NBA weekly awards: Week 19
Team on the Up
The Denver Nuggets are finally starting to rev up their engines as we head towards the business end of the season. Owing to the best home record in the league (28-3) and their eight-match win streak, George Karl’s men are edging towards dislodging the Memphis Grizzlies for the vital fourth seed, which would give them home court advantage in at least one play-off series.
Kenneth Faried 35, Corey Brewer #13 , Ty Lawson #3 and Andre Iguodala #9 of the Denver Nuggets.
Team on the fall
A month ago, the final play-off spot in the Western conference was Utah’s to lose, and somehow, the Jazz have managed to pull the bunny out of the hat. The Jazz have now seemingly lost their way with four losses and only a single win in their last eight, which is seemingly snuffing out their chances of getting into the post season.
Best Team of the Week
With a 18-game winning streak, the Miami Heat became the first team in the NBA to book a place in the post season with a further 22 games still left to play in the regular season.
It was the first time since a Cleveland Cavaliers team lead by LeBron James in 2009, that a team clinched a play-off berth so early in the season.
Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra, gives instructions to Mario Chalmers,(15), Chris Bosh,(1), Dwyane Wade,(3), and LeBron James,(6).
Worst Team of the Week
After all the praise that Doug Collins received last year, he is getting called at for the atrocious performances the Philadelphia 76ers have been dishing of late. They are a team that was supposed to be based around the prowess of Andrew Bynum, but with the powerful centre no where near taking the court for the first time in a Sixers uniform, the wheels have fallen off.
Five losses on the trot and 12 losses in the last 13 played have seen the franchise come unhinged as they dwell 9.5 games below Milwaukee for the final play-off spot in the East.
Worst Player of the Week
This was supposed to be the year that Evan Turner finally showed his potential after a promising sophomore year in the NBA, but the off-guard has failed to deliver on the promises, with the only thing that has improved this year is his shooting from beyond the arc.
Turner shot a dismal 29% form the field this week while averaging 9 points a game as the Sixers lost all four of their games this week.
Best Player of the Week
Kobe Bryant #24 has been leading the Lakers fight back.
The Lakers are back in the playoff spots, and it has taken another super-human effort from the “Black Mamba” Kobe Bryant himself to pull them out of the hole that they had dug themselves into earlier this season.
He’s averaging 33.0 points on 51.3 percent shooting to lead the Lakers’ charge into play-off contention.