A look at some of the Award Races down the stretch:
MVP:
1. Durant 33.1 ppg, 9.3 rpg, 5.0 apg. His team is 1st in the West...
2. LeBron - 26.5 ppg, 9.4 rpg, 5 apg, 1.8 spg. His team is doing well in the East...
3. Jimmy Cowen - 22.0 ppg, 8.5 apg, 4.2 rpg, 1.6 spg. Team is 3rd in the Est
4. Westbrook - 20.3 ppg, 7.7 apg, 5 rpg, 1.9 spg. Team is 1st in the West.
5. Derrick Rose -21.7 ppg, 6.6 apg, 4.6 rpg. Team is 1st in the East.
Rookie of the Year:
1. Perben, Miami - Averaging 18.8 ppg, 10.0 rpg, 1.5 bpg.
2. Williamson, Bulls - Averaging 16.5 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 3.3 apg.
3. Mack Perkins - Averaging 13.7 ppg, 7.2 rpg, 1.7 apg, 1.0 bpg.
4/7 -
We host the Raptors who are now 32-43...
We had a huge lead by halftime, 63-49.
In the 3rd quarter, we let them creep back within 6.
In the 4th, they outscored us 37-27.
We lose 113-109.
Jonas Valancunas led them with 22 points, 11 boards, 2 assists.
Dillon added 18 points and 10 boards.
Cowen led us in the loss with 24 points, 11 assists, 9 boards, 3 steals. He shot 9 of 20.
Perkins with 23 points, 7 boards, 2 assists, and 2 blocks. He shot 9 of 16.
Turner with 14 points, 5 boards, and 4 assists.
Embiid with 13 points, 9 boards, and 2 blocks.
Robinson with 10 points, 4 boards, 4 assists, 1 steal, and 1 block.
Clark with 8 points.
Noel with 6 points, 6 boards, and 2 blocks.
Big news after the game... MCW has been cleared from his injury and deemed fully ready to return to action!!
4/11 -
We travel to play the Hornets. They are 54-23 and ahead of us in the East... this is a huge game. MCW will play significant minutes off the bench...
Wow, the Hornets blow us out. We never had the lead. Disappointing loss...
We lose 110-88.
Terrence Jones led them with 29 points and 10 boards.
Jeremy Lin added 19 points and 5 assists.
Ozat added 16 points and 11 assists.
2nd year PG Alan O'Connor added 11 points and 4 assists.
Perkins led us with 20 points, 8 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal, and 1 block. He shot 8 of 13.
Cowen shot 4 of 16 and finished with 15 points, 12 assists, and a steal.
Turner with 14 points, 7 boards, 3 assists.
Embiid with 11 points, 9 boards, and 1 block.
MCW with 10 points, 8 boards, 3 assists, and 2 steals in his debut back. He played 24 minutes.
We are now 51-27 and firmly locked in 3rd place with a very slim chance of climbing into 2nd or falling into 4th. Cowen is imploring me to play him major minutes, but I have to think about resting him.... but we need wins to make sure we don't fall into 4th. We'll see.
4/13 -
We travel to play the Wizards who are 48-30 and trying to chase us for 3rd.. If we beat them, we will definitely be 3rd or better in the East.