THIS WEEK IN THE NBA
TOP BUCKS PLAYER
Giannis Antetokounmpo capped another stellar week with the gamewinning layup against the New York Knicks on Friday night. Over four games, Antetokounmpo averaged 26.0 points, 13.3 rebounds and 5.5 assists, all tops on the team in that stretch.
BUCKS LOOK AHEAD
Milwaukee will spend this whole week on the road, playing four games in seven days. The Bucks start the trip with a matinee game against the Brooklyn Nets and get to stay in New York City to prepare for Tuesday's rematch against the Knicks. Following that game, the Bucks will jet down to Miami where they'll have two days off — including Thursday, the trade deadline — before playing their third and final game against the Heat on Friday. Milwaukee will finish its road swing on Saturday with a game against the Orlando Magic, which as of Saturday was tied for the fewest wins in the NBA with 15.
TOP NBA PLAYER
James Harden had the best single game this week, pulling off a feat no one else has done in NBA history by recording a triple-double while scoring 60 points. But when it comes to the best week, what Paul George did over a grueling stretch of five games in seven days is quite impressive. George shot 53.5% from the field, including 46.3% from three-point range to average 28.6 points. His top performance came on Thursday in Denver when he went 19 of 26 from the field (73.1%) and reached 43 points on a game-tying three-pointer before Nuggets guard Gary Harris nailed a game-winning buzzer-beater at the other end.
TOP NBA TEAM
The Washington Wizards learned last week that all-star guard John Wall would miss six to eight weeks after having surgery on his left knee. Facing a difficult schedule, the outside expectation was the Wizards would struggle without one of their leaders. Instead, Washington has rattled off three straight victories, including wins over the Thunder and Toronto Raptors. It's been a total team effort with Wall out, with five or more players scoring in double figures in each of the past three games while collecting an average of 32.3 assists in those contests — almost 10 more assists than their season average of 23.2 prior to Wall's injury.
NBA RANKINGS
Top 10: 1. Golden State Warriors, 2. Houston Rockets, 3. Boston Celtics, 4. Toronto Raptors, 5. San Antonio Spurs, 6. Minnesota Timberwolves, 7. Washington Wizards, 8. Oklahoma City Thunder, 9. Cleveland Cavaliers,
10. Portland Trail Blazers.
Middle 10: 11. Miami Heat, 12. New Orleans Pelicans, 13. Milwaukee Bucks, 14. Denver Nuggets, 15. Indiana Pacers, 16. Philadelphia 76ers, 17. Los Angeles Clippers, 18. Utah Jazz,
19. Detroit Pistons, 20. Charlotte Hornets.
Bottom 10: 21. New York Knicks, 22. Los Angeles Lakers, 23. Memphis Grizzlies, 24. Brooklyn Nets, 25. Phoenix Suns, 26. Sacramento Kings, 27. Chicago Bulls, 28. Atlanta Hawks, 29. Orlando Magic, 30. Dallas Mavericks.
ONE MAN'S OPINION
When it came time for NBA Commissioner Adam Silver to replace injured Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love on the all-star team, it was unsurprising that he made a move aimed at appeasement by adding Miami Heat guard Goran Dragic to the team.
The Heat has been one of the East's best teams this season and was the only team in the top nine in the standings without an all-star. Dragic has certainly played well, averaging 16.9 points, 4.7 assists and 4.0 steals per game.
Now each playoff team has a representative and the Heat won't squawk about being snubbed. Nice and tidy. But someone who did get snubbed in that decision — and probably won't make too much noise about it — is Bucks wing Khris Middleton. He's experiencing his best season to date, averaging 20.2 points, 5.3 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 1.3 steals per game while logging 37.1 minutes per contest. Even standardized to per-36 minute or per-100 possession figures, Middleton would probably come out ahead of Dragic more often than not in a blind test.