Like every Monday, the NBA analyzes the files of the best players of the past week before deciding and distributing the rewards. In this first half of February, Luka Doncic and DeMar DeRozan are particularly unstoppable, they who have just won the bet for their contributions over the last seven days.
It may surprise you, but it’s a first for Luka Doncic this season. The Slovenian phenomenon, who had a little trouble getting his season started and who overall had an average first half of the campaign given his level, clearly gaining momentum now. And it’s not the Clippers who will say otherwise. Accustomed to torturing the Los Angeles team, Luka The Don planted… 96 points (51 + 45) in two games against the band at Tyronn Lue, including 28 in the first quarter of the first opposition alone. The Mavericks, however, won only one of these two games but still finished with a positive balance sheet for the whole week, they who hit the Pistons last Tuesday. A game in which Doncic also made a yard with 33 points, 7 rebounds and 11 assists. In the end, over the last seven days, Luka is 43 pawns on average, with 10.3 rebounds, 8.3 caviars, 1 block at 53.2% in shooting including 50% from the parking lot (18/36 !). Pretty honest don’t you think? Just for the record, all of his performances were done while Kristaps Porzingis was on the sidelines. We say that, we say nothing. In any case, the Latvian was sent to Washington during the trade deadline against Spencer Dinwiddie and Davis Bertans. Not sure that Dallas will win from a purely sporting point of view in the short term, but with a Doncic at this level, anything is possible. The Mavs are now fifth in the West with a 33-24 record.
In the Eastern Conference, it is therefore DeMar DeRozan who collects his third player of the week title this season. And there too, not much to complain about. DMDR is simply untouchable at the moment, chaining the boxes with his eyes closed like MJ in his glorious years: 38, 36, 35, 38, here is his total points over the four games of last week, he who had already exploded against Joel Embiid’s Sixers with 45 pawns scored on Sunday February 6. DeRozan evolves at a level almost unfair for the competition so easy it is right now. Check the percentages of the one who is considered the king of the midrange today: 59.8% success in shooting over the week (55/92) and 83% in throws, in other words that the guy is in automatic mode . Only the Suns, because it’s the Suns, managed to get away with the guy’s offensive talent, but Charlotte, Minnesota and Oklahoma City all fell to DeMar’s onslaught. DeRozan’s XXL performance (36.8 points, 5.5 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 1 steal) falls further at a time when Zach LaVine is struggling a bit with his knee and the Chicago infirmary remains busy (Alex Caruso, Lonzo Ball, Derrick Jones Jr., Javonte Green). Did you say MVP? DeRozan may be behind Embiid, Jokic and Giannis in the race but he has some arguments on his case, Chicago being second in the East at the time of these lines (36 wins, 21 losses).
Luka Doncic and DeMar DeRozan rewarded, we want to say that it is not stolen. Devin Booker, Chris Paul and Ja Morant were also among the nominees in the West, while DMDR surpassed the likes of Joel Embiid, Pascal Siakam and Jayson Tatum in the East.
Source text: NBA
NBA Players of the Week: Luka Doncic and DeMar DeRozan. pic.twitter.com/2JPBmMVXgo
– TrashTalk (@TrashTalk_fr) February 14, 2022
