ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — When Kyle Korver left the game three nights ago at Staples Center with a broken nose, Kent Bazemore was pressed into service and scored 13 points to go along with 9 rebounds as the Atlanta Hawks took care of business with the Los Angeles Lakers.
The next night, he got the start in Korver’s place, notching 11 points, 4 assists, 3 steals, and a blocked shot in a win at the Sacramento Kings.
Tonight, he makes his second consecutive start back where it all started for him, when he was #Bazemoring from the bench. As the Golden State Warriors have arose to become one of the NBA’s elite teams, Bazemoree’s brought that familiar energetic personality and grown with another elite team in Atlanta.
Per Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Consitution:
“Any time you get negative in this game, this is a very mental game, it can be a cancer in the locker room,” Bazemore said. “Keeping guys happy, laughing, chest up; it’s a good thing for the team and getting wins.”
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The Hawks signed Bazemore for his defensive ability on the wing. He won the Lefty Dreisell Award as the nation’s best defender while at Old Dominion. He proved early in his career with the Warriors and Lakers that the skill set was transferable to the NBA.
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“He’s been a pretty amazing defender from his rookie season,” Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said. “I have these vivid memories of him being put in at the end of a quarter to guard the other team’s best player. For a rookie to do that, that is a huge compliment to him. Obviously, he gained the trust of his coaches. His defense and his energy, passion and love, you can tell he has a great influence. He brings a lot to the table that any team would want to have.”
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During a game against the Lakers on Sunday, Bazemore completed a pretty reverse layup. A scout from the Warriors turned to another watching the action and said, “I wish we hadn’t traded him.”
As a member of the Warriors, it was Richard Jefferson who took Bazemore under his wing and got the lanky 6’5″ guard ready.
KL Chouinard writes:
The primary goal of Jefferson’s free tutoring sessions primarily was, to put it bluntly, to pummel Bazemore and acclimate him to the brute force he would see when competing against the NBA’s best.
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“Kent had to get used to the physicality of the NBA, so me and him would play a lot of one-on-one and I would do a lot of posting up. I would really just beat him up as much as I could so that when he got into the game he was used to playing against bigger, stronger players. That’s the biggest difference between playing in college and playing in the NBA.”
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“When you’re not playing, you might not play for a year or two and then you get a 20-game opportunity to prove you belong in this league,” Jefferson added. “If you’re not ready for it, crazy things happen.”
So did Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer notice an extra spring in Bazemore’s step today before the game, back at his old stomping grounds and one of ten players to take the court at tipoff?
“‘Baze’ has always got an extra spring in his step,” Budenholzer told LetsGoWarriors before the game. “So it’s hard to quantify how he can get anymore extra, but I’m sure he’ll be looking forward to competing tonight.”
We tried to track Bazemore down in the locker room pregame, but he was locked in, focused and had the headphones blaring in his ears.
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