Views from far far away Vol. 8

Views from far far away- March Madness
Chemistry is a huge factor on how a team plays and how well they do this time of year. The teams that have good chemistry and are on the brink of making the playoffs usually get into the playoffs because they play their brand of basketball to the highest level and see a ton of success. The chemistry is not there in New Orleans just yet. In two games since the DeMarcus Cousins trade, the Pelicans have dropped games to Houston and Dallas. Despite performances where Cousins and Davis combined for 56 and 51 points respectively—as well as 22 and 29 rebound nights for the All-Star front court. There is no doubt that playing together will take time, but how much is the question when New Orleans is thinking playoffs. The answer to that is obviously only time will tell.

In Philadelphia, a pair of rookies where shut down for the season; Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid are done for the season. Embiid after an MRI has shown that a tear in his meniscus in Embiid’s left knee is “more pronounced” he will be done. For Simmons the foot injury that he suffered in the Pre-Season was on the wrong time table and he will need more time to recover then anticipated. The question for Embiid is; is he still the Rookie of the Year? Only playing in 31 games, Embiid averaged 20 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 blocks in that span. That is better than anyone in this class. Malcolm Brogdon has been the best rookie besides Embiid and his 9 points, 2 rebounds, and 4 assists per game is nowhere close to the numbers of Embiid. Brogdon also has played in all 59 games for the Bucks this season. So if the NBA doesn’t agree with most of the NBA fan base, the NBA Rookie of the Year award will most likely go to Malcolm Brogdon.

Brogdon is also my Rookie of the Week this week. In four games this week, Brogdon averaged 15 points, 1.5 rebounds, and 4.8 assists per game while shooting 49% from the field. Brogdon along with the Greek Freak are leading the Bucks this season and as of today Milwaukee is only 3 games out of the 8th spot in the East. That will also help Brogdon’s case for RoY.

Getting into my Player of the Week, and he is on fire right now, helping to his lead his team to yet another championship. That player is Cleveland Cavilers guard Kyrie Irving. In four games since the All-Star break Irving has averaged 27.5 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 5 assists while shooting 52% from the field. Over the past week Irving is basically flipping a coin and the shoot is going in. amongst a league of dominate guards like Westbrook, Harden, Curry, and Wall just to name a few Irving has kept his own and he is shown why he is one of the most overlooked players in the league. In a season where Westbrook is averaging a triple double, Harden is leading Houston to a playoff berth by himself, and the Warriors have assembled a Super Team around Curry and Thompson—Irving has just kept his head low and played basketball.

Moving onto the upcoming schedule this week starts to get interesting. Tonight on TNT, D-Wade and the Bulls host the struggling Warriors at 8, then Westbrook and the new look Thunder travel up to Portland to play Damien Lillard, C. J. McCollum, and the Trailblazers in a high powered guard matchup. Looking at tomorrow the revamped Cavilers go to Atlanta to face-off against Dwight Howard and the Hawks at 7PM EST on ESPN. After that the Spurs crash the Pelicans Mardi Gras party at 9:30. Over the weekend the Clippers to the Windy City to play the Bulls at 8:30 on ABC. Then on Sunday at 3:30 on ABC, the Warriors to the Garden to play Porzingis, Melo, and the Knicks at 3:30 and Westbrook and the Thunder to Texas to play Nerlens Noel and the Mavericks at 8:30 on ESPN. Getting into the work week on TNT the Pacers go on the road to play Kemba Walker and the Hornets at 8PM EST. following that, the Celtics in L.A. to play Blake Griffin and the Clippers at 10:30. Wrapping it all up next Wednesday on ESPN the Pacers to go Detroit to play the young emerging star Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and the Pistons only to be followed by the Celtics staying in California to play Golden State in the Bay area. That is all for this week, hopefully you can have better luck than Steph Curry did this week when you step behind the line to shoot.
Sources:(espn.com, nba.com, bleacherreport.com, sbnation.com)

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