NBA 2020-2021 – After the cut due to the All-Star Game, franchises have taken to the courts since Wednesday. The second part of the season begins and the NBA is gradually approaching the playoffs. The opportunity to see who are the tops or the flops of the week.
Franchises
Tops
This week in the Eastern Conference, many franchises went undefeated. This is the case ofAtlanta. We have to believe that the arrival of Nate McMillan on the Hawks bench is bearing fruit. Arrived on March 2 in Atlanta, the replacement for Lloyd Pierce did not take long to win games. With 5 victories over the last 5 meetings, the dynamics of this team are very positive and it shows. The team has finally found its colors and is currently part of the first 8 teams of the conference. Atlanta therefore relegates Indiana to the 9th position of this conference.
Times are tough for the leaders of the Western Conference. Indeed, no franchise from this conference has gone undefeated this week. However, two bottom teams were able to take advantage of this complicated week. On the one hand, there are the New Orleans Pelicans who signed a nice performance against the Los Angeles Clippers (135-115). Despite a big loss on the Timberwolves floor, the Pels finally ended the week with two straight wins as they beat the Cavs last Friday. On the other side, we could also quote OKC who valiantly beat Dallas and Memphis this week despite a slight hitch against the Knicks on Friday.
And then there was that Hayes murder livepic.twitter.com/YfODJYC620
– Pels Nation Fr (@Pelicans_France) March 15, 2021
Flops
In the East, the hierarchy is fairly well respected. Indeed, the conference leaders haven’t lost a lot of games lately. And, if the hierarchy is respected, it is because the franchises at the bottom of the table are struggling to win games lately. If some like Washington try somehow to fight, others like Orlando or Cleveland seem to be resigned to tanking until the end of the season. In the meantime, the flop of the week and maybe even of the month of March, these are the Toronto Raptors. Currently in a 5-game losing streak, the Raptors no longer see the light of day. Deprived of Siakam and VanVleet lately, they sink to the bottom of this conference.
The leaders of the Western conference accuse the blow in this mid-March. Indeed, the Utah Jazz by Rudy Gobert has been struggling for a little over a week. They who managed to win 10-15 games in a row at the start of the season, these days, are struggling to win two in a row. Will this downturn cost them dearly? It is still too early to tell. However, the Phoenix Suns are gradually getting closer to this first conference place. What about Lakers and Clippers ? Well, they are in the same problem. The two Los Angeles franchises are struggling to chain victories. One (Lakers) because of injuries, the other (Clippers) because of a cruel lack of consistency.
The players
Tops
If a player shone more than usual this week, it’s Jimmy Butler. Despite a complicated start to the season and repeated absences, Jimmy Butler’s season started rather badly at the same time, as for his private team of his player franchise. But lately, Butler is playing at a very high level. As comfortable in scoring as in distribution, the Miami Heat player has signed good performances. 29 points against the Magic, 28 with the Bulls or 27 this Sunday. He allowed his team to finish undefeated this week. He did not go very far from signing triple-doubles this week as he was omnipresent offensively and defensively. It’s good to see.
Another very big game from Jimmy Butler, our MVP of the night! ???? pic.twitter.com/Vup2TcdDV3
— First Team (@FirstTeam101) March 15, 2021
Playing master of the Sacramento Kings this season, De’Aaron Fox shone this week. Author of two great performances in recent days, he has masterfully carried his team despite a defeat against the Hawks (121-106) on Saturday. Despite this, his two performances reached over 30 points, approaching the triple-double against the Rockets. In any case, even if Sacramento is one of the worst records in the Eastern Conference, this season has allowed them to see that this player could bring them a lot for the future. With his 23.5 points, 7.6 assists, and 1.2 steals on average per game, Fox becomes the franchise player of this team.
Flops
Even if he signs one of his best NBA seasons, Bruce Brown has been struggling statistically lately. Indeed, it is not easy to find shots in the company of James Harden and Kyrie Irving as they have the ball in their hands. However, this week, Bruce Brown benefited from many shoots but his success was unfortunately not present. He starts, he plays, he is important for his team but he hasn’t been scoring lately, which could perhaps damage his confidence. Don’t panic, this player is still young and has everything to find his way back to baskets in no time.
Lately, Kent Bazemore is struggling with the Golden State Warriors. Indeed, he scores less than usual, plays less than usual and his success is below his habit. Even if his performances do not guarantee the results of the Californian franchise, it is always useful to have a player role who scores, who takes rebounds and who is useful when he comes back on the floor. Which is unfortunately not the case at the moment. However, it seems that at 31 years old, the latter has the experience enough not to be defeated knowing that it is complicated to take shots in a franchise where everything goes through Stephen Curry.
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