Being traded from Boston has helped rejuvenate Courtney Lee and led to him being TLM’s Player of the Week.
January has been a big month for individual performances across the NBA, with career highs being hit and franchise records seemingly being broken every other night. Kevin Durant has topped 30 for eleven straight games now, moving himself, for my reckoning, ahead of LeBron James in the race for the MVP trophy. In addition to KD’s streak, Carmelo Anthony lit up the Garden going for 62 against the Bobcats, Marcus Thornton dropped 42 on the league’s best defensive team (Indiana), and LaMarcus Aldridge put his All-Star snub quickly behind him and put up 44 against the ailing Nuggets. Typing these names into Google, perhaps Thornton aside, will give you access to article after article rightly praising their various recent successes, but it is for this reason exactly that we at The Lottery Mafia offer something completely unique in terms of NBA coverage. We look past the media furore that follows the so-called elite teams and individuals of the league and delve into the stats, study the box scores, and watch those games that attract a smaller audience in order to give props to those players that probably don’t get the attention their play has earned.
After a dire December, it seemed that the Memphis Grizzlies were quickly playing themselves out of the playoff picture. Over the festive month, the Grizz went 5-9 and entered the New Year 5 games below .500 in the ultra-competitive Western Conference. Fast forward three weeks and Memphis now find themselves two games above 500 after going 9-3 in January. Most will point to Marc Gasol’s return from his sprained MCL as the key to their resurgence, and there is no doubting that he has played a huge role. There is, however, one man whose recent play cannot be overlooked in the turnaround and that man is this week’s TLM Player of the Week.
First, a bit of context – on January 7th 2014, a three-team trade involving the Celtics, Grizzlies, and Thunder was executed. The Celtics traded a 2016 second-round pick and Courtney Lee for the Grizzlies’ Jerryd Bayless and the Thunder’s Ryan Gomes. On paper, it doesn’t appear to be the most glamorous of moves and few would have anticipated that any of those parts would go on to drastically alter the seasons of their respective new teams. Memphis, in Lee, however appear to have found the key to their season-long spacing issues and outside shooting woes, and that is why he takes this week’s award.
The Grizzlies only played on three occasions over the last week and all three games were against divisional rivals. This gave them three opportunities to shed the unwanted tag of being the only team in the league to be winless in their division. They actually ended up going 2-1 for the week with a loss to the Pelicans on Monday preceding two big wins against the Rockets on back-to-back nights on Friday and Saturday. Through these three games, the play of Courtney Lee was verging on outstanding and each warrants a closer look.
Against the Pelicans, Lee totaled 19 points, going 6-8 overall including 3-5 from behind the arc, 4-4 from the line and he led the team in +/- at +12 in 33 minutes of play. To put that in perspective, Zach Randolph had a 23-point, 20 rebound night and was only a +3. Whilst there are undeniable flaws in the +/- statistic, Lee’s contribution in what turned out to be a 95-92 loss cannot be overlooked.
In the first matchup of the week against the Rockets, Lee again totaled 19 points although this time in slightly less playing time, spending only 28 minutes on the hardwood. He shot 6-9 overall, 1-1 from outside, and 6-6 from the line, but his biggest contribution came on the defensive end. Lee held his opposite number, James Harden, to 10 points and a 2-11 shooting night, significantly below his 23.7-point season average. The Grizz ended up holding on to a 88-87 victory and gaining their first win over a Southwest Divisional rival.
On the second night of the back-to-back, Lee led the Grizzlies in minutes, spending a shade over 31 on the court. Coupled with leading the team in minutes, he also again led them in +/- at +20 in what was a comprehensive 99-81 win. Lee ended the night with 15 points on 5-9 shooting, going 1-3 from three and again hitting all his FTs, going 4-4 at the stripe. His solid offensive effort was backed up by more superb play on the defensive end, yet again holding Harden short of his season average. Harden was actually a -22 for the game which emphasizes just how well Lee played him.
Lee has not only performed well individually since being traded, but he has made his team better. He has settled quickly and is clearly comfortable with both his new surroundings and in his new role. This week, Memphis will face up against Portland, Sacramento, Minnesota and Milwaukee and I for one am excited to see if Lee can continue to lead the rejuvenated Grizzlies away from the Lottery – even if that does mean an end to my covering of them!
Videos
Meet Courtney Lee
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmoURy2FRY4]
Lee drops 24 points on the Thunder
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLRYPwVocpQ]
By Marc Harries
Follow @Marc_Harries
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