Views from far far away Vol. 10

Views from far far away- Getting so close, I can smell it
With only 8 games left for some teams, the NBA season is quickly coming to a close. With the regular season fading fast, the 16 teams that are playoff bound, want to tune up and get ready for the hard grind of competing for a championship. The playoff races at the bottom of the totem pole are extremely tight—more so in the Eastern Conference.

The current 8 seeds in each Conference are the Indiana Pacers and the Portland Trail Blazers. The Pacers are a game and a half on the Chicago Bulls, and three games up on both the Detroit Pistons and the Charlotte Hornets.  In the Western Conference, the Blazers are battling with the Denver Nuggets who are only one game back with 8 games to go. The Blazers and Nuggets have the same combined opponent winning percentage in their remaining games at 47%. The Bulls have the easiest schedule of any team in the hunt with a combined opponent winning of 32%. The hunt for the 8th seed should be interesting television and great basketball down the stretch.

Getting into the Player of the Week which is my pick for MVP. The week that Russell Westbrook has had this past week, is absolutely mind blowing. In the past week Westbrook averaged 44 points per game, 12 rebounds, and 11 assists. The impact that he is having on the game right now is insane, the numbers speak for themselves. That is why he is my Player of the Week and the level of player showcased this week is just one of the reasons why he is my vote for MVP.

The Rookie of the Week gets just that much more interesting. The teammate of my pick for Rookie of the Year (Joel Embiid) is my Rookie of the Week. Philadelphia 76’ers guard Dario Saric had a week that you cannot overlook in the Rookie of the Week or his final push for the Rookie of the Year. Saric last week averaged 19 points, 8.5 rebounds, and 2 assists. Saric is averaging 12 points and 6 rebounds this season so it will be interesting to see if he wins the Rookie of the Year or not.

Looking at the upcoming schedule for the NBA it is all about the playoffs over the next two weeks. Starting tonight, the Bulls host the Cavilers at 8PM on TNT followed up by Houston traveling to Portland to play the Trail Blazers. Moving to tomorrow, the Spurs go on the road to play the Thunder and Russell Westbrook on ESPN at 8PM EST. Following that game up is the Houston Rockets going to Oracle to play the Warriors. Getting to Sunday, the Knicks host the Celtics at the Garden at 1PM EST on ABC. Then, Gordon Hayward and the Utah Jazz goes to the Alamo City to play the Claw and the San Antonio Spurs at 3:30PM. Getting into the work week, ESPN has a double header. The Rookie of the Year hopeful Malcolm Brogdan and the Bucks go to Oklahoma City to face MVP hopeful Russell Westbrook at 8. The Warriors host the Timberwolves right after the final buzzer in Oklahoma City. Wednesday is the same deal for ESPN, the Cavilers and their lack luster defense go to Boston Garden to play “Mr. 4th quarter” Isaiah Thomas at 8PM EST. The final game of the upcoming week on Wednesday is the Clippers hosting the Dallas Mavericks at 10:30.

It’s getting interesting in the NBA because there are only 8 games left in the NBA season, so you know this week is one of the most important times to keep your feet behind the line when you shoot.
Sources:(espn.com, nba.com)

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