Ryan Kelly’s play helped the Lakers with two surprising wins, and put pressure on teams fighting for the last spot in Western Conference playoffs.
Matt Dellavedova
With the Cavs fighting for their playoff lives and Kyrie Irving on the shelf all week, Dellavedova stepped up in a big way to help Cleveland keep their postseason dreams possible. He started the week scoreless (0-2 shooting) but grabbed four rebounds and dished five assists in a win over Toronto in 26 minutes. The next night he had arguably his best game of the season, posting 21 points (7-9 shooting, 5-7 from three), six assists, three rebounds, and one steal in 36 minutes in the Cavs’ 97-96 win over the Pistons. While Cleveland lost their next game to Brooklyn, they responded on Sunday afternoon, taking down top-seeded Indiana 90-76 to cap a 3-1 week and move within 2 ½ games of the final playoff spot. Dellevadova delivered against Indiana, chipping in 11 points (3-6 FG), six assists, and two rebounds in 30 minutes. He continues to improve his impressive rookie resume, and Cleveland has to be happy to have found one hell of a Dellavedova-diamond in the rough.
Victor Oladipo
When the 76ers snapped their 26-game losing streak, it was hard for me to not give MCW a little love for his 21 point, 7 rebound, 4 assist, 4 steal, 1 block night, albeit against Detroit. But the Magic had a 2-1 week against playoff opponents (W- Portland, Charlotte, L-Toronto), and Oladipo put on quite a show that Mo Williams will probably like to forget. While MCW has the better per game point, rebound, and assist averages, he also averages a few more minutes, turns it over nearly four times a game, shoots less than 40 percent from the field, makes only 26 percent of his three pointers, and converts on less than 70 percent from the charity stripe. He also hasn’t had to deal with the constant shuffling of lineups and roles that Oladipo has with the Magic due to their plethora of young talent. While Orlando’s only won five more games than Philly this year, they were without Nik Vucevic and Tobias Harris for a good part of the season, and this young team, and Oladipo, are only going to get better.
Gorgui Dieng
Dieng began the week with back-to-back double-doubles against the Grizzlies (11 points, 17 rebounds, one assist, and one steal) and Hawks (15 points, 15 rebounds, two assists, one steal, one block), and followed that up with a solid 14 point (5-5 FG), 9 rebound, 1 block performance off the bench in 23 minutes against the Lakers on Friday night once Nikola Pekovic made his return to the lineup. In 19 minutes Sunday, Gorgui managed to bring down 11 rebounds to go along with five points and two steals against the Brooklyn Nets. For the week he posted averages of 11.3 points (on 67 percent shooting) and grabbed 13 rebounds in 30 minutes per game. This late season production has to have Minnesota fans wondering why Dieng was unable to crack the rotation for so long, though as writer Nick Denning pointed out, Dieng may have not been ready. Furthermore, there is less incentive to play Nikola Pekovic (who has been injured much of late), as many minutes the final few weeks of the season with the playoffs out of reach. Continuing to give more minutes to Dieng will help to gauge his season performance with a larger sample size, so look for the Wolves to limit the minutes of Love and Pekovic during these last few weeks of the season.
Ryan Kelly
With Pau Gasol out all week, no one could have foreseen a 2-2 week for the Lakers. Kelly helped the Lakers embarrass the Knicks on Tuesday night, scoring 9 points (on 3-6 shooting), dropping eight assists, grabbing four rebound,s and collecting two steals in 34 minutes. Los Angeles went on to suffer road losses on back-to-back nights against Milwaukee and Minnesota, but played the role of spoiler perfectly on Sunday, knocking off Phoenix and pushing them into a tie with Dallas at 44-30, with Memphis (43-40) on the outside looking in but just ½ game back. The Mavs, Grizzlies, and perhaps even the Warriors and Blazers will be sending early Easter cards to the Kelly residence thanking him for his 17 points (6-12 shooting), five rebound, two assists, two steals, and two blocks that shocked the Suns.
Tim Hardaway Jr.
The Knicks had a really weird week, starting with a demoralizing blowout loss vs. the lowly Lakers and ending with a win against the Golden State Warriors Sunday night. It was on these two nights that Hardaway Jr. had his best showings. No one showed up on Tuesday night against L.A. but Hardaway, who finished 17 points on 5-7 shooting, three assists, one steal and one rebound in 24 minutes. Luckily on Sunday he got some help from his teammates, and the result was a much-needed one. Hardaway’s 15 points (6-12 shooting, 3-7 from three), two rebounds, one assist, and one steal in 28 minutes made it possible for New York (31-43) to move to within a single game of Atlanta (31-41) for the final playoff spot in the East.
6th man
Hollis Thompson
Thompson contributed 17 points on 6-7 shooting, with six rebounds, three assists, one steal, and one block in 41 minutes in a close loss to the Pacers a couple of weeks ago. A strong performance, and while his game against Detroit didn’t quite live up to it, his 14 points (5-8 shooting, 4-4 from three), five rebounds, three assists, and three steals in 22 minutes prevented the Sixers from setting the record for longest losing steak in NBA history.
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