The Association Examination: Week Four

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Week four was an interesting one. There were a lot of impressive individual performances, Kevin McHale got fired in Houston and the 76ers still haven’t won a game. Let’s get to it.

Players of the week

Carmelo Anthony- The Knicks won all four of their games this week thanks to Melo and Kristaps Porzingis’ efforts. Melo had 29 points and 13 rebounds on Sunday, 18 points and 11 rebounds on Tuesday, 25 points on Friday and 14 points on Saturday night. Don’t look now, but the Knicks have a winning record.

Kristaps Porzingis- You can’t help but be happy with how well this kid is doing after everyone booed him on draft night. He had 10 points on Sunday, 29 points and 11 rebounds on Tuesday, only seven points on Friday, but he didn’t shoot a lot and 24 points and 14 rebounds on Saturday. If it weren’t for Karl-Anthony Towns, he would probably be the favorite to win rookie of the year.

DeMarcus Cousins- Cousins had a big week, but a one game suspension caused him to miss Thursday’s game in Miami. On Wednesday, Cousins hit Atlanta forward Al Horford in the head with his forearm and the NBA hit him back with a one-gamer. He had 36 points and 10 rebounds on Sunday, 24 points and 12 rebounds on Wednesday and 29 points and 12 rebounds on Saturday. His team went 2-2 this week and with trade rumors swirling about Sacramento, who knows where Cousins’ head is. But he’s still putting up some good numbers on the court.

Stephen Curry- If you haven’t been keeping up with the NBA, Curry is still doing his thing, being the best in the world and all. He had 37 points on Tuesday, 40 points and 11 rebounds on Thursday and 27 points on Friday. The Warriors still haven’t lost a game yet and it looks like they could beat the 1996 Bulls best regular season record of 72-10. Man, if only we could watch those two teams play each other.

LeBron James- For all of you who were offended by my previous statement claiming Curry as the best player in the world, calm down, LeBron made my list this week too. He had 30 points on Tuesday, 27 points on Thursday and 19 points and 11 rebounds on Saturday. The Cavs went 2-1 this week and are an impressive 10-3 on the year.

Andre Drummond- Well, it was fun while it lasted. Drummond finally failed to get a double-double on Saturday in a loss to Washington, making it the first game all season he hasn’t recorded a double-double. He had 17 points and 17 rebounds on Sunday, 25 points and 18 rebounds on Tuesday, 21 points and 11 rebounds on Friday and eight points and 13 rebounds on Saturday. The Pistons went 2-2 this week.

Paul George- George looks like he’s finally back in super star form. He had 26 points on Monday, 34 points on Wednesday and 20 points on Saturday. The Pacers are back on track and have won four of their last five games.

James Harden- It’s been a less than ideal start for Houston and management made a big move earlier this week by firing head coach Kevin McHale. The Rockets won their next game on Wednesday against the Trailblazers in dramatic fashion at home in overtime. The rest of the week didn’t pan out so well though, as it ended up being their only win of the week. Harden has been carrying most of the load scoring-wise for Houston and it looks like he needs some help. He had 16 points on Monday, a whopping 45 points and 11 assists on Wednesday, 22 points on Friday and 24 points and 10 assists on Saturday.

Brandon Knight- I loved watching this kid at Kentucky and it’s good to see him getting some triple-doubles. Knight had a heck of a week and this success may continue if he can stay healthy. He had 30 points, 15 assists and 10 rebounds on Monday, 23 points on Wednesday and 38 points and 11 rebounds on Friday. Phoenix went 2-1 this week.

Damian Lillard- Portland is the most unlucky team in the NBA in my opinion. They are not a bad team, but seemingly lose every close game they are in. They went 1-4 this week but their star had some great individual performances. He had 23 points on Sunday, 27 points on Monday, 23 points again on Wednesday and 27 points on Friday.

Dirk Nowitzki- German Jesus is one of my favorite players to every step on the hardwood. His Mavericks are 9-4 this season and he led them to a perfect 3-0 this week. He had 21 points on Monday, 23 points on Wednesday and 19 points on Friday. He’s shooting well from the floor and it may make the Mavs a legit team in the west this year.

Russell Westbrook- Westbrook is having another great season, but his team is barely holding on to a winning record. He had 27 points on Sunday, 40 points and 14 assists on Monday, 43 points on Wednesday and 34 points on Friday. The Thunder went 1-3 this week.

Andrew Wiggins- Wiggins is finally starting to look like he deserved to be a number one overall pick. He had 21 points on Sunday, 24 points on Tuesday, 28 points on Wednesday and 21 points on Friday. The Timberwolves still need some more pieces though, and only went 1-3 on the week.

Ryan Anderson- You’re reading this correctly. Ryan Anderson made player of the week this week. He had 16 points on Sunday, 24 points on Tuesday, 30 points on Wednesday and another 30 points on Friday. He’s been balling as of late, but it hasn’t helped the Pelicans much in the win column as New Orleans went 1-3 this past week.

Games of the week

Mavericks at 76ers on Monday night- The Philadelphia front court did exactly what head coach Brett Brown wanted them to. Nerlens Noel and Jahlil Okafor both had double-doubles, yet still lost to the Mavs. The 76ers handicapped themselves though by committing 27 turnovers. Philly trailed by as much as 19 in the game, but continued to chip away at the deficit and even got the lead at one point in the fourth quarter. Nowitzki was clutch with seven points during a late fourth quarter stretch and a clutch three-pointer later on to secure the win for Dallas. The 76ers had their chances for their first win of the season, but just couldn’t get the job done and fell 92-86.

Timberwolves at Magic on Wednesday night- Orlando pulled off a dramatic 104-101 victory in overtime thanks to an Evan Fournier three-pointer with 3.1 seconds left on the clock. The Magic went on a 13-1 run in the middle of the fourth quarter to get control of the game, but Karl-Anthony Towns made two late-game free throws to tie the game and sent it to overtime. Fournier had 26 points on the night and Towns had another double-double with 21 points and 12 rebounds. Andrew Wiggins took the big shots late in the game and Towns played great defense, showcasing the bright future that Minnesota hopefully has.