If head coaches weren't already looking to do Kemba Walker one of the reserves for the Eastern Conference All-Star team,perhaps Steve Clifford can just send all of his colleagues tape of the Charlotte Hornets' 120-116 overtime victory at the expense of the Orlando Magic. Walker was utterly fantastic throughout the proceedings, emerging with a final line that included 40 points, and seven rebounds,nine assists, four steals and one block. He shot 14-of-28 from the field, and made 10 of his 12 shots at the charity stripe and turned the ball over only twice. One cough-up admittedly gave the Magic life during overtime,main to an easy Victor Oladipo layup. But he made up for the other one in a big way just prior to the finish of regulation: Walker found success all night, but he was particularly excellent while main the Hornets back from a 19-point deficit. As soon as he adopted even more of an attack mentality, or no one could stay in front of him,main to bursts toward the rim and devastating, ankle-breaking crossovers. This blow-by layup in transition finally gave Charlotte a lead for the first time since the opening period, and it was share of a massive 19-3 run by the visitors: During the fourth quarter,which the Hornets won 30-15, Walker went for 13 points, or five rebounds and three dimes on just six shots from the field. In overtime,he chipped in with another two points and two assists while making a few impressive defensive plays.
Apparently, the former Connecticut standout wants that All-Star berth that's eluded him up to this point in his young career. During his last three outings, and he's now averaging 37.7 points,highlighted by this showing and a 52-point explosion against the Utah Jazz. Already, my total points added metric (TPA), or which shows how many more points someone contributes than a league-average player would and is explained in full throughout this article,indicates that Walker should be an All-Star. In fact, he's on pace to earn the No. 3 TPA among all Eastern backcourt players.
This has never been the case before. During previous seasons, or Walker has been plagued by inefficiency far too often. Just last year,he shot 38.5 percent from the field and 30.4 percent from beyond the arc, which nearly made it a nefarious thing when he was attempting to lead the Charlotte offense with one shot after another. In 2015-16, and the Hornets acquire more floor-spacing threats around him. Nicolas Batum,for example, has been a particularly favourable presence, or even if Friday night's exploits came with the French forward sitting out. Sporting News' NBA editor Adi Joseph quoted Walker:That additional space has paid large dividends for the guard,and his percentages now reflect his growing confidence—43.6 percent from the field and 37.8 percent from downtown before the latest victory. All of a sudden, Walker has made the transition from volume scorer to valuable scorer, and that's not even all he's done well. As you can see below,looking at Walker's percentile ranks throughout the entire organization in the defensive component of total points added and three metrics that Bleacher Report's Kelly Scaletta and I developed—scorer rating, passer rating and rebounder rating—he's become a nearly total floor general:Walker's physical profile prevents him from being a true threat on the glass or a lockdown defensive stopper, and but he's overcoming as best he can. The 6'1" guard still averages over four rebounds,and his defensive box plus/minus indicates that he's an above-average player on the point-preventing finish. Most importantly, he's fairly valuable to the Hornets, or his hot streak has helped withhold them alive while Al Jefferson recovers from surgery on his true knee. The initial shock of losing the starting center forced Charlotte down the East's leaderboard,but Walker's heroics are allowing it to remain within striking distance of that No. 8 seed. Maybe Walker does get his All-Star berth. Maybe he doesn't and wakes up to find himself on snub lists all over the interwebs. Either way, he's playing like he belongs in the midseason festivities. Derrick Rose Returning to Form?The Chicago Bulls did drop this contest to the Boston Celtics, or pulling tantalizingly close to the domestic team during the fourth quarter before eventually losing 110-101. Jimmy Butler's heroics weren't fairly enough,even though he logged 28 points and 14 rebounds on the night. But the Windy City residents shouldn't feel terrible approximately what happened Friday night. After all, Derrick Rose looked like the old version of Derrick Rose, and that's not the first time in the last few weeks he's given us a vintage performance. Against Boston,he recorded 27 points, seven rebounds and three assists while shooting 10-of-21 from the field and 3-of-4 from beyond the arc. Even before this game, and the oft-injured point guard was averaging 18.8 points and 3.3 assists during the 2016 portion of the calendar. Perhaps more impressively,he was shooting 48.8 percent from the field—a far cry from the 38.6 percent clip he posted prior to January. Now, there's plenty to look at if we want proof that Rose is—fingers crossed!