Jeremy Lin may be the talk of the NBA right now, and rightfully so, but one week of outstanding play is not enough to earn you a spot on this list, although if he plays this well for the rest of the season it would be no surprise to find him fighting for a spot in the top 5. At this point, however, there are plenty of other guys who have been doing it every night all season long, and this post is dedicated to them. As usual, the players who are rising this week are marked in green, and those that are falling are marked in red. I have also ranked the top 5 sixth men below.
Most Valuable Player
1. LeBron James - MIA - 28.1 pts, 8.0 reb, 7.0 ast, 1.7 stl, .542 FG%, .370 3P%, .752 FT%
LeBron did not have the most dominant week, averaging only 22 points per game, and he has failed to score even 20 points in his past two games, and the Heat even lost in Orlando this week, but he is still the top MVP candidate today. How is that possible? He has been so much better than anybody else so far this season that he could afford to have an "off-week," although most players would be pretty happy to play as well as James does when he's not on top of his game. His lead has narrowed, so another bad week could cost him the top spot.
2. Kevin Durant - OKC - 27.0 pts, 8.2 reb, 3.3 ast, 1.4 blk, 1.2 stl, .505 FG%, .815 FT%
Durant is closing the gap on James this week, but two losses, along with his first game with fewer than 20 points since January 3rd, kept him from becoming the MVP front-runner and kept the Thunder from holding on to the league's best record, although they have managed to stay atop the West as the favorites to make the NBA Finals.
3. Russell Westbrook - OKC - 22.9 pts, 4.9 reb, 5.7 ast, 2.1 stl, .466 FG%, .810 FT%
While Durant has not been scoring quite as much for the Thunder lately, Russell Westbrook has stepped up and put in the points they needed. Over the past 4 games he has averaged 30 points, and in the past 3 he has shot above 50% from the field as well, making him very efficient as well. To top it all off, he recorded 5 steals last night in Utah as the Thunder held off a late Jazz rally and proved that their loss to Sacramento was a fluke and that they are still the team to beat in the West, and you've just seen the two biggest reasons why.
4. Kobe Bryant - LAL - 29.4 pts, 6.0 reb, 5.2 ast, 1.1 stl, .442 FG%, .848 FT%
Kobe scored a lot of points this week once again, but he did it while shooting only 40% from the field, and as a result of all those misses, the Lakers won only one game this week, an overtime victory over the Celtics on Thursday. In that game, it was not Bryant, but Pau Gasol who was the hero, tipping in Kobe's miss near the end of regulation to send the game to overtime, and blocking Ray Allen's potential game-winner in overtime to seal LA's victory.
5. Blake Griffin - LAC - 21.2 pts, 11.0 reb, 3.1 ast, 1.0 stl, .533 FG%, .521 FT%
After a horrendous 1 for 7 night from the line against Washington last Saturday, Blake Griffin suddenly remembered how to make free throws, hitting 15 of his last 19, even though he missed the only two he attempted yesterday. LA's upset win in Philadelphia last night moved the Clippers up to second place in the Western Conference, a spot they have not reached at any point in my memory. It may not be long before we're seeing two members of the Clippers on the MVP watch, which normally would be unheard of.
6. LaMarcus Aldridge - POR - 23.0 pts, 8.4 reb, 2.8 ast, 1.1 stl, .511 FG%, .788 FT%
It's a little strange to see Aldridge moving up the MVP rankings after two consecutive games with fewer than 15 points, but this move has a little more to do with injuries to other players than to his own performance this week. He did score 39 points against Oklahoma City on Monday, but it was enough for Portland to take down the West leaders, as they fell to the Thunder 111-107.
7. Dwight Howard - ORL - 20.9 pts, 15.5 reb, 2.0 ast, 2.1 blk, 1.5 stl, .565 FG%, .491 FT%
In Wednesday night's impressive 102-89 victory over the Miami Heat, Dwight Howard recorded 25 points and 24 rebounds, marking his 6th 20-20 game of the season, which gives him as many 20-20 games this year as every other player in the league combined. If the Magic hadn't lost to the Clippers and Hawks this week, there is a very good chance that Howard would be sitting ahead of Blake Griffin in the top 5, where a man of his talents definitely belongs.
