Close follow-up continues at the Eastern Conference summit. There’s only a 2.5-win gap between the leading Miami Heat and the 6th-placed Philadelphia Sixers. Almost all of them had/are experiencing staffing problems due to injury or some other reason. Miami Heat, which passed the injury period of key players such as Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler with little loss, took over the top with the loss of many games by their rivals, Brooklyn Nets and Chicago Bulls, who had similar problems. The Heat are half a win ahead of their two rivals, but they have a big advantage. While Chicago Bulls are struggling without Lonzo Ball for 4-6 weeks, Brooklyn Nets have to play 20 games without Kevin Durant. Kyrie Irving, who plays in away games in Nets, gives what is expected in terms of score. James Harden is ineffective in directing the attack. Considering that Irving will not be able to play in the games that Nets will play on the field, Harden needs to both support the score and provide more assists to his teammates. Miami Hat, on the other hand, is much easier both with its full squad and its remaining fixtures compared to its rivals. This advantage paved the way for Eric Spoelstra’s students to finish the regular season as leaders. The reigning champion Milwaukee Bucks are the team I expect to push the Heat the hardest in the remaining games. Their fixture is more difficult and there is no player to help Giannis Antetokounmpo under the rim other than Bobby Potris. The Bucks are missing Brook Lopez. Coach Mike Bundeholzer made some attempts but to no avail. Antetokounmpo plays great games both defensively and offensively, despite playing almost alone at numbers 4 and 5.
Keep Stanley Johnson
The Los Angeles Lakers’ season continues as it began. Although there were promising games in between, although Lebron James showed an MVP performance at the age of 37 as if he rebelled against the rules of nature, a winning structure was not formed. Coach Frank Vogel tried to limit Westbrook’s time to 25 minutes for two games and not play in the final period, but backed off to Russ’ grunts. Coach Vogel will try again with Anthony Davis’ return, to limit Russ’s minutes, which I think is the right move. Adding a Monk or Carmelo next to Austin Reaves, Stanley Johnson, Lebron James, Talen Horton Tucker instead of playing the end of the match with three defensive handicapped players like Malik Monk, Carmelo Anthony and Russ means at least an energetic and flowing attack that can play both ways.
I want to put a separate parenthesis on Stanley Johnson, who played 13 games for 20.6 minutes for the Lakers. Signing his third 10-day contract, Johnson has become an ideal rotation player for the Lakers. The 1.98-meter basketball player became a player who could not find his position in his NBA career, which he started with the Detroit Pistons. He also failed to improve his shooting. However, the energy he puts on the field, his defensive discipline and the ability to be loaded into the basket are the qualities the Lakers need. GM Rob Pelinka should extend Stanley Johnson’s contract until the end of the season, who has 6.6 points, 2.7 rebounds and a lot of energy.
New job for Furkan
Furkan Korkmaz, one of our 4 representatives in the NBA, is having a good season in general but lacks stability. We watched the Bulls games with 25 points, the Rockets with 24 points and the Pelicans games with 22 points. We also witnessed the performances of the Brooklyn Nets, where he stayed on the field for 20 minutes and couldn’t score, and scored 0 in 17 minutes. Even though our basketball player played games with ups and downs, his coach is one of the trusted names of Doc Rivers. The 24-year-old player stays in the game for 24 minutes per game. During this period, which was the peak of his career, he averaged 9.1 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.4 assists. Furkan caught the average of the previous years, but the percentage of three points fell considerably. Furkan, who scored three points with 38% last year, remained at 29.5% this year. His assist average reached the highest point of his career with 3.1. The decrease in Furkan’s three-point percentage and the increase in his assist average is due to the fact that Koç Rivers changed the role of our player. Our 1.98 player plays like a quarterback in the last games. While Tyrese Maxey produced mostly one-to-one scores, Furkan Korkmaz was given the offensive direction. Joel Embiid and Tobias Harris assist our player as passing stations. Furkan gets tired because he plays the ball more than he is used to to start the attack and this causes his shooting percentage to drop. As Furkan gets used to his new role, his shooting percentage will increase. We know that our basketball player has features that can do more than a point shooter. For this reason, adding being able to play to his repertoire will increase his effectiveness in the NBA.