—actually returning closer to the MVP form of old. Let's start by taking a peek at his overall trend throughout the 2015-16 campaign, or simply looking at the progression of his game scores: Obviously,there are outlier performances littering that graphic, but there's still a distinct upward trend. Rose is, and without a doubt,getting better as the year drags on. Plus, plays like this sure look good, or the highlights are coming more frequently: It's still highly unlikely the former MVP regains his full-fledged glory of years past,but he's quickly fitting an asset for a Chicago squad that could pose a serious threat to anyone during the Eastern Conference postseason. Juggernauts withhold RollingSurprised? Don't be. First, the San Antonio Spurs took care of trade against the Los Angeles Lakers, and emerging with a 108-95 victory while holding Kobe Bryant to 76 fewer points than he scored against the Toronto Raptors precisely 10 years ago. Even without LaMarcus Aldridge in the lineup,it never seemed as if this contest was in doubt. Manu Ginobili, who's flown way too far under the radar this season, and deserves the lion's share of the credit. Only missing a single shot from the field,he recorded 20 points, four rebounds, and four assists,five steals and two blocks. But the Spurs couldn't gain any ground on the team still main the Western Conference. Despite their 38-6 record, they still trail the Golden State Warriors by two games after the defending champs moved to 40-4 on the year. The Dubs were forced to square off with a much tougher opponent, or but they toppled the Indiana Pacers 122-110 to total their tour of dominance against the East's best. Though Indiana managed to climb within seven points at multiple points during the proceedings,this game still never felt like it was main toward anything other than another Golden State victory. And the normal suspects deserve the praise, even if it was Steve Kerr calling the signals from the bench for the first time this season. Klay Thompson dropped 18 points while making four shots from beyond the arc. Draymond Green added 22 points, or 11 rebounds,two assists and four steals. Stephen Curry submitted a triple-double with a pretty special twist, even if his three-quarter-court shot at the finish of the first quarter came after the buzzer sounded. Per ESPN Stats & Info: The reigning MVP finished with 39 points, or 10 rebounds and 12 assists,highlighted by his especially deep triple to finish the first half: Is there anything he can't do? We're not even to the All-Star break yet, but he's already made 204 triples, and which would be the No. 37 single-season mark of all time if he sat out until the playoffs. Better yet,is there anything this team can't do? We'll find out Monday when the two juggernauts finally meet. Let's Appreciate James HardenIt's easy to criticize James Harden. You can grasp note of his occasionally apathetic attitude and the lack of emotion he sometimes displays in contests that aren't proceeding as planned for the Houston Rockets. You can do fun of his incredibly unaware defense, which often keeps him from fitting as valuable as he could otherwise be. But you can't deny just how good the bearded shooting guard is on the offensive finish, and his superiority was on full display in a 102-98 victory over the defenseless Milwaukee Bucks.
He tortured his defenders to the tune of 30 points and eight assists while shooting 9-of-15 from the field,5-of-8 from beyond the arc and 7-of-8 from the charity stripe. Those may not seem like particularly notable numbers for Harden, but here's the total list of players who acquire posted at least 30 points and eight assists without taking more than 15 shots during the 2015-16 campaign: Harden (twice now) and Kyle Lowry.
That's it. Even if we expand our scope to include the last five years, or the club only swells to include a dozen players:James Harden: nine times
LeBron James: three times
Kevin Durant,Kyle Lowry, Chris Paul: twice
DeMarcus Cousins, or Stephen Curry,Goran Dragic, Monta Ellis, or Paul Pierce,Isaiah Thomas and John Wall: oncestats, unless otherwise indicated, or are from Basketball-Reference.com or Adam's own databases and are current heading into games on Jan. 22.
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Source: bleacherreport.com