8. Chris Bosh - MIA - 19.4 pts, 7.9 reb, 2.1 ast, .509 FG%, .820 FT%
Bosh came very close to falling from the MVP leaders this week before saving himself for another week with 24 points and 11 rebounds in Miami's victory over the Washington Wizards last night. Before that, he had scored between 9 and 15 in 6 straight games, and it's very likely that this will be his final week on this list, with Dwyane Wade back and making a strong push to be Miami's second potential MVP.
9. Kevin Love - MIN - 25.3 pts, 13.6 reb, 1.8 ast, 1.0 stl, .453 FG%, .368 3P%, .829 FT%
In the two games he played this week, Love was great, putting up 25 against Houston and 32 against Dallas, but he missed the two games in between due to a suspension for stomping on Luis Scola's head. Without him on the court, the Wolves lost at Memphis, and the outcome could have been different if the best player on either team had been allowed to take the court, and Minnesota would have been able to boast of a record above .500 as well.
10. Derrick Rose - CHI - 22.0 pts, 3.4 reb, 7.8 ast, .462 FG%, .841 FT%
Rose played sparingly this week, totaling only 10 points in 33 minutes since Sunday, but this time the time off is due to a back injury, rather than the toe injury that kept him out earlier this season. Chicago continues to win without its MVP on the court, which has allowed Carlos Boozer to start making a push for a spot among the top 10, but that will have to wait for another week.
Honorable Mention
Tony Parker - SAS
Carlos Boozer - CHI
Pau Gasol - LAL
Sixth Man of the Year
1. James Harden - OKC - 16.6 pts, 4.1 reb, 3.4 ast, .463 FG%, .364 3P%, .863 FT%
If he didn't have two of the best players in the league as teammates, you might very well be seeing James Harden on the list above rather than this one, but Harden has improved so much in just his third season that he is currently running away with this award. This week he did exactly what was expected of him, but he did amp up his defense a little, averaging over 1.5 steals per game, including 4 against Golden State on Tuesday.
2. Lou Williams - PHI - 15.6 pts, 2.2 reb, 3.6 ast, .412 FG%, .380 3P%, .813 FT%
Williams has put up at least 10 points in every game so far this month, including back-to-back 20-point outings against the Lakers and Spurs, all without starting a single game this season. He has been a very consistent member of the team all year, which has enabled the 76ers to keep themselves in position for a division title for the first time in years.
3. Thaddeus Young - PHI - 12.4 pts, 4.5 reb, 1.1 ast, 1.3 stl, .512 FG%, .722 FT%
Young is another important part of a deep bench in Philadelphia, and although he is not putting up the same numbers he did as a full-time starter 3 years ago, he seems to be adjusting to his new role, and he has become more of an inside player, shooting only 25 of them over the past two seasons after jacking up over 300 of them in the previous two seasons. The result has been a 5% increase in his overall shooting percentage, which is important for a player with limited minutes.
4. Andre Miller - DEN - 10.9 pts, 3.8 reb, 6.7 ast, 1.2 stl, .475 FG%, .775 FT%
Miller has been shooting well, but not often, for the Nuggets lately, hitting 53% of his shots, but only scoring 9.8 points per game. During that stretch, the Nuggets have lost 5 straight games, which caused them to slip from #2 in the West all the way down to #8, hanging on for their playoff lives. Perhaps time is finally catching up to the 35-year-old, who played in his 1000th game as a pro last week against the Clippers.
5. Jason Terry - DAL - 14.8 pts, 1.6 reb, 3.6 ast, 1.3 stl, .425 FG%, .376 3P%, .873 FT%
Terry has been making quite a push lately to earn another Sixth Man award, scoring 34 points in a win over San Antonio, then putting up 25 against the Thunder just 3 nights later. He has also started to find his range again, hitting multiple 3-pointers in 5 different games over the last 3 weeks, including 4 at Cleveland last Saturday.
Dropping Out/Honorable Mention
Al Harrington - DEN
Evan Turner - PHI
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