Cody Zeller and Ray McCallum earn spots on this week’s team; MCW, Dieng, continue strong play.
Note: This article was written by Gabriel Allen.
Cody Zeller
Zeller’s progression this year helped the Bobcats clinch the franchise’s second playoff berth and escape the lottery. With Josh McRoberts dealing with a sprained left ankle, Zeller filled in admirably to help punch their postseason tickets. During Charlotte’s 4-0 week, they took care of business against Washington, Orlando, and Philly, along with a big win against Cleveland who were fighting for their playoff lives. The win against the Wizards was especially important because it has set them up with an opportunity to move ahead of Washington into sixth in the standings with a win this Wednesday night over the Wiz by virtue of head-to-head tiebreaker (CHA currently leads series 2-1). Zeller started the week with one of his best performances of the season vs. Washington, posting 15 points (4-4 FG, 7-8 FT), eight rebounds, two assists, and one steal in 20 minutes in a 100-94 win. In his first career start, albeit against the 76ers, he contributed 9 points (3-5 FG), eight rebounds, three assists, and one block in 27 minutes in a 123-93 romp. And on Charlotte’s playoff clinching night vs. Cleveland he dropped his first career double-double, tallying 12 points (4-6 FG), 11 rebounds, four assists, and one block in 37 minutes in a thrilling 96-94 overtime win.
Ray McCallum
With Isaiah Thomas out with an injury (quadriceps), McCallum has stepped up and seen big minutes these past few weeks. I seriously considered giving him a spot on last week’s team, but this week McCallum gave me no choice. The Kings (27-50) enjoyed a 2-2 week, earning wins against the Pelicans and Lakers to start the week behind McCallum’s 22 points, 10 assists, two rebounds, two steals against New Orleans, with 27 points, five assists, and four rebounds against Los Angeles. While McCallum cooled down considerably in their next game vs. Golden State (4 points, 2-14 FG, 10 assists, two rebounds, two steals), he nearly helped spoil the Mavs’ dinner on Sunday night, as he played all 48 minutes and contributed eight points, nine assists, four rebounds, three steals, and one block in the 96-94 Kings loss.
Michael Carter-Williams
The 76ers won another game this week. That’s two in the last two weeks. Last week I raised concerns over MCW’s shooting woes and turnover troubles, and while there’s no quick fix there, he did enjoy a very respectable week, and he shot the ball very well. In their first game of the week Carter-Williams just missed posting his third career triple double (16 points, 9 rebounds, 9 assists) vs. Atlanta, and later in the week he poured in 24 points while adding six assists, six rebounds, on steal, and one block in a rare Philly victory. MCW is on pace to become just the third rookie in NBA history to lead his class in points, rebounds, and assists per game.
Gorgui Dieng
The Wolves went 2-2 this week with wins over the Memphis Grizzlies and Miami Heat. With Nikola Pekovic back to start the week, Dieng moved back into a reserve role for the night (Pek would go on to injure his ankle), but still contributed 14 points (4-4 FG, 6-6 FT), four rebounds, three assists, three steals, and one block in 19 minutes vs. the Clippers. With Pek back on the shelf, he helped deal Memphis’ playoff hopes a serious blow with eight points and 9 rebounds, and followed this up with 15 points, four rebounds, three blocks and one steal in the Wolves’ double overtime victory over the Miami Heat. On Sunday with Kevin Love out with back spasms and Pek still out, Dieng was forced to carry the load down low, and performed admirably with 12 points on 5-9 FG, eight rebounds, three assists, two blocks in 36 minutes vs. the Magic.
Mason Plumlee
Plumlee started the week in spectacular fashion, helping the Nets clinch a playoff berth in a win vs. Houston behind his 11 points (5-6 FG), six rebounds, four assists, two blocks, and one steal. While the Knicks blew out the Nets the next night at MSG, and Plumlee was practically a no-show vs. Detroit Friday night, he provided 16 points (8-10 FG) and six rebounds on Saturday vs. Philly and helped lead the Nets to a 3-1 week. I could’ve given this spot to Victor Oladipo (17 points, four assists per game this week) or Trey Burke (24 points, 15 assists vs. Golden State on Sunday night), but I decided to go with Plumlee because the Nets were basically a lottery team coming into 2014, and if they’d had to heavily rely on Kevin Garnett to produce they would have sunk a long time ago. Plumlee’s progression along with the emergence of Shaun Livingston have helped with the Nets somewhat surprising turnaround in 2014, and unless the standing get shook up in these last five games, it looks like Brooklyn is going to get a shot at revenge on the Bulls, the team that knocked the Nets out in seven games in the first round last year.
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