Goeiedag, enchantée and welcome to this week's episode of Eight 2 Four presents: All-NBA Team of the Week. Today’s NBA players are some of the most skilled players we have ever seen on the court. The proof of that are the record breaking performances we see nearly every evening these days in the NBA. The reason behind it is simple. No, these guys are not superhuman. No, the league has gotten softer, making it easier to score. Well, maybe a little. No, the point I’m trying to make is that there has never been more opportunities for young players to develop their skills. Basketball is played at a high level on every level. Coaches are improving year by year, and I’m not talking about the NBA head coaches, I’m talking about your local basketball coach. There is so much information and examples available now that these kids can get better quicker and they have to because if they don’t, the competition will. Basketball is almost an individual sport now, but the greats know how to play together, which is why assist numbers are high as well. On this week’s show I have picked 5 players that have already put some mind-blowing performances on the court this season and they’re likely not finished yet. I’m Peter Peake and this is your All-NBA Team of the Week!
PICK #1
Our first pick of the week is Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks. 60 points, 21 rebounds and 10 assists. It has never been done before in the NBA, not even Wilt managed to put up this scoreline. Until December 27th, that is when Luka became the first player ever to achieve it. On a magical night in Dallas, against the New York Knicks, the Mavericks needed every single point by Luka to win this game. The Knicks were up by 10 going into the final quarter and looked like they had this game all sealed up when Miles McBride put the Knicks up by 3 with 4 seconds left to go and Quentin Grimes fouled Luka immediately so there was no chance for Luka’s famous buzzerbeater 3’s. Luka made the first free throw, and missed the second on purpose. What followed was some incredible display of luck that only the absolute best in this game can count on. The ball bounced off a few Knick and Maverick players and ended up again in Luka’s hands who sank an impossible shot to tie the game. Even he couldn’t believe what happened, showing the world what he dances like in the shower after a big win. With 7 points in overtime Luka sealed the win for Dallas and played himself into the history books.
Every time a player did something historical, there was always the caveat that Wilt Chamberlain had done it first. Not any more, Luka was the first, but not the last, this season to achieve something that even Wilt Chamberlain didn’t manage to get done. And it shouldn’t be surprising that it is Luka that managed to do something so incredible. This season, more than ever before, he is profiling himself as the future of this league. He already is one of the top candidates to take out the MVP this season, but this is more than that, this is Michael Jordan, LeBron James level and Luka does it seemingly without effort.
And that brings us to the biggest problem for Luka and Dallas this season. Who is going to help Luka get to that title, because history tells us that you can’t do it on your own. I’ve gone through it before, the last superstar to do it on his own was Dirk Nowitzki, but even he had the support of some high quality role players. The players surrounding Luka are not at all of that calibre. The Mavericks will need to make some moves, and soon, because they are wasting a one-in-a-million season of their wonderboy.
PICK #2
Our second pick of the week is Donovan Mitchell of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Wilt Chamberlain, Kobe Bryant, David Thompson, Elgin Baylor, David Robinson, Devon Booker and now Donovan Mitchell. These are the players that have made at least 70 points in a single game. Wilt obviously had his 100 point game, followed by 5 more games over 70, and Kobe had 81. The other guys are closer to the 71 points that Mitchell made but nobody in this list, not even Wilt, added 11 assists to their performance. The closest one was Booker who had 70 points and 6 assists. So Donovan Mitchell has his own place in history with 71/11/8, just shy of an incredible triple double that would even put Luka’s achievement to shame.
What I thought was funny is how different the reactions were online between Luka’s and Mitchell’s performance. Luka was widely applauded with very little negative comments where Mitchell copped a lot of flack for needing overtime to complete his achievement. Granted, the refereeing was a bit dodgy at the end there, calling lane violations on the Bulls but not on Cleveland and if they had been consistent, Mitchell might not have had an overtime to add more points to his tally. But he did, and there are no backsies in the NBA so it counts. And considering he only had 16 points at the half, scoring another 55 points in the final 2 quarters and overtime, does make it extra special, in my opinion.
Bringing Mitchell to Cleveland was one of the best moves this offseason by any team. The Cavaliers needed his offensive prowess to lead their roster of young talent into the next phase, the Playoffs. And it worked, at the time of recording, the Cavaliers sit in fourth spot in the Eastern Conference, home court advantage. Their core, starting five is, on average, under 25 years’ old with Mitchell, Caris LeVert and Cedi Osman being the oldies on the roster. Obviously, Kevin Love is the experienced guy on the bench but his minutes are fairly restricted these days. Recovering Ricky Rubio later on in the season will lift this Cavs team even higher, so don’t be surprised if these guys manage to hold on to that top 4 spot and cause some upsets in the Playoffs.
