Goeiedag, enchantée and welcome to this week's episode of Eight 2 Four presents: All-NBA Team of the Week. We are halfway through the second round of the Playoffs and the only thing I know for sure is that I was wrong. The Lakers did not beat the Suns, Dallas was not strong enough to knock off Kawhi, The Knicks couldn’t surprise the Hawks, Jokic was better than Lillard, the Nets are so much stronger than the Bucks. Almost everything I predicted so far in these Playoffs has been wrong. But that is what makes these Playoffs so exciting, the unpredictability. This week, we have selected the five players that need to step up for their teams in order to make it to the Conference Finals. Get ready for your All-NBA Team of the Week.
PICK #1
Our first pick of the week is Paul George from the LA Clippers. Playoff P has not been playing as well as everybody, including himself, would like. Kawhi has been playing like one of the best players in the world these Playoffs, battling it out with Luka and Mitchell Donovan. But the main reason the Clippers have been losing so many games is that Kawhi has not been getting the help he needs from his teammates, specifically, Paul George. George has not been the defensive force he could be and, just like last season, has not been contributing on the offensive end.
Today, in game 3 against the Jazz, the Clippers finally showed who they can be. Paul George and Kawhi both scored more than 30 points and made it difficult for the Jazz to score on the other end. That resulted in a 27 point win and the Clippers are back in this series. If they can win the second game at Staples Center too, PG and Kawhi can return to Salt Lake City with a lot of confidence. I believe that they can be the best team left in these Playoffs, but they need to play for it. Too often I get the feeling that the Clippers just want to be given the trophy instead of fighting for it. That attitude comes mainly from PG and if he can turn it around, only Durant and the Nets could stop these guys.
PICK #2
Our second pick of the week is Khris Middleton of the Milwaukee Bucks. The Bucks are being beaten up by the Nets. The first 2 games in this series looked like the Nets were playing a G-League team, that’s how easy they beat them. The third game went to the Bucks but it wasn’t really a game to be proud of. A must win game for the Bucks, and they went back to the 90s to beat the Nets in an old school 83-86 win. At the moment there is a lot wrong with the Bucks, who are unrecognisable from the regular season, but the main problem to me, lies with the number 1 guy Giannis. Giannis wants to play just like KD on the other end, but he simply can’t. He needs to play like Shaq instead.
Nobody, including Coach Bud, wants to tell Giannis that he can’t shoot 500 bricks because each time he shoots, he basically just turns it over. The reason Giannis is playing like this is because he doesn’t trust his teammates to get it done right now. And that is where Middleton comes in. Middleton needs to make sure Giannis trusts him to get it done and set the pace in offence. Middleton needs to lead this offence, especially late in the game, and he has to take his responsibility on the court. Yes, this is Giannis’ team and it will always be his team but that doesn’t mean that he has to take every shot. Especially because his shooting is horrendous this off-season. Middleton can take all these problems away.
PICK #3
Our third pick of the week is John Collins of the Atlanta Hawks. The Hawks surprised the Sixers in game 1 of the series but have lost the following 2 games. It seems like Philly has worked out how to stop Trae by putting Ben Simmons and Matisse Thybulle on him. Obviously, Trae is still getting his numbers, averaging 28 points a game and just under 10 assists per game. But they slow him down, disrupting the flow of the Hawks’ offence. Under the boards, Capela is doing what he can to stop Embiid but nobody is really stopping him. That leaves John Collins, who was pretty invisible against the Knicks, with the opportunity to be THE guy in this series.
Collins is shooting 60-40-10 from the floor this series, averaging just over 17 points and 7 boards per game. These are the same stats as during the regular season, but the Hawks need more. At the start of the series, it seemed like Embiid could have been out and the Hawks could surprise Philly. But Embiid is playing, and the only way for the Hawks to beat them is to rise to the occasion. Trae and Bogdanovic are playing fantastic and Gallinari and Huerter have been really strong coming off the bench. But the key to this series for the Hawks is Collins, not your average Collins, but an incredible, max-contract worthy John Collins.
PICK #4
Our fourth pick of the week is Michael Porter Jr of the Denver Nuggets. The Nuggets don’t really stand a chance against the Suns, and chances are that they’ll be eliminated when they play game 4 on Sunday. On the other hand, the Nuggets have returned from 3-nil down twice last season. But this is not the same team as last season. Only Jokic is really doing anything at the moment, the rest are really not playing well enough to compete with the Suns. And the only other player on the Nuggets roster who could be, is MPJ but he has been struggling with his back.
He has played every game so far but he has not been as dominant on the offensive end as expected and defensively, he is a disaster. In the last game, Devin Booker made him look absolutely ridiculous, like a child. The Nuggets need MPJ to play at the very least on a superstar level to make up for not having Jamal Murray. He did that against the Blazers but they didn’t play defense. Now that he is up against a stronger defensive team, he can’t provide the numbers night after night that Denver needs. But, even if Denver goes out with a sweep, what they have achieved this season, with an injury-riddled roster, has been amazing.
PICK #5
Our fifth pick of the week is James Harden of the Brooklyn Nets. Harden has been out with a hamstring injury this series. He played less than a minute in the first game before leaving the game and not returning. The Nets didn’t need him at all so far in this series because the Bucks have been terrible. They might not need Harden at all in the Eastern Conference because the way they play right now, I don’t see anyone in the East who can stop them.
But once the Finals come around, the Nets will want to count on James Harden. Even if it is just as insurance in case Kyrie, or worse, KD goes out with an injury. At the moment, the Nets haven’t released a timeline yet for Harden. He could be out for the season, or they are keeping him under wraps to surprise the Bucks if they need to. Right now, the Nets are amazing with KD and Kyrie, but add Harden and they will be unstoppable.
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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