Step Back, 5 notes from the NBA week: episode 1
hat we noticed from the just-passed NBA week. We’ll talk about Lillard, Paul, Bridges, Micic, and LeBron James
Another week of NBA Regular Season has gone by. New week, new highlights to point out. Here are the 5 key takeaways.
Someone like Lillard has never been seen with the Bucks
Games with 30+ points, 10+ assists, and 5+ triples: you look at these numbers, close your eyes, and think of Damian Lillard. In a Bucks jersey, there have already been 5 games with these stats, whereas in the franchise’s previous 55 years of history, there had only been four such performances. Unique.
Chris Paul has always been allergic to turnovers
This week, Chris Paul played his 59th career game with at least 10 assists and zero turnovers: the other active players in the top-5 of this ranking combined have only reached 54. Starter or sixth man, Clippers or Warriors – it doesn’t matter much: CP3 dishes it out like a deity and never loses it. Point God.
Mikal Bridges hasn’t missed a game since high school
Mikal Bridges is always on the court, since his high school days, even in the regular season like the last one with 83 games: the result is 501 appearances from 2018 to today, never stopping. An example to understand the enormity of the statistic? Joel Embiid, who arrived in the NBA four years before him, is stuck at 481 games. Iron man.
Micic could make sense even at the NBA level
Drafted by the 76ers in 2014 and becoming, in the last few months at 30 years old, the oldest rookie of this season, Micic is becoming effective even in the NBA: with Charlotte, he’s averaged almost 16 points in the last 9 games, shooting 52% from two and improving his shooting percentages from beyond the arc. Not an MVP, but definitely useful.
LeBron James isn’t just eternal, he’s more than that
Playing 21 consecutive years in the NBA is an achievement, for sure, and for this reason, the statistic is staggering: LeBron James has notched up 49 games (and counting…) with at least 20 points this season. Forty-nine. The second all-time, Dirk Nowitzki, in his 21st year in Dallas, ended with three twenty-pointers in total. You choose the superlative.