokic is Denver’s best player, but Murray has already grown into a crucial cog, doing things only Carmelo Anthony accomplished at their age in Denver.
"It’s great to see a young, 20-year-old guard, second year in the NBA, who’s not afraid of the moment,” head coach Brendan
Malone said after the game. Murray has shot 45% from three in Denver wins this year, 30% in losses.
While some might not have recognized Murray’s potential as he was making his way to the NBA, the opposite was true of fellow Canadian standout Andrew Wiggins. Wiggins has long been touted as a star in waiting, but inconsistency has plagued him as well.
When Wiggins wants it, though, he too can take over games.
He dominated his hometown Raptors last week, something that has become a regular occurrence when he faces them. He loves the spotlight in Los Angeles, as his fifth 30-point performance there turned in on Monday indicates. He also enjoys reminding the Cleveland Cavaliers what they are missing having traded him before he even played a game, as his 29.1 point scoring average against them proves.
Head coach Tom Thibodeau even made an all-star case for Wiggins, which seems premature.
“Sometimes players get measured statistically,” Thibodeau said. “When you look at guys who impact winning, the impact has been great. And that’s the most important stat there is.” Meanwhile, Montreal’s Khem
Birch is making the most of his opportunity to get some playing time with the Orlando Magic.
The 25-year-old big man went undrafted in 2014 and has bounced around from the NBA Development League (now the G-League), to Turkey and then Greece. He was one of the best defensive players in Europe, but left to give his NBA dream another try and it has paid off. A dismal Orlando team has benefitted from his hustle and defensive instincts. The twotime D-League all-star and two-time Mountain West Conference player of the year while at UNLV, has notched 10, four and seven rebounds in his past three appearances, along with seven blocked shots and 20 points. Orlando beat Minnesota and Boston and lost by a point to Cleveland in that span.
ALL-STAR BANTER
The NBA all-star starters were announced last week and the only one we can quibble with is DeMarcus Cousins over LaMarcus Aldridge. Cousins has had some spectacular games, but San Antonio should not be 30-18 (all stats prior to Tuesday’s games) without Kawhi Leonard for 90% of the season. Aldridge has been quietly great and deserves the nod more than 25-21 New Orleans getting a pair of frontcourt spots
(Anthony Davis is the team’s best player and deserves his selection). You could make a case for Al Horford over Joel Embiid in the East. He has spearheaded the league’s best defensive group and been solid at the other end and plays nearly every night, unlike Embiid. But Embiid is a generational force who shifts the floor when he is out there. As for the reserves, this would be our list (in order): Jimmy Butler, Aldridge, Russell Westbrook, Draymond Green, Damian Lillard, Karl-Anthony Towns, Paul George for the West. Horford, Victor Oladipo, Bradley
Beal, Andre Drummond, Kyle Lowry, Kemba Walker, Kristaps
Porzingis (Goran Dragic deserves recognition, but Walker is flatout better and has far less help).
SWEET LOU
No way Lou Williams gets left out if he was still playing in the East. Williams has had a ridiculous season, helping to keep the injury-ravaged Clippers in the playoff race. He has averaged 29.2 points a game in January with a .466/.400/.938 shooting line. He’s also handing out 6.0 assists per game (miscast as a point guard coming out of high school, Williams has doubled his assist percentage from his sixth man of the year award-winning season with the Raptors and it’s up about 33% from last season).
Williams also became the first player with 30 points and 10 steals in a game since Michael
Jordan did it back in 1988. He has also been the eighth most efficient high-volume player (1.06 points per possession), per Synergy Sports, just ahead of James and DeRozan and a tick below
AROUND THE RIM
Lillard met with Trail Blazers owner Paul Allen to talk about the direction the franchise will be going, according to ESPN. Lillard apparently did not request a trade, but wanted to know how Allen intends to move forward in order to make the team a contender ... Jordan says he will only trade top player Walker for an all-star ... After John Wall called him “a little midget,” Dallas point guard J.J. Barea fired back with an amusing response. “Now I have somebody in the NBA that I don’t like,” Barea said. “I don’t think his teammates like him either, so it’s nothing new for him.” That Washington situation is interesting as there appears to be some truth to Barea’s statement (Wall admitted that a recent team meeting didn’t go well) ... Reports have Aaron Gordon (who deserved to win in Toronto), Dennis Smith Jr., Oladipo and Larry Nance Jr. competing in the slam dunk contest in Los Angeles ... It has now been 12 years since Kobe Bryant lit up the Raptors for 81 points.