Views from far far away Vol.5

View from far far away- On Wednesday’s we play basketball
Days like yesterday are why I love the game of basketball. Amazing games from the college circuit and the pro’s. I will get into more detail about the collegiate side of things on Tuesday, but wow was yesterday a good day of basketball.  The Chicago Bulls came together to beat the Oklahoma City Thunder by 28, the Miami Heat seemingly forgot how to lose games (for now), Steph Curry is getting scary with how good he is at shooting 3’s, Lebron James was surprised himself on an acrobatic finish—while also saying that he just wants his team to play “championship caliber basketball”, oh and Isiah Thomas is un-guard-able.

I’d like to start with the Bulls and Heat. With their wins’ yesterday both of those teams showed me the heart of their respective teams. Starting with Chicago because they made the most headlines last week. Well, it seems like the Bulls have figured something out—with the locker room coming together according to Dwyane Wade. Wade and Butler had a combined 46 points (Butler 28, Wade 18) in the Bulls 128-100 win over the Thunder. This is now 2 wins in a row by a commanding margin and the Bulls are back at .500 (25-25), while also holding onto a playoff spot. This team has underperformed by massive margins, but it goes to show that banter in the locker room isn’t always bad, and that players can use that as a building block. I would like to apologize to Wade, Butler, Rondo and the whole Bulls team for my comments last week. With Miami on the other hand, they are a band of brothers. Even being 3 games out of the 8th seed in the East, the Heat are playing hard and for each other. In the game last night against the Hawks James Johnson showcased one of the unwritten rules of sports. That is, fight for the guys next to you, whether it’s after a hard foul like it has last night, or someone getting hit in baseball, or any fight in hockey. Johnson came in and push Atlanta’s Taurean Prince after he threw down Hassan Whiteside after a rebound. No punches were thrown, but for Johnson to stand up for his guy, shows me that there is something going right down in South Beach. The team is close and can possible make some noise in the second half of the season in the playoff race.

Focusing now on my Player of the Week. It goes to Boston Celtics point guard Isaiah Thomas. Thomas has been absolutely ridiculous this season with the kind of performances that he has put on. But, the one place that he shines the brightest is in the 4th quarter. At this point you might as well nickname it “IT Time.” Thomas’ 19 point 4th quarter last night marks the 10th time he has scored over 15 in the 4th quarter this season, with 4 of them being games were 20+ in the 4th. It is truly remarkable what Thomas is doing, and he is slowly becoming the most exciting player to watch in the NBA. Thomas in this week alone averaged 35.75 points per, 7.75 assists per, and 2.5 rebounds with 1.25 steals over the 4 games he played this week. Thomas alone is carrying the Celtics at the moment to 2nd place in the East. The rest of the C’s are playing good basketball when Thomas is off the floor, but nobody is playing like Thomas when he is on the floor. There aren’t enough words in the dictionary to describe how good Thomas is playing right now, all I know is I can’t wait to watch the highlights of his next game.

Moving to the Rookie of the Week. This is yet another week that we get to see what the rest of the rookie class has with Joel Embiid still on a minute restriction, only playing once in the past 7 games. This week my Rookie of the Week is yet another Brooklyn Net. This week it’s Nets guard Isaiah Whitehead. Whitehead in the past week has averaged 10.75 points per, 5 assists per, and 3.25 rebounds per. Whitehead is one of the bright spots for the Nets and as a Net fan I am excited for the future.
Now for the upcoming schedule for this week. It starts tonight with James Harden at home against the Hawks, it’s Dwight Howard’s return to Houston at 8PM on TNT. Next at 10:30 EST the Warriors travel to L.A. to play Blake Griffin and the Clips. On Friday night, one of the oldest rivalries in the game Lakers-Celtics on ESPN at 8EST. Moving to Saturday, which is my favorite game of the next week and that is Lebron going to the garden to play Melo, Porzingis, and the Knicks. It also wouldn’t be crazy if Melo leaves the game as a member of the Cavilers with all the rumors surrounding Carmelo and Cleveland. On Sunday at 2PM EST, the Boston-Los Angeles match-up stays the same, but the Clippers travel to Boston to try and handle Isaiah Thomas on Super Bowl Sunday. Moving into the work week, the Cavilers will try to break the Wizards home winning streak at 7PM on TNT. Fast forward to Wednesday, were two great games are on ESPN. The Clippers stay on the East Coast and go to the garden, which might be the first game for the Knicks without Carmelo… After that, Chicago tests that locker room and go to Oracle to try and stop the 3-point barrage of Steph and Klay. BUT, that is it for the week of February 2nd and don’t forget to step behind the line when you shoot.
Sources:(espn.com, yahoosports.com, nba.com)

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