NBA Week 14 rewind: Domination never looked so easy
By Tom West
Under-the-radar Players to Watch Next Week
Chris Bosh is so deserving as an NBA All-Star for the 11th straight time this season. He’s having an excellent season, and has become one of the very best stretch big men in the entire league. It’s why there’s at least an iota of sense to Bill Simmons’ suggestion that the Heat should trade Bosh to the Clippers straight up for Blake Griffin (it’s still a major overreaction to recent events, but L.A. would get on well with Bosh’s floor spacing).
You may not class him as an “under-the-radar player,” and as a perennial All-Star he hardly is. Yet, in today’s NBA where point guards and wing players often hog the spotlight and big men such as Draymond Green and DeMarcus Cousins are getting more attention, Bosh has almost been forgotten. However, with 19.2 points, 7.6 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game, not to mention his 37.3 percent three-point shooting and career-high 1.7 nightly threes, he’s been having a stellar year.
Last week, Bosh averaged 20.8 points on 52.5 percent shooting. Not bad for the guy who used to be stuck as the Heat’s third option.
He even has the third highest offensive rating (116) of his career, which says a lot about his performance given the struggles the Heat have been having. Add on his usual agile defense, his 102 defensive rating and overall impact, and it’s not hard to see he’s been Miami’s best player.
Zach LaVine is one of the most exciting players in the Timberwolves’ youth movement and last week he reminded us why. He had a few quiet games the week before with three contests where he shot no more than five times, but in week 14 he exploded.
21 points on 53.3 percent shooting in a narrow loss to the Cavaliers was a good way to start, at least until he went off for 35 points on a near-perfect 14-of-17 shooting while going 5-of-8 from three as the Timberwolves fell 126-123 to the Thunder. To make his performance sound even better, it just so happened to be a franchise record for the most points by a bench player and even became the NBA season-high for a second unit player, too.
He continues to shoot at career-high rates from every area of the floor, and while his mid-range still isn’t too efficient, he’s improving and he’s finishing strong at the rim. If he keeps playing likes this, he needs more than his 23.5 minutes per game and Minnesota need to utilize him more at shooting guard.