PICK #3
Our third pick of the week is LeBron James of the LA Lakers. You cannot do a show about record breakers in the NBA and not include LeBron. I mean, the man has his own score tracker on the NBA website where they are keeping tabs on when he will pass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on the All-Time scoring list. That will be one of the biggest moments of the season, when The King passes Kareem, currently anticipated to happen sometime mid February. He’s about 460 points removed from the 38,387 points Kareem has made throughout his career. My prediction is that he will either push hard these next few games so he gets there against the Knicks at Madison Square Garden on January 31st or take his time and aim for the home game against the Golden State Warriors on the 23rd of February.
But the scoring title isn’t the only record he is chasing. Turning 38 a couple of weeks ago, on his birthday, he recorded an incredible game. Against the Hawks he finished with 47 points, 10 rebounds and 9 assists. Only 1 assist short of becoming the first player in NBA history to record a triple double on their birthday. He did become the fourth player in NBA history to score more than 45 points at the age of 38. He joins MJ, Jamal Crawford and, no surprise, Kareem. Funny enough, that game was also his 70th career game with more than 40 points, tying Kareem and Rick Barry. LeBron sits among the legends of the game and the longer he goes on, the more amazing it will become.
Considering he still plays at this level, it is unbelievable the Lakers are doing such a terrible job surrounding him with championship winning players. Finally, Russell Westbrook is finding his feet coming off the bench. Incidentally, he’s on record-breaking pace himself, joining Detlef Schrempf as the only players in NBA history to record 3 triple-doubles coming off the bench. But now, with Anthony Davis injured again, the Lakers look like they’re going to waste another LeBron season. Deep down, I sort of hope that Rob Pelinka will throw the kitchen sink at the trade deadline and trade Davis, Westbrook and whoever else they can think of, to give LeBron another chance at a ring. Because that is what he deserves after the career he’s had so far.
PICK #4
Our fourth pick of the week is Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks. It’s been quiet this year around Giannis and the Bucks. It seems like the NBA media has become tired of the consistency coming out of Milwaukee regardless of the performances by The Greek Freak and his team mates. The Bucks sit in third spot in the East, not too shabby considering Khris Middleton has only played a handful of games this season since returning from injury. The rest of those games have been won on the back of Giannis’ incredible season. I say incredible, because he’s having the best season of his career. He’s averaging 32 points, nearly 12 rebounds and just over 5 assists per game. Those numbers are comparable, even slightly better, than in his 2 MVP years.
But when you look at the major storylines around the league, Giannis is rarely mentioned. Mainly because his performances are happening in the background of all these incredible achievements the last few weeks. But it has to be mentioned that among all these records, Giannis himself put down an incredible feat. He has become the first player since Wilt to record 2 consecutive 40 point, 20 rebound games, followed by a career high 55 point game against the Wizards on January 3rd. He also became the second player in history to record 45+ points, 15+ rebounds and 5+ assists per game over a 3 game span. The other player? You guessed it, Wilt of course.
The Bucks remain one of the candidates to take out the East this season, but they will need to get past an even stronger Boston Celtics team this year. If they can stay healthy and tackle that series head on with all their players, they have a good chance though, especially if Giannis can keep this incredible level. He’s currently listed as 5th in the Basketball Reference MVP tracker, only because those other 4 players have an even more amazing individual season. I believe that the Bucks are enjoying their season in the shadows and are waiting for their chance to burst out in the Playoffs.
PICK #5
Our fifth pick of the week is Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets. The Joker is a walking record breaking machine. It seems like every time he hits the court, some record will be broken. For example, he’s already cruised to 10 triple-doubles this season, becoming only the fourth player to record 10 triple doubles or more in 6 different seasons. He joins Oscar Robertson, Magic Johnson and, of course, Russell Westbrook. He’s pushed his team to the top of the Western Conference, and Jokic himself is the top candidate to take out the MVP again this season. That would make 3 in a row, he would be the fourth player ever to do it.
But the season is still long and the competition is fierce this season. Luka is playing out of this world, Jayson Tatum is the best player on the best team in the league, Kevin Durant is the personification of a great Brooklyn Nets team that has turned a corner, and Giannis and Embiid are lurking in the shadows to take over Jokic’ mantle. Embiid especially, is a huge candidate to finally take the MVP off Jokic. For the last 2 years those 2 players have battled for the award and both times Embiid missed out. This year, Philly is not getting as much attention as in previous years so the narrative has died down a bit but when ballots are cast and Philly will sit where they belong, Embiid will be the player that has made it happen.
In the meantime, Denver fans around the league can sit back and enjoy what their team is putting on the court. Jamal Murray is slowly growing back into the guy we saw in the bubble. He still has a long way to go but he has plenty of time to return while Jokic dominates every team that comes to Denver. Aaron Gordon has put in his application for a first All-Star appearance, playing better than ever. And the Nuggets have done their homework in the offseason with new recruits KCP and Bruce Brown fitting in really well. I’ve been saying it for years, this Denver team was an under the radar contender when they would be healthy. Well, they’re healthy now and they are the main contender to take out the Western Conference.
This is our All-NBA team of the Week. Please share our podcast and give us 5 stars. If you have any questions, you can contact the show on eight2fouroffice@gmail.com. Thank you for listening, ballers out!
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